Tag Archives: USB


Adding hardware media controller to your PC

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Keyboards with extra keys for quick multimedia control are a handy shortcut for geeks who love to listen to music while working on their computers. However, not all keyboards contain those extra keys. The Peng Multimedia Controller project is a DIY USB hardware device that provides shortcut keys for easy media control. It supports the basic media control features such as Next/Previous, Play/Pause and volume control. The project uses Atmega8 microcontroller which communicates with the PC through a software-only implementation of USB using V-USB. While push switches are used for Play/Pause and Next/Previous functions, a linear potentiometer is used for volume control. The casing for the project is custom-designed using 3-D printer.

 

USB media controller

USB media controller

[via HackAday]

USB business card with a computer chip

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Have you ever seen a business card with a computer chip embedded on it? This one does. It has an ATtiny85 microcontroller chip that stores all your personal details. You plug it into an USB port of your computer, and find the details about the person opened into a text editor. The firmware uses V-USB (which is a software only implementation of USB) that allows the ATtiny85 microcontroller to act as an USB keyboard device, and type the stored info into the open text editor window.

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Open Source USB AVR Programmer for Students and Hobbyists

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If you cannot afford to buy a USB programmer for AVR, don’t worry, you can make one by yourself. This programmer uses a Atmega8 microcontroller with a few external passive components. The good thing is you don’t need any USB controller because it is implemented in the firmware inside Atmega8. Yes, you are right, you need an AVR programmer once to load the firmware inside Atmega8. You figure out how you gonna manage that.

This programmer has been tested under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux and worked well. It can program a chip at speed up to 5Kbytes/sec. The firmware for Atmega8 and necessary drivers for host computer are available for free.

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