Microsoft Revises USB Developer Documentation

The Microsoft Windows USB Core Team has finished a major review and update of the USB documentation on MSDN. As they explain in their latest bog post, USB Driver Documentation Updates in the MSDN Library, they have added more header file macro definitions, removed the unsupported USB Port Driver Interface, and added a lot of WinUSB information. There is also a new list of USB Device classes with Microsoft drivers.

Want to experiment with Linux? Get a Didj!

Now that the Didj has been discontinued by Leapfrog, it is sure to be on sale for much less than the cost of a similarly featured development board for Linux.  You can find all of the datasheets, reference material, and source to do your Linux experimenting at the eLinux.org Didj wiki page.  Below is a teardown of the toy and some processor specs, you can download the full datasheet from the site.

• 32bit CPU Embedded Architecture : 533MHz ARM926EJ with 16KByte I-Cache and 16KByte D-Cache.
• High performance 3D Graphics Accelerator
• USB 1.1 Host Controller, USB 2.0 Device, 4Ch UART
• LCD Controller, 8Ch DMA, Timer, Interrupt Controller, RTC
• SD/MMC, I2S, I2C, SSP, ADC, GPIOs, PWM, Power Manager

Leapster's Latest Handheld ARM-Linux Gaming Platform

Leapfrog is promoting the Leapster Explorer as an all in one platform for gaming, e-books, videos and educational content.  It can also function as a camera and video recorder if you purchase a camera accessory.  It has an ARM processor, 512MB of flash storage, a 420x420 pixel 3.2 inch touch screen, 3D graphic processing, and a flash engine for applications and video.  The image below is from an explorer review by Nicole Tanner at whattheyplay.com

The release of this new product seems related to the news that Leapster is discontinuing the Didj, another ARM processor based Linux gaming system that has been on the market only 2 years.  The Didj announcement isn't going over well with parents on the Leapfrog community forum.  Leapster2 owners are also upset that the cartridges will not be compatible with earlier products.

PIC18F Starter kit design competition

The PIC18F Starter kit design competition deadline is June 30th, 2010.  The winners do not receive cash or other prizes, but have the opportunity to showcase their coding skill and advertise their company.  The next version of the starter kit will include the winning designs as demos.

New Lattice XP2 FPGA kit available for $29

Press Release: New Low Cost Brevia Development Kit Accelerates Application Development for Popular LatticeXP2 FPGA Family

The LatticeXP2 Brevia Development Kit comes with all you need to start developing including a board, parallel JTAG cable, serial RS-232 cable, and AC adapter.

Update: This kit has been replaced by the $49 LatticeXP2 Brevia2 Board WITH LatticeXP2 FPGA: LFXP2-5E-6TN144C and on-board FTDI-based USB JTAG programmer.

3D Printers for the Masses

Fab@Home aims to change the way we live by allowing anyone to produce custom 3D objects with a 3D printer developed at Cornell University.  Shown below is Model 2 being developed in the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab.

You can build your own personal fabricator by following the instructions on the Fab@Home wiki or buy one at the NextFab Store.  The video below shows one in action creating a gear.

 

Here's another video showing how it can mill foam and wood.

Update: MakerBot is another 3D printer that you can make yourself for less than $1000 (Update: latest model fully assembled is almost $2000).  It creates ABS plastic models using a heated extrusion process.  You can buy a kit and spools of various colors of plastic material to create with at the MakerBot Store.

USB Implementers Forum Closes Public Forum

I have been working on a lot of USB firmware lately and found the best forum for this was at the USB Implementers Forum website. I found a lot of useful information and some great help from the community. Up to now, the USB-IF forum message board was accessible with a free registration. Unexpectedly, the forum is now closed to the public, my recent registration denied by the site. Yesterday, I noticed all links to the forum removed from the main USB.org site and all posts older than a few weeks deleted. I posted a message asking about the forum status but now, unless there is some mistake, I won't be able to see the response and assume it's members only.

I am seeing a lot more interest in USB for embedded systems designs, including USB devices, embedded hosts, and USB 3.0.  Most developer don't need their own vendor ID, many semiconductor vendors will let you use one for free if you use their chips.  For small companies or individual developers, the $4000 cost to become a member is very prohibitive.

UPDATE: A few links to public USB forums:
Jan Axelson's USB Forum
PIC
Microchip USB Forum
SparkFun PIC USB Development Forum
Linux
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.linux.usb.general

Avnet Electronics Offering Design Sessions for Pulse Oximetry and ECG With Analog Devices

Pulse oximetry and ECG are two new medical Avnet Electronics On-Ramp Technical Sessions. These will be given at qualified customer locations and include a demo of this pulse oximeter board.

Avnet Analog Devices Medical Solutions webpage.

Microsoft embeddedSpark Summer Challenge Opens

The Microsoft embeddedSPARK 2010 Challenge is now open with designs due June 8. The winner will receive a cash prize of $15000, $5000 for second and $1000 for third. The top three will present at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston this Fall.

New Cypress Microcontroller Features Onboard PLD

The Cypress PSoC 3: CY832 Family features 24 Universal Digital Blocks that can be configured from a library of functions or customized with Verilog code. The system includes an 8051 processor and also features an analog ADC with configurable input from every GPIO pin, an 8-bit DAC, and 2 comparators. Some devices will include USB and other interfaces.