DonglePi
Hardware
usb gpio adapter
SHOW HN2015
How HN took it
5 positive, 7 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 9 critical, out of 23 comments about the project. Thread score -0.18.
Idea: 3 for, 5 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Good idea, would back it on Kickstarter
From 2 comments
Working in CS and Systems & Control education, this is something I'd back if it were on kickstarter.
MarcScott on HNIt's awesome that you made it all open source. You could probably spin up some kickstarter since making them in bulk would be cheaper (plus you get something for all the work…
comboy on HN
Useful for using USB peripherals with a Pi and PC
From 1 comment
Yes. It's a general purpose microcontroller board, programmed to provide GPIO signals via USB. I prefer to use USB peripherals for my Pi. Peripherals that are recognized as a…
analog31 on HN
Objections
Dual licensing scheme is confusing and legally questionable
From 4 comments
Very cool! "DonglePi is released under a dual license. It is GPL for educational and personal use. It is under a commercial license if you want to produce it and sell it." Hm. Am…
ashark on HNThe issue is your wording. Qt's model says it's licensed under the GPL/LGPL for anyone who wants to use it under the terms of the GPL/LGPL, whether for commercial or…
vertex-four on HNAlternately, it could hypothetically give you more IOs for an existing RPi over USB ;) On another note, I'm pretty sure your particular dual-licensing scheme is invalid; the GPL…
yellowapple on HNYour licensing scheme is confusing and possibly unenforceable.
aosmith on HN
Risk of damaging the PC if the circuit goes wrong
From 1 comment
Very cool. Only thing I don't like is that when something goes really wrong with my circuit, I could probably harm my PC. Normally I just risk destroying RPi.
comboy on HN
USB latency makes it much slower than native GPIO
From 1 comment
Depending on how you might want to use the GPIO pins, this is a clear yes, or no... Traditionally, GPIO is somehow a strange beast when integrated as tightly on SOCs like the…
cnvogel on HN
Requests
Clarify licensing terms
From 2 comments
Alternately, it could hypothetically give you more IOs for an existing RPi over USB ;) On another note, I'm pretty sure your particular dual-licensing scheme is invalid; the GPL…
yellowapple on HNVery cool! "DonglePi is released under a dual license. It is GPL for educational and personal use. It is under a commercial license if you want to produce it and sell it." Hm. Am…
ashark on HN
Advice on protecting USB controllers from wiring mistakes
From 1 comment
Indeed, at least I've added a fuse and Schottky diodes to protect the PC but I'd love some advises on how to be sure people won't fry their USB controllers :)
gbin on HN
Questions
Would it give a Pi more GPIO pins?
From 1 comment
Would this potentially give a PI way more GPIO pins?
wiredfool on HN
Alternatives named
GPIO expander chips such as MCP23008 or PCF8574
From 2 comments
Look at GPIO expander chips like the MCP23008. They're only a couple bucks and give you GPIO pins you can control over the Pi's I2C bus. You can run a few of them off an I2C bus…
tdicola on HNPCF8574 FTW!
comboy on HN
Parallel port GPIO on old PCs
From 1 comment
On sufficiently old/industrial PCs, the parallel port is a pretty usable GPIO header, especially the more modern implementations with bi-directional pins. It's easy to use one to…
tomkinstinch on HN
Guzunty CPLD Raspberry Pi shield
From 1 comment
A better device for this would be a [Guzunty CPLD](https://github.com/Guzunty/Pi/wiki) as a Rasperry Pi shield ! It adds a 25 additional input/output expansion lines and also…
Drin on HN