Author Topic: Teensy Alternatives (Read 9467 times)

SmallFry · « **on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 08:26:42 »

So I was looking to find myself a micro controller lying around the house so I didn't have to buy a teensy. I found an AVR Butterfly... Would this be a sufficient alternative to the teensy for either Soarer's or Dfj's USB conversions?

dfj · « **Reply #1 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 08:40:22 »

Not for the usb conversions, as it is programmed and used via a serial connector - but with the lcd it is a very handy debugging tool...
Using it is similar to the other atmel 8-bit chips, so messing with it won't be hard - it is roughly equivalent to an older arduino, with serial, 16k flash, etc... with the bonus of an lcd. lcd eats a bunch of the io pins, so when you get tight, you'll need to fiddle with that.
Nice price, though.

SmallFry · « **Reply #2 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 09:11:34 »

They are easily reprogrammable though, yes? I believe all i'd need to do is solder in three wires then duct tape to my com port:P

dfj · « **Reply #3 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 09:36:32 »

If you have a working com port, then yeah - win.
I would use a serial cable, myself, call me a prude.

dfj

The Solutor · « **Reply #4 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 11:39:26 »

Still not deeply looked in that matter but the arduino family looks interesting too.

dfj · « **Reply #5 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 11:58:48 »

The newer arduinos with usb are contenders, but the firmware would need to be rewritten to live on two chips, as the usb chip, and main uC are separate in the arduinos. This is a fair bit of work, and presents some complications, as the usb chip on the arduino does not have support for as many usb devices as the teensy.
To get multimedia keys and boot support uses two devices, report protocol (for nkro) and a debug stream consume another two... if you want mouse support, you are at five... the teensy can handle the device we want to make, but the arduino's usb chip can only do two or three devices, I think. Working around this is often possible to some degree, but it is a fair bit of extra work.
I'll look into it at some point, since they are dirt cheap without the arduino. But still,
an ard will be straining hard to support a 122 F nicely.

Input Nirvana · « **Reply #6 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 12:26:07 »

Are these items that would possible work for this?:

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?19458-QWERTY-to-Colemak-via-hardware.-USB-key-or-built-in-hardware-firmware

Solutor? Can you figure that out maybe?

The Solutor · « **Reply #7 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 13:02:51 »

I think it should

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?20567-Teensy-Alternatives&p=391627#post391627

But the hard part is the SW.

I'm not a programmer, we need someone skilled with this kind of device.

wcass · « **Reply #8 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 16:09:50 »

it would be nice to see a Teensy with a built in USB hub. could one use a AT43USB320A?

alaricljs · « **Reply #9 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 18:02:05 »

I suppose you could, but then you'd be working with a discontinued chip

Input Nirvana · « **Reply #10 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 19:49:49 »

Quote from: alaricljs;391898

I suppose you could, but then you'd be working with a discontinued chip

Ix-nay. Not a good plan.

Turbinia · « **Reply #11 on:** Tue, 02 August 2011, 20:28:30 »

The reason people use the Teensy is because it acts well as a HID device, most arduino and other alternatives do not. Teensy is nice because you can program it with the arduino IDE and use many of its libraries. Arduino has a strong community of shared content that you can draw from.

kps · « **Reply #12 on:** Wed, 03 August 2011, 09:13:43 »

Hasu's firmware can be built with V-USB to run on some non-USB AVRs.

aggiejy · « **Reply #13 on:** Wed, 03 August 2011, 22:15:04 »

This was just launched... http://netmf.com/gadgeteer/

You can preorder for September. Not a cheap alternative, but some pretty sweet looking things included for the kit price.

Actual kit here:
http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/297

Interestingly it can emulate keyboard and mouse too. That little touch screen and joystick have Kineses mod written all over it input nirvana!!! I'll code it up if you design it.

hemflit · « **Reply #14 on:** Thu, 04 August 2011, 07:30:33 »

Teensy is optimal for USB keyboards and mice. It's not just a controller, it's a hassle-free development platform, dead easy to use, ready out of the box, and has pretty much all of the grunge work pre-done for you. You just need to download a couple of apps and plug in a micro-USB cable.

Instead of paying $16 for a Teensy, you could get something at a quarter of the price that is perfectly capable of doing the job. But it will be more grunge work for you, and it will typically call for side expenses for other components, a programmer board, a serial cable... If you think this kind of hacking would be a fun pursuit on its own, that's cool. If you just want to make a custom keyboard controller easily, quickly and reasonably cheap, I'd stick with Teensy.

(I don't know how applicable this is to the OP, as he's already got a Butterfly on his hands and presumably some extra equipment; it's more of a general point.)

the_buff · « **Reply #15 on:** Thu, 04 August 2011, 14:54:34 »

I ordered a teensy yesterday. I'm totally clueless about microcontrollers, but have some free time so I thought I would take a stab at it.

I'll be curious to see your results with the AVR Butterfly.

SmallFry · « **Reply #16 on:** Thu, 04 August 2011, 19:09:44 »

Since my Dad is proficient with microcontrollers (i.e. Teensy, AVR Butterfly and the board aggiejy suggested) Tonight I'll be programing my AVR with hasu's firmware. I'll post how it goes when we are done.

aggiejy · « **Reply #17 on:** Thu, 04 August 2011, 19:17:46 »

Quote from: the_buff;393052

I ordered a teensy yesterday. I'm totally clueless about microcontrollers, but have some free time so I thought I would take a stab at it.

I'll be curious to see your results with the AVR Butterfly.

Ditto... I did the day before yesterday and it arrived today.. FAST! (The Teensy++ actually) Haven't messed with it yet, but I got the breadboard and Tutorial 1-4 pack.

bpiphany · « **Reply #18 on:** Fri, 05 August 2011, 00:36:36 »

I just want to add that there is a debugging channel from the Teensy enabling debug data to be sent to the computer and viewed in a terminal application. Took me a while before I found realized this. I used to send keystrokes directly as from a keyboard to transfer the data =P

hasu · « **Reply #19 on:** Fri, 05 August 2011, 03:15:18 »

Quote from: kps;392218

Hasu's firmware can be built with V-USB to run on some non-USB AVRs.

Quote from: SmallFry;393199

Since my Dad is proficient with microcontrollers (i.e. Teensy, AVR Butterfly and the board aggiejy suggested) Tonight I'll be programing my AVR with hasu's firmware. I'll post how it goes when we are done.

My firmware supports PS/2 and ADB on Teensy(USB AVR), PS/2 on V-USB(normal AVR) but not XT protocol.
And I'm not sure V-USB supports AVR Butterfly, V-USB needs 12MHz or high clock but it seems not to has enough clock frequency.
You should go with dfj's or Soarer's one on Teensy if you need XT.

If you tried my firmware, any feedback is welcome whether it is successful or not.

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Author Topic: Teensy Alternatives (Read 9467 times)