It's probably all about semantics
The active ones are breakout boards, the passive ones are connector strips.

Given the cost of some of the cheaper ones, Roy's at DIY-CNC start at about £13 ? it's false economy to skimp on an item like this.

I know many are on tight budgets but one of the most important things a decent breakout board does is to amplify the PP signal to a genuine 5 volts.

Many modern computers, laptops etc run at 3.3 volts on the PP and many of the modern drivers like the Leadshine drives that Gary and ARC sell require 5 volts at the opto's to work.

Sometime they do work, just, off 3.3 volts but it's that borderline that you don't realise, and have problems that's hard to trace further down the line.

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