Author: Coda (i-195-137-59-15.freedom2surf.net)
Date: 07-30-2004 20:27
*My comments denoted by a '*'...
The Paranoid wrote:
-------------------------------
Hello, interested people,
i think i have an idea for a USB adapter for any Atari
ST, STE, TT and Falcon using the machine's ROM-
port. I think i could write the drivers, at
*8Mhz ST's will be too slow for USB unless you are only going to provide interupt transfer support (key/mouse etc) and even that will be difficult. Also the rom port does not have any way of signalling an interupt so you will have to poll the catridge port for data (not nice).
least the
lowlevel part and the API. My idea is based on using
a little 8-bit microcontroller with built-in USB 1.1
interface - for example, there is an 68HC08 like that.
*yeah you can do that, you will have to program the uc to handle ALL the device control, enumeration, and transfers, then you can concentrate on the problem of getting the data from the buffers into the ST quicke enough and doing something with it (replace mouse/key drivers?).
Naturally, i would also take over the programming
of the little 8-bit chip.
But i cannot do any kind of hardware development,
so i am looking for someone skilled and motivated
enough to start such a long-run project.
It will involve expenses (hardware, tools like
programming interfaces and such) and the result
is totally open as there are quite a few problems to
come by (simulated external data/address bus etc).
*If you learn what you can about uc's and read all the USB stuff you can (including the huge USB 2.0 spec sheet - www.usb.org) you will be in a good position when someone volunteers their time.
Is someone in here willing to take over the part of
developing the hardware and support the software
development to a certain degree ?
*There may be some more people able to help soon, as quite a few atarians are looking at USB specs in order to facilitate such a project. At the moment there are two USB/Ethernet interfaces that I am aware of being designed for the Falcon, one for CT60 and the other for non-CT60 Falcons. When the hard work of writing the USB stacks is done, then the focus will move to the VME machines, namely the TT and MegaSTe. It may be a long time before the ST's get USB, unless you find out who's doing what and try to write your stuff in parallel with their help.
Good luck.
Coda.
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