Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13-7:
he Gertboard,
designed by Gert
van Loo
Unlike the Slice of Pi and Prototyping Pi Plate, the Gertboard is an
active
add-on board with
numerous components designed to extend the functionality of the Pi. he Gertboard pro-
vides 12
bufered IO ports
with status LEDs, three push-button switches, six
open collector
drivers
, a 48 V 4 A
motor controller
, a two-channel
digital to analogue converter (ADC)
and a
two-channel
analogue to digital converter (DAC)
. Additionally, the Gertboard has support for
an additional 28-pin microcontroller, such as the Atmel ATmega328 used in the Arduino
prototyping system, which can be inserted into a socket on the Gertboard and programmed
directly from the Raspberry Pi.
As the list of features indicates, the Gertboard is a powerful and complex device. Its lexibil-
ity makes it a great choice for more complex projects—but that same complexity afects its
size. he Gertboard is almost two-and-a-half times larger than the Raspberry Pi itself, mak-
ing it both the most powerful and the largest add-on board for the Pi available at the time of
writing. To counteract its size, the Gertboard connects to the Pi through a ribbon cable ter-
minated in male sockets (see Figure 13-8). his cable allows the Gertboard to sit away from
the Pi, or to be mounted in a project permanently yet still be quickly detached from the Pi if
necessary.
