Northwest Computer Engineering
The Universal Serial Bus represents a "sea-change" in the way peripheral devices such as mice, keyboards, sound cards, modems, printers and similar devices will be connected to your PC in the near future.
The PC Industry as a whole is moving rapidly towards a "locked-box" approach to computer design. This approach means that you will never have to take the lid off your computer again. Just like a Hi-Fi, a computer shouldn't have to be completely disassembled to add a component. The USB will allow this "locked-box" approach.
Imagine never having to deal with Card Slots, IRQ jumpers, DMA channels, Device Addresses, and the like when you add your new gadget to your PC. Just plug the device in to a USB connector port and you're done. The PC will recognize the device, automatically install the software (first time only), and you're done!
If you're out of extra USB connector ports, just add a very inexpensive USB "hub" module and you instantly have several more USB ports for more devices! It's literally that easy!
Furthermore, you can plug and unplug a device without shutting off your computer. If you want to add or change a joystick, for example, just do it! The computer will know you've changed or added a device, figure out what it is, and run it accordingly! If a game you want to run needs a different joystick, just change it. You computer takes care of the rest for you.
A USB device looks very little different from any current device. A mouse is still a mouse, only with a different connector. Same for a printer, joystick or any other device which attaches to your computer. The only real difference is that you plug all devices into a single type of connector port: a USB port.
Every kind of device (except disk-drives or graphic cards or similar ultra-high-speed devices) plug into a USB port. And, your device plugs into any USB port. There's no USB port dedicated to just one kind of device. It's goodbye to Printer ports, COM ports, Mouse ports, etc. The USB connectors handle all devices interchangeably and in any order.
Well, all the simplicity in the use of a USB product comes at the expense of the complexity of the product design. Each USB device has a very high level of complex embedded hardware and software to make it function smoothly with all other USB devices and the computer's operating system.
Northwest Computer Engineering knows the "ins and outs" of USB design. Not that the knowledge is arcane or secret or unobtainable...it's just that the extraordinary complexity of USB design requires experience and special skills to develop a reliable, long life-cycle product.
To explore for yourself the intricacies of USB design, follow these links:
Northwest Computer Engineering can help you design your USB product! We've been through the "learning curve" and can save you the cost and time involved in learning a whole new hardware and software system. We can deliver a USB design including the electronics, enclosure, imbedded software and system VxD drivers for Windows 95 and Windows NT. You'll have your product design, ready to manufacture, many months ahead of the "do it yourself" route.
See Northwest Computer Engineering's USB design examples.