Shop OBEX P1 Docs P2 Docs Learn Events
Help reading USB Flash Drive — Parallax Forums

Help reading USB Flash Drive

mynet43mynet43 Posts: 644
edited 2012-04-27 06:02 in Propeller 1
I have a Propeller board that currently reads an SD card, using a standard socket.

It also has a USB port, using the FT232RL chip.

With the USB port, I can easily talk to a PC.

Is there some easy way I can adapt either of these hardware interfaces to read a USB flash drive?

I'm redesigning the board, but I would rather not add the Vinculum chip if I can avoid it.

My only use for this is to read a 32K program file and update the Propeller code in the field.

I already have code that does this from the SD card. I need to do it from a Flash drive.

Thank you for your help.

Jim

Comments

  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,838
    edited 2012-04-26 09:17
    Sorry, but I think Vinculum is the way to go if you need to read from flash drive...
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2012-04-26 09:58
    There is an object that allows the Prop to function as a USB host for mass memory, HID, and Bluetooth dongles. It's a very large program and doesn't have sophisticated error management or great speed. It cheats a little on the USB specification, but works impressively well. The FT232RL is a USB client and can't be used to control other USB devices. The best solution would be to use something like a Vinculum, but you might try the USB host object and see how well it works for you.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,838
    edited 2012-04-26 10:24
    Guess I forgot Micah's object can do mass storage... That might be worth a shot. As I recall, you need to switch to a 6 MHz crystal for that code to work right.
  • Don MDon M Posts: 1,653
    edited 2012-04-26 11:34
    What would be wrong with using this from Parallax?

    http://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/txtSearch/datalogger/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/434/Default.aspx
  • mynet43mynet43 Posts: 644
    edited 2012-04-27 06:02
    Thank you for all the interesting replies. Lots of food for thought...

    I already have a very large program running on this board. It's used to control an electron microscope: special graphic display, dual stepper motors, trackball, SD card and other stuff. And now I'm adding camera input, which is a pain :)

    Since I'm looking for the easy way out, it might make sense to just add the Memory Stick Datalogger and use the pins from the SD card to run it. I've never used the Vinculum directly, so I'm trying to avoid the learning curve. The serial interface on this little board looks like it may work. Still haven't decided...

    Thanks again,

    Jim
Sign In or Register to comment.