I have just begun a new project. I'd like to make my own simplistic computer mouse, since i'd like to learn how to program hardwear drivers and understand the protocols the hardwear uses. I have experience in both desktop and microcontroller programming. However, I haven't got a clue about how to write drivers. I'm working on a mac with OS X and the mouse only needs to be able to talk with OS X. I expect to use a MSP430 microcontroller from TI. I intend to connect my mouse via USB. I simply want to be directed in the right direction not specific help with the coding, yet. :)
I therefor have a couple of questions:
Should I write my own driver or is it possible to use a standard one?
If yes, what kind of driver should be written and where do you begin?
What kind of data should be sent to the mac to say, "Hey, I'm a computer mouse"?
Which protocols should I read about?
You can check USB HID articles for OSX side and if there exists for MSP430.
I think that you can use any other driver, if you emulate same behavior of the target device on your MSP side.
I'm trying to implement an AVRCP/A2DP connection between my Android phone and my car PC. The A2DP bit basically works out of the box so no issue there. I want the PC to be the AVRCP CT (controller) and the A2DP sink. The phone is the AVRCP TG (target) and the A2DP source.
Where I'm having trouble is getting any sort of AVRCP connection that I can use. Windows 7 comes with a toolbar application that at least provides the basic play/pause/skip/stop type functions. So it definitely works with the software I have without any extra drivers or otherwise. However my searching has produced little results on any way to do this or documentation on creating an L2CAP connection which I believe I need.
The 32feet.NET libraries don't support L2CAP connections unless you use a Broadcom/Widcomm stack. Buying a new BT USB device may be a viable solution but at the moment I'm trying to do this all in software :). i.e. like this although there a problems noted there that weren't solve (or reported as solved)
link: How can I establish an AVRCP connection from Windows 7 (controller) to phone (target) using L2CAP on Widcomm SDK?
I'd prefer to do it C# if possible but if I had some kind of library to interface with my code, that would be fine (like the 32feet.NET library which works quite well for the things it does work on.)
This is about the closest I've got but is all a bit Greek to me and not quite enough to get me started (I'm an embedded guy):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff536674(v=vs.85).aspx
Is Bluetooth really such a mess on Windows that it seems to be from my searching? There are multiple different stacks that all seem to be significantly different in terms of the API etc.
Can anyone point me in the right direction? I've done a lot of searching/reading other posts here and elsewhere and not really made any progress.
Thanks
Christian
I am trying to find out how I should go about making my own gamepad compatible with windows based games. I have used some time to read up on windows drivers but I feel kind of lost and unsure about how I should solve my problem. What i am asking for is some guidance toward what kind of solution or approach I should take.
So I have made a Arduino based GamePad which communicates with the computer over serialport(usb). From here I assume I need to make a driver which identifies itself as a GamePad(Device driver, Plug and Play driver)? I am not sure if I am done at this point or if I have to be compatible with DirectInput somehow?
-Michael
Forum thread about arduino and ppJoy virtual joystick.
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210699098
I need to read a small image (tif format) from PC to FPGA kit (ALTERA DE2-70) for processing, then write it back to PC. I have no idea how to do it in Verilog?
Can it be done in C? if so, how can I combine my C/HDL code to work together?
Thank you!
a few mounts ago i were having the same problem, but i wanted to send and receive a real time image. back then i was researching and the best (fast an chip) solution that i find was the XEM6001 of opalkelly. http://www.opalkelly.com/products/xem6001/
specify controller (Cypress cy68013a) that handle all the communication on a 36 MBytes/second between the PC and FPGA in USB.
and API (Application Programmer's Interface) in C, C++, C#, Ruby, Python, and Java. the price 200$. ---odsa---
I know this probably is not the easiest thing to do, but I am trying to connect Microcontroller and PC using USB. I dont want to use internal USART of Microcontroller or USB to RS232 converted, its project indended to help me understand various principles.
So, getting the communication done from the Microcontroller side is piece of cake - I mean, when I know he protocol, its relativelly easy to implement it on Micro, becouse I am in direct control of evrything, even precise timing.
But this is not the case of PC. I am not very familiar with concept of Windows handling the devices connected. In one of my previous question I ask about how Windows works with devices thru drivers. I understood that for internal use of Windows, drivers must have some default set of functions available to OS. I mean, when OS wants to access HDD, it calls HDD driver (which is probably internal in OS), with specific "questions" so that means that HDD driver has to be written to cooperate with Windows, to have write function in the proper place to be called by the OS. Something similiar is for GPU, Even DirectX, I mean DirectX must call specific functions from drivers, so drivers must be written to work with DX. I know, many functions from WinAPI works on their own, but even "simple" window must be in the end written into framebuffer, using MMIO to adress specified by drivers. Am I right?
So, I expected that Windows have internal functions, parts of WinAPI designed to work with certain comonly used things. To call manufacturer-designed drivers. But this seems to not be entirely true becouse Windows has no way to communicate thru Paralel port. I mean, there is no function in the WinAPI to work with serial port, but there are funcions to work with HDD,GPU and so.
But now there comes the part I am getting very lost at. So, I think Windows must have some built-in functions to communicate thru USB, becouse for example it handles USB flash memory. So, is there any WinAPI function designed to let user to operate USB thru that function, or when I want to use USB myself, do I have to call desired USB-driver function myself? Becouse all you need to send to USB controller is device adress and the infromation right? I mean, I don´t have to write any new drivers, am I right? Just to call WinAPI function if there is such, or directly call original USB driver. Does any of this make some sense?
To make your life easier, and avoid writing your own driver, try using the HID (Human Interface Device) API on top of USB. Although it says "Human Interface", it doesn't actually have to be for devices that a human controls. The advantage is that modern OSes already come with a HID driver and you can use sample code such as what you can find here to get started. Many microcontroller manufacturers provide suitable code for the embedded of the protocol.
Because OSes already understand HID, if you build a device using the HID interface you'll find that not only can you read from it from any OS, you may also find that many applications can already talk to your device if its communication is restricted to a small enough subset of HID. (For example, I built an input device for a music app, but amazingly I found I could literally plug it straight into a 3D animation app we use at work, running on a different OS, and have it work right away without writing a single additional line of code!)
This answer might aim you in the right direction.
The first answer here might also be helpful.
The answers to this have some actual code and links to yet other resources.
USB includes a set of stock functionality, much like supporting USB flash drives (USB Mass Storage class). The two most interesting for microcontroller interfacing are HID and CDC. CDC is easiest to use as it directly emulates an old fashioned serial port.
If you configure the microcontroller to act as a CDC device, Windows will enumerate it as a serial port, and all the old serial APIs will work on it.