Can GPIO pins be used as I2C, SPI or UART interfaces?

Rahul Saha

Since the requirement of any protocol is controlled transfer of signals between devices, can GPIO pins be used for any protocol?

over 8 years ago

0 f. m. over 8 years ago

Guru 11940 points

That depends.

0 Dennis Eichmann over 8 years ago

Guru 74080 points

Yes, sure you can do this, but you will have to handle the protocol and timing yourself. SPI is the simplest, I²C requires proper address and (N)ACK handling and UART needs precise timing. So whenever possible you should go for a USCI module that takes care of those things by itself.

0 f. m. over 8 years ago in reply to Dennis Eichmann

Guru 11940 points

Yes, sure you can do this, but you will have to handle the protocol and timing yourself.

This is based upon the assumption that the O.P. is talking about bit-banging.

I did not interpret his (rather careless) posting this way.

I'd like to get him asking sensible questions, instead of wasting my time and get lost in conjectures ...

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Can GPIO pins be used as I2C, SPI or UART interfaces?