BS2 Keyboard connection

justmatt83

Hello All, I am looking for a way to use a USB Keyboard and to be able to write info to a lcd screen. Any Ideas on how to do that.

Thanks.

Mike Green

You can use the Vinculum-based memory stick data logger which is really a USB host (among other things). It can talk to a USB keyboard and a Stamp can control it and write to a little LCD screen like the 4 x 20 serial one carried by Parallax. If you want some other display, the issue of whether you can use a Stamp to write to it depends on the display's controller.

justmatt83

Would the Propeller be able to do this with out a Vinculum?

Mike Green

Maybe. It's theoretically possible, but no one has written any code to do this and it's non-trivial ... a major project that would have to be done by someone pretty expert in writing low level USB interface code. Frankly, a lot of vendors of USB host systems use a low level USB interface chip of one kind or another because it takes care of a lot of the low level details (like the MAX3421E).

D Faust

Do you have to use a USB keyboard? Can't the Prop can interface with a keyboard such as with the HYDRA system?
(Note: I do not own nor have used a prop)

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
D Faust

Mike Green

It's pretty easy to interface a Prop with a PS/2 keyboard and/or mouse. It takes 2 I/O pins and a couple of resistors plus the socket for each (if you use the scheme from the Demo Board ... the Hydra scheme is a little more complicated).

The difference is that USB is a general purpose medium to high speed I/O bus designed to be used to attach many different I/O devices at the same time ... anything from a mouse or modem to a DVD. The PS/2 bus just defines a simple clocked serial port that's designed for a specific device (keyboard or mouse) and usually can't be used with anything else.