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Any way of using a Flash drive? — Parallax Forums

Any way of using a Flash drive?

PhilldapillPhilldapill Posts: 1,283
edited 2009-05-19 10:31 in Propeller 1
Simple question, but I'm sure it will be more complicated than it seems.

Is there ANY way of interfacing a USB thumb/flash/jump drive with the Propeller? Are there any chips that can be used as a go-between?

I'm designing a product that will be used with some rather.... not-so-bright people. I'd rather not say WHO these people are, but the point is, I can't count on them knowing how to plug an SD card into my device. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit, but when they think they can just·magically create energy, it makes me wonder about them. However, that's another topic entirely...

Anyway, I'd like to be able to have a USB port on my device, and have the user just plug their flash drive into it. If I need some other chips to be able to interface with their drive, that's ok. I know the Propeller itself would have a very hard time doing this alone(previous thread over a year ago).

Comments

  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,706
    edited 2009-05-18 05:59
    Have a look at the Vinculum chip from FTDI. If thats too scary consider using something like their VDRIVE2 which has it in a neat package
    www.vinculum.com/prd_vdrive1.html

    They indicated it could also interface to portable hard drives (for really big storage)

    I think parallax may have a similar module, just having trouble finding it atm

    tubular
  • Mike HuseltonMike Huselton Posts: 746
    edited 2009-05-18 06:02
    For native Prop code, Chip himself considered USB to be too standards-complex and speed-intensive for the Prop. Others have gotten some code to work, but they always pretty much gave up on the projects. PropII is a certainty for these type of apps.

    Short answer - No, unless you interface via I2C or SPI to dedicated chips, such as Viniculum.

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    JMH

    Post Edited (James Michael Huselton) : 5/18/2009 6:09:04 AM GMT
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,706
    edited 2009-05-18 06:04
    this'd be it
    www.parallax.com/Store/Accessories/Communication/tabid/161/CategoryID/36/List/0/Level/a/ProductID/434/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName%2cProductName
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2009-05-18 07:08
    The datalogger would work. There is even an object for it...
  • AleAle Posts: 2,363
    edited 2009-05-18 07:41
    There are some SD cards that can also be used as USB drives. It is not directly USB but a way around smile.gif

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    Visit the home of pPropQL, pPropQL020 and OMU for the pPropQL/020 at omnibus.uni-freiburg.de/~rp92
  • PhilldapillPhilldapill Posts: 1,283
    edited 2009-05-18 08:14
    Ale, I think I have something like that. It's actually what I use as my normal flash drive. It looks like an oversized flash drive, but the storage device is the removeable SD card. I use this because I can put the SD card in a socket with my propeller, log some things, then take it out and put it right into the flash-type device. The computer acts as if it's a normal flash drive.
  • AleAle Posts: 2,363
    edited 2009-05-18 08:42
    I have something similar, but what I meant was a SD card that also had a USB connector one piece, not a card reader and an SD card. Well I was pretty sure it existed, but I do not seem to find it :-(, possible pipe dream wink.gif


    btw: Did someone try to get the 4 bit protocol used by SD cards ? The commands are documented... it shouldn't be that difficult having a logic analyzer or not ?

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    Visit the home of pPropQL, pPropQL020 and OMU for the pPropQL/020 at omnibus.uni-freiburg.de/~rp92
  • BergamotBergamot Posts: 185
    edited 2009-05-18 18:20
    Ale said...
    I have something similar, but what I meant was a SD card that also had a USB connector one piece, not a card reader and an SD card. Well I was pretty sure it existed, but I do not seem to find it :-(, possible pipe dream wink.gif


    btw: Did someone try to get the 4 bit protocol used by SD cards ? The commands are documented... it shouldn't be that difficult having a logic analyzer or not ?

    You mean like one of these?

    http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-SDSDPH-1024-901-Ultra-Retail-Package/dp/B0009HTB0Y
  • T ChapT Chap Posts: 4,223
    edited 2009-05-18 19:00
    I use a version of the Vmusic2 which is a Vinculum and a VS1033 mp3 player IC in a product. The Vinculum works great for USB drive reading and writing. I have the schematics and board layout in Eagle if you want to see it. The code is pretty straight forward.
  • AleAle Posts: 2,363
    edited 2009-05-18 19:07
    Bergamot: Yes, one of those [noparse]:D[/noparse]

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    Visit the home of pPropQL, pPropQL020 and OMU for the pPropQL/020 at omnibus.uni-freiburg.de/~rp92
  • SciNemoSciNemo Posts: 91
    edited 2009-05-18 19:12
    I have a vinculum VDIP1: http://www.vinculum.com/prd_vdip1.html
    I used it with an arduino to write files to usb flash drives, it works very well, and I would recommend it for this kind of application. I have not seen it, but if you can find code for serial communication for the Prop, this would be a very easy way to do what you want.

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    Not the fish.
    sites.google.com/site/bitwinproject/
  • hairymnstrhairymnstr Posts: 107
    edited 2009-05-19 10:31
    I've used VDIP1 very successfully with the Prop, I wrote my own PASM SPI driver but it's still too full of hacks to be worth sharing, it was mainly a learning experience to teach me a bit about the Prop. There's an object for an SPI interfaced Vinculum chip in the OBEX I think. The Parallax datalogger product is based on the Vinculum chip, so would use the same code and have the same capabilities as an FTDI module.

    The modules are pretty robust, they're not just for prototypes and experiments, I've seen them included on PCB products at work to save the manufacturing time of fitting all the tiny components on the module onto the board.
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