document updated 18 years ago, on Apr 5, 2006
The FPGA on a Rope project uses 87LPC764 microcontroller that seems pretty similar to the EZ-USB packages, except the EZ-USB ones are ~50+ pins, while the 87LPC764 is 20 pin. And the EZ-USB adds USB, thereby getting around the inherent speed limitation of the I2C bus.
Also, the NSX/N64 controller to USB adapter uses an older Cypress USB microcontroller.
There are other USB enabled microcontrollers, but:
- Can be programmed via the USB connection, and then reattach itself with your code.
- There seems to be a lot of hobbyist support for the EZ-USB, either in usenet help, as well as in linux drivers, apps, and example code.
- It's available in inexpensive prebuilt development boards.
- It can load its code from an 8-pin I2C EEPROM chip, and the EEPROM chip can be programmed via a bit-banging parallel port, or as passed through from the USB to the microcontroller to the I2C to the EEPROM.
There's also FTDI's super-easy USB interface sans microcontroller, with a parallel interface. However, I'm worried about the long-term availabilty of the chips and company, and the lack of flexibility from a driver standpoint may or may not be limiting. Note though, that this is what I was looking for before.
Okay, the Xess kits just roxor your boxors, and apparently every learning institution including your pimp is using one. So this may be an obvious final choice. A tad bit more expensive than I was wanting, but they look like they're more capable too. :) *sniff* I'm gonna shed a few tears...