PCB connectors and their cables ??

[epp]

Hi!
Where can I find some information about connectors (names,drawings, properties,
applications,wirings) which are commonly used when designing PCB for microcontrollers?
E.g. : DSUB-9 male/female, flat cables ant their connectors 2x20, 2x40 pins, PDIP housing etc.
When we develop some PCB design we should know which connectors to use and I do not have great knowledge
about it.
I do not want just to use CAD program for PCB design before I know how each connector and its cable looks like.
Regards.

 

[opeyinfw]

Connectors for PCBs with microcontrollers can be anything the designer wants them to be, provided they have control over the mating connector/product. If you are just creating boards to evaluate a microcontroller, then you can get a very good list of connectors by looking at eval kits from Texas Instruments; Intel; Freescale, etc. I've used evaluation kits (eval boards) for processors from these guys and they are usually well thought out. Key features you see on most eval boards are:

• -Usually have a 9 pin sub-d for connecting to a PC serial port (using Hyperterminal)
  -A prototyping areas of through holes pads, say 5 holes by 10, spaced 0.1" apart (standard DIP).
  -A JTAG interface connector, usually a 10 pin header with 0.1" spacing. This usually interfaces to a pod which connects to your parallel port. Typically used to program on board flash or emulation (running code on the real micro and being able to single step through instructions, etc.)
  -A header of 0.1" spaced pins to which you can probe GPIO outputs or provide inputs to the GPIOs. Fancier boards incorporate buffers with LEDs attached to provide a quick visual of program operation without having to do any hardware modifications (great for all thumbs software geeks or lazy hardware guys)

A good place for ideas is the Intel evaluation kit for their PXA27x embedded processor. It is called the MainstoneII. Go to the intel site and search for PXA270, then click the tab for support tools.
There are some good kits from Softbaugh for the TI MSP430 micro. The TI web site will point you in the right direction (www.ti.com).
Again, lots of schematics available on the web sites for free, and they give you the pinouts of the connectors so they mate correctly (i.e. as in the case of PC serial cable)

Bob