Category Archives: USB

HID is one step closer on the open source USB stack for PIC microcontrollers

Dolabra took up the task to add support for the HID class to Hoken and JTR’s open source USB stack. Up till now it only supported the CDC class, and HID is still a long way away, but progress has been made. Yeah! a small victory. I got a set of descriptors that enumerate! The […]

Reprogramming USB Webkey dongle using Bus Pirate

JJShortcut took one of the webkey USB devices his school was discarding and decided to reverse engineer it. The device plugs into the USB port on a PC and when its on-board button is pushed it opens the computer’s web browser, directing the user to a specific URL. He found that the heart of the […]

Cotton Candy: thumb sized Linux computer

Cotton Candy is a mini Linux box in a package resembling a USB thumb drive. FXI Technologies, Inc., a Norway-based hardware and software startup which developed the product, has launched cstick.com, a community website and technical forum where Cotton Candy development units are immediately available for pre-order. (Unit shown in above video is an engineering […]

28C3: Reverse engineering USB devices

In this talk from the recent 28C3 conference in Berlin, Drew Fisher discusses the process of reverse engineering the Kinect audio protocol. He shows how the USB standard can help a reverse engineer out and proceeds to analyze a set of USB logs, finding patterns, building understanding, developing hypotheses of message structure, and eventually implementing […]

LiPo USB charger using the MCP73831

Paul Asselin has written a description of his design of a USB Lithium Polymer battery charger. I wanted to build a cheap USB LiPo charger and didn’t like the unavailability nor the price of the Maxim’s MAX1555. Searching for something better, I stumbled upon the Microchip MCP73831. It is still way too expensive in single […]

Open source USB stack for PIC18F and PIC24F updated

JTR released a major updated to the open source USB stack that’s been brewing in the forum. It’s been designed to work with a generic echo demo, the Bus Pirate v4, the USB IR toy, the LCD Backpack, the Locgic Shrimp, and the Logic Sniffer. So far only the CDC class is supported, meaning only […]

28C3: Dead drops

In this lightning talk from the recently concluded 28C3 Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, Aram Bartholl presents updated information on the topic of dead drops. Dead drops are a means of anonymously conveying data using USB drives physically embedded in public spaces. (See this post from 2010.) This talk also highlights the existence of WiFi […]

USB gamepad attachment for the Nokia N900

Andrzej “Emeryth” Surowiec writes: “I wanted to share my latest hack with you – a USB gamepad attachment for the Nokia N900. I’ve built a gamepad that connects to the USB port and fits nicely over the keyboard. It features 8 buttons and a PSP joystick, the device emulates a USB keyboard so it works […]

FXI demos “any screen” connected computing USB device

Trev writes to inform us of an Android computer in a USB key. This device is now being prototyped by FXI and has been code named Cotton Candy. “The Cotton Candy is a USB stick sized computer device that allows users a single, secure point of access to all personal cloud services and apps through […]

TIDeals: MSP-EXP430F5529 USB experimenter’s board

Bluehash from 43Oh writes to inform us of today’s TiDeal: the MSP430F5529 USB Experimenter’s Board. “On the board itself is USB connectivity, a five-button capacitive touch pad, a MicroSD slot with a 1GB card included, a 102 X 64 dot matrix LCD, four push buttons, three LEDs, a scroll wheel/potentiometer.” TI is offering this dev […]

IOIO andriod development board gets bluetooth support

Ytai demoed an IOIO android development board over Bluetooth. Connect the board to your Android enabled device and control various IO pins on the board: IOIO is a board providing I/O connectivity for Android. Until recently it would use a USB connection for communicate with Android. Yesterday, I announced Bluetooth support, which is achieved by plugging any […]

App note: Designing USB devices for proper current and max power

This ‘app note’ was posted in the forum by rsdio. Great advice for designing USB devices for proper current and maximum power: There are some common misconceptions about USB Device design with regard to the amount of current available and the MaxPower field of the USB Descriptors. Many DIY developers simply enter the maximum 500 […]

Announcing an open source USB stack for PIC 18F and 24F

Good news everyone! A new free and open source USB stack is now available for PIC microcontrollers. Today we finished testing and prepared a simple echo test that works with PIC 18F and 24F. We hope a demo release will get more developers involved. A release package and overview are in the forum. As always, […]

Lightpack – USB content-driving ambient lighting system

Atarity writes to inform us of a project being developed in Russia known as the Lightpack 5.5, with an English language wiki page available. The software analyzes the image on your monitor and transfers its data by USB to the Lightpack board. This board lights the surface behind a monitor, TV or laptop by means […]

Microchip releases AR1100 USB touchscreen controller

Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions, has announced the release of the mTouch™ AR1100 Analog Resistive USB Touch-Screen Controller. Building upon the AR1000 Analog Resistive Touch-Screen Controller series, the AR1100 controller is a high-performance, USB plug-and-play device that offers advanced calibration capabilities as a USB mouse or single-input digitizer. […]

USB 3.0 peripheral controller EZ-USB FX3

viswesr writes: Cypress has a new USB 3.0 peripheral controller EZ-USB FX3 – CYUSB3014 with ARM926EJS core. It has an architecture which enables data transfers of 320 MBps from GPIF II (a 32bit Port) to USB 3.0 interface.This value includes protocol overheads. This is a promising device for Open Logic analyzers, DSOs and any data […]

Propeller software USB host

Beth from scanlime has posted this code for creating a USB host in software on the Parallax Propeller. Beth got interested in this concept while considering whether USB WiFi and Bluetooth modules could be interfaced to the Propeller. She wanted to see if a USB host controller could be implemented entirely in software on the […]

Another PIC18F USB device on a breadboard

Here’s another simple PIC USB breadboard example from the comments on our earlier post: Here’s another intro guide to 18F usb on a breadboard In this article I will show how to breadboard a simple USB generic HID device, creating the PIC18F firmware and finally creating the Windows interface for the device which will allow […]