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Title: USB Design by Example: A Practical Guide to Building I/O Devices by John Hyde ISBN: 0471370487 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 30 August, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $55.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.15
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent introduction to developing USB peripherals
Comment: John says it's easy. I say that learning about USB can make your head spin. It's not a simple interface to understand. But John's book will help. He begins with a clear and concise explanation of what you need to know about how USB works. Then he starts teaching by example, including source code and circuits. The buttons and lights example has all of the essentials for reading and writing to USB devices, including Visual-Basic source code and EZ-USB assembly code for the peripheral. Many of the examples use Windows 98's HID drivers, so you don't need to write or install a device driver. There's also Visual-Basic code for detecting and displaying information about all attached USB devices. The CD-ROM has tons of useful code. This is a good book!
Rating: 2
Summary: Good Overview for Managers - Poor Programming Detail
Comment: This book starts out with a very good overview of the USB system. It then does a reasonable job giving one introductory programming example using the Anchor Chips EZ-USB chip. The rest of the book, however, seems to be a management level overview of all the things USB could/would do. But these are all high level examples with mostly pictures and block diagrams, and have little to no techincal details. Some of these refer to source code on the CD, at best, but there is no desciption of how to actually interface to any of the complicated devices. A detailed example of each of the USB communication methods (simple I/O, bulk port, isochronous port, ...) would have been better. It also needed better descriptions of all intervening OS software that is "magically" used to avoid writing new device drivers. Overall, it is a good overview for anyone that is new to USB, and has lots of high level ideas for a manager designing a new USB product, but very little detail for the software developer trying to develop a USB product.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good presentation, but Windows-centric
Comment: USB got off to a slow start but now provides device developers with a solid, stable, and pervasive connection strategy. Hyde's USB design by Example explains the technology and fulfills the promise in the title as a "practical guide."
Hyde is careful to stick to the assumptions stated early in the book. "I assume you have some fundamental electronic and programming skills, but I don't expect these to be your major field." Standard diagrams for signals and schematics every hardware engineer would recognize are presented throughout the book with an accompanying crisp and concise explanation for the non-hardware folks. I thought the level of technical explanation was "just right."
Included with the book is a CD ROM with PDF versions of all the relevant specifications, development tools, schematics, and other resources mentioned in the text. Hyde does much more than simply reword or restate these specifications. Instead, he describes chips, boards, and devices commercially available that would help jump-start your USB project.
The book is published by Intel University Press so there is a distinct "WinTel" bent to the work. Macintosh, the first major computer line to support USB, is barely mentioned and no software, examples, or descriptions discuss Apple's platform. Given one of the appeals for USB is its ability to work cross-platform, failure to have LINUX and MacOS examples at the same level as those given to Windows is a significant missed opportunity for the book.
Still, I highly recommend this guide for anyone interested in USB or interested in building devices for this new bus.
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Title: USB Complete: Everything You Need to Develop Custom USB Peripherals by Jan Axelson ISBN: 0965081958 Publisher: Lakeview Research Pub. Date: 15 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
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Title: Programming the Microsoft Windows Driver Model by Walter Oney ISBN: 0735605882 Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 13 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $49.99 |
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Title: Universal Serial Business System Architecture (PC System Architecture Series) by Don Anderson, Dave Dzatko ISBN: 0201309750 Publisher: Addison Wesley Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $44.99 |
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Title: Writing Windows Wdm Device Drivers: Covers Nt 4, Win 98, and Win 2000 by Chris Cant ISBN: 0879305657 Publisher: CMP Books Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
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Title: Parallel Port Complete: Programming, Interfacing & Using the PC'S Parallel Printer Port by Jan Axelson ISBN: 0965081915 Publisher: Pub Resource Pub. Date: February, 1997 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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