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USB control for the stamp... can it be done? Can you do it? — Parallax Forums

USB control for the stamp... can it be done? Can you do it?

DaveFDaveF Posts: 62
edited 2005-07-11 13:16 in BASIC Stamp
Ok, so the whole computer world has gone from RS232 to USB.· The stamp can communicate with a PC via USB, but it cannot yet communicate with other USB devices...· someone has GOT to make a device for the stamp to be a "master" USB host so it can communicate with USB devices without the help of a PC.

Calling all GURUs!!!!!·· Who can do it??

Anyone???

Dave

Comments

  • allanlane5allanlane5 Posts: 3,815
    edited 2005-01-24 18:29
    You would think this would be easy, wouldn't you? It's not. I think there IS one company (National-Semiconductor?) working on it.
  • SteveWSteveW Posts: 246
    edited 2005-01-24 18:46
    The whole world _hasn't_ gone to USB, it's mostly just PCs that have. Embedded stuff is still happily using serial, I2C, SPI, Ethernet, and a zillion other buses, of varying speeds and complexities.
    There are plenty of USB master chips out there - I've spent most time with Philips' ISP1161, but there are others.
    http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/pip/ISP1161-02.html
    However, once you've hooked that to your design, are taking the 1KHz interrupts and dealing with them appropriately, you get to start fighting the USB stack. In the limited memory world of Stamps, I'm not sure you could accomplish anything useful. Even if you weasel out of all the enumeration phases (where you find out what the device is, what it can do and how to drive it) and hard-code everything, _assuming_ you can get the documentation for the slave you want to use, you're still talking to a device that believes in sending you buffers bigger than you've got RAM. If you think that having a USB connector on your board means that you can plug in any USB device you find, you're going to be bitterly disappointed.
    If all you want to do is talk to mice, then find a serial mouse. Same goes for pretty much any peripheral - try hard to avoid having to master USB, unless you want to support a tiny subset of devices (and have lots of time / money / resources), or are using a micro that can support a real OS.

    Steve
  • DaveFDaveF Posts: 62
    edited 2005-01-24 21:45
    ouch... that does not sound promising! I was hoping to hear about some add on device that takes care of all of that for you, and costs next to nothing!!!!

    AHAHAHAHHHAHA!!!

    I knew it wasn't going to happen. Just wanted to see if anyone knew of anything in development. I really do not know enough about USB to even begin to solve the problem.
  • SteveWSteveW Posts: 246
    edited 2005-01-24 22:57
    (big) micros with USB master controllers and enough horsepower to run a USB stack are gettng cheaper all the time. Intel's PXA27x processors, as found in the most recent iPaqs, for instance, but they take a lot of care and feeding, and are likely to dwarf any stamp-related project, to the point where you might as well ditch the stamp and do it all on the PXA27x - but that's not as much fun...

    Steve
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2005-01-24 23:27
    allanlan5,

    We did have a software guy here that was doing some work on USB, but I think it was USB<-->Ethernet and not USB<-->RS232. I am in the Communication Interface Division (CID) of National Semiconductor
    and am not aware of any current USB projects. That said, I am a layout guy and often have my head buried in my own imediate projects, so If I don't look up every now and then I could miss something in
    another group.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Beau Schwabe - Mask Designer III

    National Semiconductor Corporation
    (Communication Interface Division)
    500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 525
    Mail Stop GA1
    Norcross,GA 30071
  • allanlane5allanlane5 Posts: 3,815
    edited 2005-01-25 14:24
    Wow, thanks Beau. I guess it was Phillips I was thinking of -- but I know National-Semi does good stuff in Ethernet.
    And of course, there are a few solutions to get a BS2 to do Ethernet of one sort or another.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-01-25 16:37
    Beau,

    ·· Where have you been hiding these past months?· I haven't seen a post from you in a long time.· I see you still have your last Avatar though!· blush.gif

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    Designs Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/designs
    ·
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2005-01-25 16:50
    Chris,

    Work has been very busy (that's good!!) and I took 2 weeks vacation over Christmas/New Years....

    Yikes!!! - I've become a lurker (grin)

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Beau Schwabe - Mask Designer III

    National Semiconductor Corporation
    (Communication Interface Division)
    500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 525
    Mail Stop GA1
    Norcross,GA 30071
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2005-01-25 18:04
    allanlan5,

    USB correction....
    http://www.national.com/search/search.cgi/main?keywords=USB
    http://cache.national.com/ds/US/USBN9603.pdf

    I would imagine that the most difficult part of using a USB device in a design would be obtaining a software driver that will "see" your
    device. From the datasheet, it looks like a micro controller interface would be doable. I haven't played with USB much, so I'm not
    sure what all of the demands are.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Beau Schwabe - Mask Designer III

    National Semiconductor Corporation
    (Communication Interface Division)
    500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 525
    Mail Stop GA1
    Norcross,GA 30071
  • SteveWSteveW Posts: 246
    edited 2005-01-25 18:23
    http://cache.national.com/ds/US/USBN9603.pdf looks like a device, not a host controller, I'm afraid.
    And yes, the software is the hard part [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Steve
  • allanlane5allanlane5 Posts: 3,815
    edited 2005-01-25 19:49
    Ah, that's what I like about the BS2. It's MUCH faster than me, and it's REALLY easy to use, but it is also fairly limited in RAM resources. Thus when people get crazy ideas about what they want to do, they can be quickly brought down to earth.

    Having said that, it is also enormously useful with just a little care and perspective. Really, almost the perfect small computer for doing dedicated I/O tasks, small displays, embedded tasks, environmental monitoring, small robots, ...
  • christo1423christo1423 Posts: 19
    edited 2005-07-11 13:16
    Try looking at USBWIZ
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