usb host

Thread Starter

kiranag

Joined Apr 14, 2009
12
Hi everyone,
Can you please help me giving some ideas about programming a device which can act as usb host just like our PC?
That would be really helpful.
I will be waiting for your reply.
Thanks
 

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,192
just like our PC
There are a number of micros that support USB hosting, however, on a PC, the port runs within the OS environment, so you would have to emulate that environment, which is typically far beyond the capabilities of any micro. You could however run a subset of the port functionality for specific tasks.
 

ftsolutions

Joined Nov 21, 2009
48
The protocol stack and management code for a host functionality typically requires at least 64K bytes of code space, so only the larger microcontrollers have the flash code space available to do this function. The USB OTG (On the Go) functionality is a hybridization of host and slave/device functionality which is tailored to (somewhat) smaller systems (smaller than a PC anyway) which must be either a host or a target device, depending on what they are plugged into (such as cell phones, cameras, etc.) One can purchase code stacks from various 3rd party vendors, or else read the specs and spend ~ 6 months writing your own code. The 3rd party code requires some sort of commercial OS to run it, otherwise again you are doing code customization.

alternatively, for lower volume embedded products, I've used the Vinculum chip from FTDI (embedded RISC processor with various USB stack code programming options) to handle the USB heavy lifting, and just talk to it via serial interface or parallel/FIFO. Works pretty well if you need to get to market quickly or you won't want to invest in a large micro in the product for the code space/processing requirements..
 
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