Re: [NTLK] Giving the Newton some USB lovin' (long'n'winded!) [Related topic, off in another direction]

Randy Glenn wrote:
> All of the devices you've mentioned are USB Device Controllers. USB
> Host Controllers are immensely scary to develop, and there simply
> aren't that many of them out there (I think you'll find most devices
> that have a USB host have some sort of PCI bus as well)

This is not entirely correct. Yes, most, but not all by any means. While
the Philips IC I cited last night certainly is not a USB Host
controller, this one is, http://www.nxp.com/pip/ISP1160BD_01.html , and
is specifically designed to support direct parallel interfacing to ARM7
and StrongARM processors, via their GPIO pins. (They say "Glueless
interface to various µC and RISC processors") Philips also provides a
host stack written in C.

>
> Beyond that, a USB stack would have to be implemented on the Newton.
> That's a whole other level of scary.

There are USB Host microcontrollers that are specifically designed to
implement as much of the stack in hardware as possible, for embedded
uses (yes, even as USB Host devices), so not necessarily.

This company, http://www.vinculum.com/prd_vnc1l.html , *specializes* in
making USB Host Controller ICs which are designed to be adapted into
existing serial environments. You can source development modules from
http://apple.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/ftdichip?productID=62&op=catalogue-product_info-null&prodCategoryID=53
for about $25 each. They even offer packs of ten for about $190. This
device can communicate to the processor via Motorola SPI, UART, and FIFO
MCU. This device can communicate via RS-422 in UART mode, and since the
Newton's RS-422 port can be clocked at up to 2mbit/sec via external
sync, this becomes feasable. This thing even has PS/2 and mouse
interfaces, for communicating externally to the host by way of! And
remember, this is a USB *Host* controller.
See http://www.alphamicro.net/components/product~line~9~id~289.asp

>
> I don't think that having the Newton as a USB host is ever going to
> happen on existing hardware. Any such work would probably involve some
> other platform doing the heavy lifting, and Einstein taking advantage
> of it.

Well, I guess we can always agree to disagree. All it takes is a couple
of people to believe differently, and I think if one actually takes a
long hard look at some of the hardware that is out there and
specifically designed to accommodate people in our situations, it
becomes self-evident that this is a real possibility.

>
> -Randy
>
> On 9/27/06, Alex Perez <aperez@alexperez.com> wrote:
>> As a follow-up to my previous connectivity e-mail, I should also state
>> that I firmly believe a longer-term approach to this connectivity issue
>> is to devise a way to get proper USB ports functioning on the Newton.
>> This is probably only practical at USB 1.0 Low-speed rates, but perhaps
>> not. Can anyone comment on this?
> (Snipped due to Ecartis stupidity)
>> Keep on truckin, (heh)
>> Alex Perez
>> --
>> This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
>> Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
>> WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
>>
>>
>
>

-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/