If you want to learn more about the Universal Serial Bus, this is your month. I’m dubbing the May issue the “USB Bonanza,” and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment. The lineup includes three fantastic articles about dealing with the inevitable loss of serial and parallel ports on PCs and laptops. If you haven’t adapted to the changeover to USB yet, you will likely have to in the near future as more and more manufacturers move in that direction. These informative articles will help you get started.

First up we have Robert Lang’s “USB Interface Development” (p. 12). Faced with the elimination of classic serial and parallel ports on PCs, Robert recognized the need to develop an interface to work with USB ports in order to facilitate data acquisition. When he was finished designing his new interface, he thought other people in a similar position would find his experience useful. We agreed. The first step is to familiarize yourself with USB. In this article, Robert provides a helpful overview of USB and walks you through the process of choosing the right chip and software development system to build your own circuit board. If you’re in the market for a USB-capable chip, you’ll appreciate Robert’s thorough examination of today’s popular options.

Daniel Cross-Cole also realized the pressing need for a USB interface (p. 30). Daniel’s chief goal was to design an interface to support analog-to-digital conversion and measurement applications. He accomplished his goal with a National Semiconductor ADC0820 chip and a Cypress EZ-USB kit. The result is a well-designed interface suitable for a variety of practical applications and classroom experiments. In “USB 2.0 Interface,” Daniel shares the valuable lessons he learned along the way and outlines how this interface can be used to teach engineering students about signal processing, among other things.

In addition to Robert and Daniel’s articles, we also have a feature about USB by Stuart Ball (p. 76). Stuart’s particular concern was losing the parallel printer port he had traditionally used to control the various devices he connects to his PC. He solved this dilemma with the custom-built Atmel ATmega8515 microprocessor-based USBLab, which plugs directly into a USB port. The ATmega8515 is connected to a DLP-USB245 USB adapter by DLP Design. With eight bidirectional data bits, three address bits, a read/write direction control line, a data strobe, and serial input and output, the USBLab has everything you need to overcome the loss of a printer port. The USBLab provides useful debugging capability for devices connected to a PC. In addition to step-by-step instructions on how to design your own USBLab, Stuart includes a helpful sidebar about attaching USB devices to PCs running Windows.

As you contemplate how you’ll adjust to the push toward USB, these articles will serve as a guide to help you choose the right course of action and avoid certain pitfalls. Good luck!

jennifer.huber@circuitcellar.com