Looking for a hobbyist microprocessor chip with USB host

[tom61]

I've encountered TI's TMS series ARM7 based processors with USB host onboard, but they all were BGA. Anyone know of a microprocessor chip with USB host, that is SMT or DIP and affordable in small quantities? Being able to run an embedded Linux (2MB of RAM, compatable processor type, etc.) with the least amount of supporting electronics would be a huge plus.

I'd like to create a customizable USB to USB bridge interface. Something that would allow PDAs with only USB client to access other USB devices. Possible application I can think of is to create a connection with a USB wifi or wired NIC and then bridge that with the USB serial connection with SLIP/PPP that a Pocket PC can use for internet.

 

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

i thought you can interface USB with just about any micro controller..

don't they sell USB host chips?? IIRC a freind of mine did that with an AVR

you can pick a controller, buy a host chip, and some ram... and that's it.. no??

 

[Whatsisname]

depends whether you have a usb <-> serial bridge along with the microcontroller or not

i thought you can interface USB with just about any micro controller..

don't they sell USB host chips?? IIRC a freind of mine did that with an AVR

you can pick a controller, buy a host chip, and some ram... and that's it.. no??

 

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

depends whether you have a usb <-> serial bridge along with the microcontroller or not

I'm sure it can be done.. worst case.. you can always buy an FPGA or CPLD and interface the whole deal to your micro controller...

but i digress.... i really don't have any experience with the USB interface.. sounds like the OP has a cool project idea though...

 

[tom61]

i thought you can interface USB with just about any micro controller..

don't they sell USB host chips?? IIRC a freind of mine did that with an AVR

you can pick a controller, buy a host chip, and some ram... and that's it.. no??

USB client on a micro controller is easy to do, and I've seen a handful AVR projects that implemented simple gadget support on thier AVR, however I haven't found any with USB host.

There are USB host chips, but I don't know how to interface them. I'm not so good in the software side of things, and since I likely can't enlist the help of a software engineer, I'd like something simple to get the software going. Messing with I2C, I2S, etc. is beyond my level without handholding. Defianately post more info about your friend's project, particularly if you hook up a USB device (like a thumbdrive) to it, rather than hook it to a computer with USB.

On the other hand, it should be fairly simple to take a SoC like the TI TMS320DM270 (The SoC in a media player I'm playing with hacking, hence my familiarity with it), put uCLinux on it, setup the USB drivers for the PDA client (a type of serial to USB interface in Pocket PCs) and the WiFi client, and bridge the connections (like you would to surf from a PDA connected to to a computer via USB). Unfortunately, the TI chip is both BGA, and unavailable to hobbyists.

 

[DirtyLude]

Ya, I've done USB -> serial projects as slaves before, but host is much different.

There's plenty of other ARM7 chips that are available and cheap.. ST, Atmel, and Phillips all have ones available from Digikey in QFP packages in single quantities. I've been playing with an AT91SAM7S256 here. uCLinux is available for all these chips. If you want to go crazy, the ARM9 chips are out.

There are USB bridges available, if you just want to transfer data between USB drive devices.