usb

645 Articles

Adding USB-C (Kinda) To A PowerMac G4

February 15, 2025 by 9 Comments

For those who’ve never bitten the Apple, the PowerMac G4 was a blue-tinted desktop Macintosh offered from 1999 to 2004. At the time, the machines were plenty fast — being advertised as the first “personal supercomputer” when they hit the market. But Father Time is particularly harsh on silicon, so they’re properly archaic by modern standards.

As such, the rear panel of one of these machines is hardly where you’d expect to run into a functional USB-C port. But thanks to the efforts of [Dandu], old has officially met new. Critics will note that it’s not real USB-C, and instead uses USB 2.0 with the more modern connector. That’s true, but considering how many commercial devices we run into that are still using the same trick, we’ll give it a pass.

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USB Hub-A-Dub-Dub: Weird Edge Cases Are My Ruin

February 3, 2025 by 66 Comments

The Universal Serial Bus. The one bus to rule them all.  It brought peace and stability to the world of computer peripherals. No more would Apple and PC users have to buy their own special keyboards, mice, and printers. No more would computers sprout different ports for different types of hardware. USB was fast enough and good enough for just about everything you’d ever want to plug in to a computer.

We mostly think of USB devices as being plug-and-play; that you can just hook them up and they’ll work as intended. Fiddle around around with some edge cases, though, and you might quickly learn that’s not the case. That’s just what I found when I started running complicated livestreams from a laptop…

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Smallest USB Device… So Far

January 20, 2025 by 37 Comments

For better or worse it seems to be human nature to compete with one another, as individuals or teams, rather than experience contentedness while moving to the woods and admiring nature Thoreau-style. On the plus side, competition often results in benefits for all of us, driving down costs for everything from agriculture to medical care to technology. Although perhaps a niche area of competition, the realm of “smallest USB device” seems to have a new champion: this PCB built by [Emma] that’s barely larger than the USB connector pads themselves.

With one side hosting the pads to make contact with a standard USB type-A connector, the other side’s real estate is taken up by a tiny STM32 microcontroller, four phototransistors that can arm or disarm the microcontroller, and a tiny voltage regulator that drops the 5V provided by the USB port to the 3.3V the STM32 needs to operate. This is an impressive amount of computing power for less than three millimeters of vertical space, and can operate as a HID device with a wide variety of possible use cases.

Perhaps the most obvious thing to do with a device like this would be to build a more stealthy version of this handy tool to manage micromanagers, but there are certainly other tasks that a tiny HID can be put to use towards. And, as far as the smallest USB device competition goes, we’d also note that USB-A is not the smallest connector available and, therefore, the competition still has some potential if someone can figure out how to do something similar with an even smaller USB connector.

Thanks to [JohnU] for the tip!

Close up of a Hornet Nest circuit board

PoE-Power Protection: The Hornet Nest Alarm Panel

January 4, 2025 by 30 Comments

Have you ever thought of giving new buzz to outdated wired alarm systems or saving money while upgrading your home security? The Hornet Nest Alarm Panel, to which hacker [Patrick van Oosterwijck] contributes, does just that. Designed for domotics enthusiasts, it offers 42 sensor zones and seamless integration with Home Assistant and ESPHome. This open-source gem uses the wESP32 board, which combines an ESP32 with Ethernet and Power over Ethernet (PoE) for robust, reliable connectivity. Check out the Crowd Supply campaign for details.

So what makes this Hornet Nest special? Besides its hackable nature, it repurposes existing wired sensors, reducing waste and cost. Unlike WiFi-dependent solutions, the PoE-powered ESP32 ensures stable performance, even in hard-to-reach locations. The optional USB programming port is genius—it’s there when you need it but doesn’t clutter the board when you don’t. With its isolated circuits, long-cable safety, and smart Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth combination, this system ticks every DIY box.

Hackaday has featured other DIY PoE-powered projects, offering more inspiration for smart automation enthusiasts.

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Custom Firmware Adds Capabilities To Handie Talkie

January 3, 2025 by 57 Comments

Although ham radio can be an engaging, rewarding hobby, it does have a certain reputation for being popular among those who would fit in well at gated Florida communities where the preferred mode of transportation is the golf cart. For radio manufacturers this can be a boon, as this group tends to have a lot of money and not demand many new features in their technology. But for those of us who skew a bit younger, there are a few radios with custom firmware available that can add a lot of extra capabilities.

The new firmware is developed by [NicSure] for the Tidradio TD-H3 and TD-H8 models and also includes a browser-based utility for flashing it to the radio without having to install any other utilities. Once installed, users of these handheld radios will get extras like an improved S-meter and detection and display of CTCSS tones for repeater usage. There’s also a programmer available that allows the radio’s memory channels to be programmed easily from a computer and a remote terminal of sorts that allows the radio to be operated from the computer.

One of the latest firmware upgrades also includes a feature called Ultra Graph which is a live display of the activity on a selected frequency viewable on a computer screen. With a radio like this and its upgraded firmware, a lot of the capabilities of radios that sell for hundreds of dollars more can be used on a much more inexpensive handheld. All of this is possible thanks to an on-board USB-C interface which is another feature surprisingly resisted by other manufacturers even just for charging the batteries.

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ESP32 Hosts A USB Keyboard In This Typewriter

November 17, 2024 by 14 Comments

Did you know the ESP32 can be a USB host? Well it can, and [Volos] uses host mode to build this fun little word processor.

The venerable ESP32 has a well-known USB device mode. Anyone who has programmed one has used it. A bit less known is the microcontroller’s ability to host USB devices. These days, operating as a USB device is relatively simple. But acting as a host is a much more complex task. The ESP32 has a software host that works — but only for Human Interface Devices (HID).  Human interface devices generally are keyboards, mice, trackballs, and similar devices that handle data relatively slowly, forming the interface with us simple humans.

[Volos] uses the EspUsbHost Arduino library for this project. The library makes USB host mode simple to use. Another piece of the puzzle is the LCD board [Volos] picked. It has a dual-role USB Type-C port, meaning the hardware to switch roles is baked in. Other boards may require some modifications or special cables to make things work.

The software is the best part of this build. [Volos] implemented a simple word processor. It can save and load files from a microSD card and, of course, edit text — all controlled by a USB keyboard. He had to use a 4-bit palette to save memory. This gives the device a retro charm that reminds us of Don Lancaster’s TV Typewriter. The source for this and all of [Volos] projects can be found on GitHub. Now, all we need is a spell check that can fit in the memory constraints of the ESP32! We have to admit the chip has a lot of potential USB tricks.

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[rasteri] holding his HIDMan USB dongle

HIDman Brings Modern Input To Vintage PCs

November 9, 2024 by 34 Comments

Retro computing enthusiasts, rejoice! HIDman, [rasteri]’s latest open source creation, bridges the gap between modern USB input devices and vintage PCs, from the IBM 5150 to machines with PS/2 ports. Frustrated by the struggle to find functioning retro peripherals, [rasteri] developed HIDman as an affordable, compact, and plug-and-play solution that even non-techies can appreciate.

The heart of HIDman is the CH559 microcontroller, chosen for its dual USB host ports and an ideal balance of power and cost-efficiency. This chip enables HIDman’s versatility, supporting serial mice and various keyboard protocols. Building a custom parser for the tricky USB HID protocol posed challenges, but [rasteri]’s perseverance paid off, ensuring smooth communication between modern devices and older systems.

Design-wise, the project includes a thoughtful circuit board layout that fits snugly in its case, marrying functionality with aesthetics. Retro computing fans can jump in by building HIDman themselves using the files in the GitHub repository, or by opting for the ready-made unit.

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