Interfacing USB Drive to Microcontroller

[SKUPAD]

Hi,

I need advice on a possible project that does the following: -

              A PIC Microcontroller which acts as USB host device.
              The Microcontroller is able to read  or write a standard USB flash drive.
              The microcontroller that acts as the host must also be able to read and write in FAT.
 
               I have found USB HOST controller KITS from http://www.vinculum.com/products.html
               which can be controlled through dos like commands with serial link.

               Can anybody suggest me any other design idea.

Thanks.
 

[Angor]

May be this link help you...
http://www.ellisys.com/archive/ar030801.pdf

[SKUPAD]

Thank you Mr. Angor

But your reffered doc does not addresses the goal of the project.

USB interfaces are everywhere today, with low cost flash memory drives and all kinds of USB peripherals readily available. But these are very much focused on the PC market. Attempt to make use of these peripherals in the 8- and 16-bit embedded market and you'll find that implementation, cost and power consumption become major considerations. Part of this is due to the embedded controllers that are used in such systems. Devices such as the PIC family of controllers from Microchip are widely used with a broad range of memory densities and peripherals, but they lack the interfaces, resources and performance to incorporate a USB host controller.

A VNC1L Vinculum controller IC provides the interface between the PIC as the system controller and a USB 2.0 full-speed port. This allows a USB flash memory drive connection, for example, to be used with a minimum of implementation time and overhead but it is costlier.

We need any alternate idea to achieve the simmilar goal at minimum cost.

Thanks.

[pickit2]

The VNC1L USB is a Host Controller, and the Picmicros at this time are all Slave devices.
The high cost is the use of a Host device, such as the VNC1L.
The cost of this has to has to be added to your project, so most low volume projects don't get done.

[Stefkeb]

Hi,

An MCU with a USB On The Go Controller can do it, regular PIC's simply can't. If you really want to use a PIC the just released PIC32 has members with USB OTG.

Rgds,

StefkeB

[arash_tah]

Hi SKUPAD your project is a bit strange I recomand u some thing else
I think u can read and write on fat on mmc using ,PIC , there are several compiler with this facility I think u want read MMc  on computer after PIC write on it(am I right) making PIC as a host usb need special hard ware like ISP1161 and that is expensive and diffecult to use . I sugest u a ram reader for readin MMc on computer
I mean u write on mmc using PIC in fat style and then read mmc using ram reader
are u trying to make a date logger?

Posted on: April 12, 2008, 05:06:26 17:06 - Automerged
Oh by the way
good luck

[chrometsuba]

Is there a prebuilt stack to support USB MSC available?

[Bitburner]

Is there a prebuilt stack to support USB MSC available?

USB Mass Storage Device Using a PIC MCU
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1824&appnote=en024394



Posted on: April 17, 2008, 08:26:01 08:26 - Automerged

Thank you Mr. Angor

But your reffered doc does not addresses the goal of the project.

USB interfaces are everywhere today, with low cost flash memory drives and all kinds of USB peripherals readily available. But these are very much focused on the PC market. Attempt to make use of these peripherals in the 8- and 16-bit embedded market and you'll find that implementation, cost and power consumption become major considerations. Part of this is due to the embedded controllers that are used in such systems. Devices such as the PIC family of controllers from Microchip are widely used with a broad range of memory densities and peripherals, but they lack the interfaces, resources and performance to incorporate a USB host controller.

A VNC1L Vinculum controller IC provides the interface between the PIC as the system controller and a USB 2.0 full-speed port. This allows a USB flash memory drive connection, for example, to be used with a minimum of implementation time and overhead but it is costlier.

We need any alternate idea to achieve the simmilar goal at minimum cost.

Thanks.

You must remember that asside from the raw circuit support, you simply need more horsepower (MIP, RAM, etc..) to support the USB hosting functions then is managebly feasible with the 8 & 16 bit uCs.

ie. You not only have to worry about the circuit support for plugging in a USB slave device, but you have to provide firmware support for full support of the USB class, AS WELL AS support for reading and writting to FAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS.
Have you ventured into the development of your own Raw software to open, read, and modify a file located on a FAT partition?  If not.. trust me, the MS FAT system requires alot of uC instructions to deal with. And it's just plain "not fun".

If you want to interface 8 & 16 bit PICs with USB drives, there are quite a few options out there. DOS-On-Chip, Vinculum, etc.. which off-load the FAT file interfacing from having to be done by your PIC. Leaving your PIC to focus it's processing on the real purpose of the application intended.

If you want both, a PIC, onboard USB host capable of firmware to support hosting complex USB device slaves - then develop your project around a 32 bit PIC, and your hands become un-tied.

http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1824&appnote=en534213

 

[localcrack]

Try to use FTDI Vinculum -  Embedded USB Host Controller IC
please check the below link for more details

http://www.ftdichip.com/FTProducts.htm

[hugo]

Have you looked at the sample project by CCS where they made a USB mouse? That was an HID USB device but you can easy make a mass storage device.

[chrometsuba]

Unless I am reading the original question wrong, that appnote is going the wrong direction, I belive the intent of the original post was to store/retrieve data from a flask key where as the appnote is showing how to make a flash key not communicate to one.