Customer Reviews

USB Mass Storage: Designing and Programming Devices and Embedded Hosts

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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This is a very well done book on a very topical subject. USB mass storage has gotten so inexpensive that its use in dedicated embedded systems has become almost a given. And here is one book that talks about all aspects of putting such a system together.

The book basically covers three subjects:

First there is a general discussion of mass storage in general. This includes hard drives which may be the most economical for your application, and it includes various types of flash memory devices.

Second the book covers the hardware interface down to the level of giving a sample circuit.

Finally there is a description of the software that will be needed to get the devices to operate. This goes from the simple structure of the commands down to the definition of file systems.

In short, here is a complete guide to USB Mass Storage in one, fairly small, book. This is all the engineer/programmer needs. Ms. Axelson has written a number of books on USB in general and clearly knows whereof she speaks.

This book covers two areas of computer technology: creating USB based mass storage systems, using either rotating (disk) media or flash storage. It offers guidance and examples for each of these with a focus on the special requirements and limits of embedded hosts that access USB storage devices.

A design engineer who's task it is to design a USB based memory subsytem has options. He or she can contact various device manufacturers, request data sheets, and demo or development boards. This step will be needed. Next is to prototype several such devices, to create software drivers, and to debug the hardware and software. One could "google" for sources, and start there, or... One could purchase Jan's book and get a head start with both hardware selection AND with software driver development.

This book is well written, offers plenty of details and provides good direction for developing mass storage related devices. It exposes the magnitude of information one must learn to make a working product and is a great first start. The accompanying website www.lvr.com is also very helpful.

This book is an excellent attempt at addressing a technically complex subject. As long as you don't expect the book to hand you a complete solution, you won't be disappointed. The material can only be thoroughly understood by applying it. Many of the examples can be implemented with the development board from Microchip, which is very affordable.

Learn how to design devices with embedded hosts and share information with USB hosts with USB Mass Storage: Designing and Programming Devices and Embedded Hosts. From handling commands and data errors to interface specs, manipulating FAT file systems, and more, USB MASS STORAGE provides project managers and developers with all the basics on using industry standard commands, controllers, and ports.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I bought the book specifically because of the "Create embedded hosts that access USB storage devices" on the cover and in the summary. My aim was to learn more about what has to happen on a USB host in terms of initialization and communicating with a mass storage device. The book content on this topic is at a higher level and pretty short.

As a general reference at a higher level on what happens with USB mass storage communications, the book is very good.

The book is telling about accesing the storage devices Flash ,Mmc,Sd etc. with the Pic18F microcontroller... You learn writing codes with the Microchip's C compiler and Dev. Kit to these devices by the storage libraries in...A typical Jan Axelson book, clear and very good....

Its a good start for someone like me who does not know nothing about Usb Mass Storage.
But if someone expects a full and complete index about everything related, well its not exactly that.
Don't think i'm underrating this book, in fact it is the best i have read.
But it covers the essential, it is not a full and in depth guide for every Usb Mass Storage scenario.
But is very didactic and concise, plus i am glad to have bought it!