XCore Exchange

Hi,

It seems that some of the ports on the startKIT are reserved for stuff like touch sensors and LEDs. Since there is no physical access to those ports on the board I am guessing there is no way to use these ports for any other use (if I am mistaken please correct me). Will I be able to access every single GPIO ports on the general purpose sliceKIT? I need to be able to use 16 ish one bit ports and at least 4 four bit ports.

Thanks

I think you have access to 15 1 bit ports and multiple 4 bits along with some from the 32 bit. If you find the 1 bits are insufficient you can mask off bits in your threads or use the gpio library with a 4 bit port.

Is that for the startKIT? I have looked at the startKIT portmap and there does not seem to be a way to access two of the 4-bit ports (4A and 4B) as GPIO since they are connected to the touch sensors and nothing else. Since the startKIT has four 4-bit ports maximum I am left with only two of them. This is not enough for my application.

That's for the startkit, you have 15 1 bits and 3 4 bits(c, d, e, or an 8(b) and a 4(d)). And access to most of the 32(-8 for touch and a 4bit port(c)). The startkit has alot of gpio for the price. I have a project using the button, 3x3 leds, all 15 1 bit ports and a 4bit.

How do I use 4A and 4B for GPIO? I would like to connect them to header pins to control a custom circuit.

You only get access to 4e 4d and 4c for 4 bits. A and b aren't broken out anywhere so you'd have to modify the PCB. The traces are on the backside. If you have experience repairing them its not too hard to expose the trace and solder some small gauge wire to it.

I don't know how I would do that haha. I don't have much experience in designing PCBs. Would the general purpose sliceKIT have what I need? I don't see very many solder points on the sliceKIT board which is why I am worried it might not suit my needs.

I assume a slicekit would but they also need 12v power and are large boards. How many gpio do you need? If you just need the processor you've got 15 1 bits, 3 4bits(12), 23 more if you use 32bit(can't really use button port or the 8 not broken out without the mod).

Do i need to purchase GPIO slicecards to access the ports on the slicekit?

There are through hole pads for every pin on the slice connectors you could use. I believe the gpio slices are just to give you buttons, leds, a/d converters and things like that. If you're just looking for gpio you don't want to plug in a bunch of gpio slices.