| ??? 10/03/04 19:09 Read: times |
#78629 - RE: Hating USB Responding to: ???'s previous message |
How many times have you had to futz with things to get RS-232 to work? Very, very few, actually. And normal users even less frequently. It's only those that have a lot of weird devices (often home-brewed) and a lot of unlabeled cables that get into that problem. That really hasn't been my experience. And it's not the homebrew devices -- I gave a bunch of examples. Hey, I have some and can think of other serial devices which don't have Linux (or Mac OS) support. Let's see -- programming dongles from Xilinx. A nifty I2C EEPROM programmer from Microchip. The dbx DriveRack 260 DSP. A Rane DSP. BSS Omnidrives. A Video Instruments test-pattern generator box. Etc. And USB just makes it even more unlikely that they'll be supported since it requires both a Linux version of the application and a Linux version of the USB driver. Forget Linux -- a lot of audio people use Macs and have been clamoring for OS X versions of the software that is used to control the various processors. It's not a USB problem -- it's a "which OS do we want to support" problem. I wrote the keyboard demo code for the TUSB2136. I can assure you it's significantly more complex than MOV SBUF,A. I understand that the job isn't simple. My Palm m130's USB cradle worked for all of about half an hour before it died with a known USB problem (i.e. a USB implementation problem that was Palm's fault) for which there was no solution other than to get a serial cradle. Which I did. Spent an extra $20 for the serial cradle the next day and have had no problems with it since (and it works under Linux!). Hey, that's not a USB problem -- that's Palm's stupid implementation. "No solution other than to get a serial cradle"? Gimme a break -- Palm should have given you your money back. Like I said, I'm not against USB. I'm just against USB replacing DB9 RS232 which costs all of a few pennies to include on a motherboard. ...but USB isn't about saving money (obviously). It's about making life easier for Joe or Jane Average User. And, I posit that us engineer/techie types -- esp. someone running Linux -- are NOT the Average User. Heck, my laptop even has a cut-out on the plastic case for where a DB9 should go. I'm sure the motherboard has 9 holes where a DB9 could go, too. Once this thing is out of warranty I'll probably open it up myself and slap a DB9 on there. Yeah, but is there any logic on the motherboard to support that serial port? I wrote the TUSB2136 keyboard example code for TI a few years ago. I had a lot of fun learning all about USB and writing a USB device would still be fun today. But the code to write a simple HID keyboard was several C files and I wouldn't even want to think about writing it in assembly. Even when I was developing the USB keyboard firmware I was using the serial port to get debug messages out, confirm where the code was going, etc. Yes, it's complicated. But the point is that you can build on the work you've done learning how to do something simple. All of the stuff (USB engine, data handling, etc) needed to do that simple keyboard can be used for a more interesting project. To this day I get email from people that are having problems getting USB working on TI USB devices. Well, that's a TI problem. You've gotta sign an NDA to get access to the support people and the app notes. And the app notes are incomplete and riven with spelling and technical problems. I mean, the support docs for the TAS1020B are rather abysmal. I think if they reall wanted to be in the USB game, they'd do what Cypress does and put as much stuff on the web in their support area as possible. And several 'C' files is significantly more bulky than MOV SBUF,A. And a lot of applications are significantly more complicated than a simple serial port. I guess if the point is that if you want to do something simple, yeah, USB is certainly overkill. But if you want to do something more complicated, or something that needs a faster pipe, then USB becomes very attractive. And, from the end user's point of view, it's great to have ONE type of connector and ONE type of cable. --a |
