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Help with prototype mouse - reward

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lucid-nonsense:

--- Quote from: Applet on Tue, 23 November 2021, 09:28:28 ---Unfortunately, the MCU is not compatible with QMK (the most popular keyboard firmware that's also used in some computer mice), otherwise you could have used that. If you only have a hardware design, you'll need to write and flash the software for it to be able to act as a mouse. If there is no software flashed to the microcontroller, it won't do anything. (tho if using open source stuff, you NEED to check the licence)

--- End quote ---

Okay, thanks a lot, I really don't know much about electronics.


--- Quote ---I'm a bit curious about the shape, is it to be circular with no buttons? Or is this some kind of dev-board?
--- End quote ---
The buttons will be on the end of wires, on a handle.


--- Quote ---I'd recommend to not post name of the person who designed this publicly like this (and yours I assume), the internet can be a weird place.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, you're right, I removed it.


--- Quote ---It definitely cannot work if D+ line is pulled up to 3.3V through only 33 Ohm resistor. Though it might work if your MCU has this pull-up functionality internally and the external R2 is not used. Who did your HW again when he put a wrong resistor in the schematic? Just to know who to avoid? Don't worry, just kidding. Mistakes happen.
--- End quote ---

Yeah, this is the guy I hired to check the work of the first person I hired... Oh well, at least that shouldn't be too hard to fix. Thanks a lot.


--- Quote ---If you do not have any idea about the firmware needed then you just forgot to budget for one of the major (and possibly the biggest) parts in your project. It may be anywhere from about 2 man-weeks up to many man-months depending on what you want and what libraries are already available and what licenses are acceptable for the final (possibly commercial) use.
--- End quote ---

Thanks, I thought that since it was plug ang play, I didn't need any special software. The electronics engineer should've told me that though!

I found another mouse that uses the same MCU, if I got the firmware for that, would it make writing the code faster?

vvp:

--- Quote from: lucid-nonsense on Tue, 23 November 2021, 10:43:16 ---Thanks, I thought that since it was plug ang play, I didn't need any special software. The electronics engineer should've told me that though!
I found another mouse that uses the same MCU, if I got the firmware for that, would it make writing the code faster?

--- End quote ---
Yes, the electronics engineer should have tell you that you need also firmware on the MCU. Well, maybe he was under impression that you know that and have a different person to take care of it. EDIT: Meybe the electronics engineer thought that the MCUs you ordered have firmware preloaded for just the HW he designed. It is very unlikely but may happen.

If you have a mouse firmware which works on the MCU and the license of the firmware is acceptable and you have the source code of the firmware then that would help a lot. But it may not be such a problem even if you want to use a firmware originally intended for a diffrenet MCU. E.g. a friend of my ported ATmega firmware to ATxmega firmware in about a day. Other hardware design details than only the MCU selection may have even bigger impact (e.g. what sensors are used and what communication protocols the sensors require). On the other side, if your HW design is almost the same as the design used by the firmware you have than it could be loaded without modification. In such an unlikely case it can be only a day or few days of work. The work would be mostly only to verify that the HW design is the same to a sufficient degree.

Plug and play in this case means that you do not need a PC driver for your mouse (if the mouse firmware only implements USB mouse specification without extensions). But the device (i.e. your mouse) still needs a firmware inside. Firmware is a name for a software which runs inside a device (e.g. a mouse).

lucid-nonsense:
Thanks a lot, that was very clear. I knew electronics needed firmware, I just didn't realize the firmware had to be custom to the board! Embarrassing! Oh well, it's not skydiving, I don't have to get it right the first time.

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