microSD-Card BoosterPack

Up to now, the SD-card BoosterPacks were only 20-pin and didn't offered pass-through pins to stack other BoosterPacks on top.

The microSD-card BoosterPack uses 40 pass-through pins an fit compatible with 20- as well as 40-pin LaunchPads.

It is designed by Sakoman, manufactured by CircuitCo and thus displayed on the BoosterPackDepot repository, and finally sold by BoardZoo.

Hardware

The microSD-card is driven using the standard SPI pins. 

The pin for the two additional signals, Chip Select and Card Detect, can be selected among 4 options.

Just place a shunt on the desired position, Chip Select on the left (J5) and Card Detect on the right (J6).

This provides a great flexibility and compatibility with other SPI-based BoosterPacks.
The microSD-card is easily available with a push-pull mechanism.

However, the push-pull mechanism doesn't work correctly on the unit I received. The microSD-card remains stuck in its reader. 
One example of the microSD-card between a Stellaris LaunchPad and the CC3000 WiFi BoosterPack for a ready to use WiFi server!

Software and Libraries 

There is no official Energia library but I'm using the port of the FatFS library available at 

Keep in mind that SD-card requires at least 512 bytes for buffering, so you cant use it on the MSP430G2553 MCU. Take the MSP430F5529 and the Stellaris now Tiva C LaunchPads instead.
The Card Detect pin detects the presence of an microSD-card.

Here's a basic implementation for card detection: the green LED lights on when a card is inserted, otherwise the red LED is on.

This Card Detect feature is optional. If you want to free one pin, just remove the shunt from the J6 connector.

 
#define CARD_DETECT PA_2

void setup()
{
  pinMode(RED_LED, OUTPUT);  
  pinMode(GREEN_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(CARD_DETECT, INPUT_PULLUP);
}

void loop()
{
  if (digitalRead(CARD_DETECT)) {
    digitalWrite(RED_LED, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(GREEN_LED, LOW);
  } else {
    digitalWrite(RED_LED, LOW);
    digitalWrite(GREEN_LED, HIGH);
  }
  delay(500);  
}

Pins Map

Picture

Pros

  • BoosterPack for all LaunchPads: 20-pin MSP430 and FR5529, 40-pin Stellaris now Tiva C
  • Chip Select and Card Detect pins configurable
  • Stackable pass-through pins

Cons

  • Minor quality issue on my item

Wrap-Up

  • Well designed BoosterPack for all LaunchPads, 20- and 40-pin
  • Stackable pass-through pins
  • Chip Select and Card Detect pins configurable

Links
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Manufactured by