USB Design by Example: A Practical Guide to Building I/O Devices (Paperback)

by John Hyde (Author) "The personal computer (PC) has been around for a long time, in computer years..." (more)
Key Phrases: report descriptor, debug monitor program, device descriptor, Visual Basic, National Instruments, Usage Page (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification is a boon for users in that it makes the process of connecting peripherals to computers effortless, in most cases. As is often the case with user-friendliness, though, the cosmetic ease comes about as a result of behind-the-scenes complexity. USB Design by Example explains what USB means to hardware developers, taking an approach that combines academic elucidation of the official specification with some experimental setups. Though not everything a hardware developer could wish for, John Hyde's explanations represent a valuable supplement to the notably obtuse specification documents.

This book does a good job of explaining USB input/output from both the hardware and software perspectives. You'll find both driver code and pinout diagrams here. All the software information has to do with the IBM-compatible PC platform and the Windows 98 operating system, so Macintosh developers will have to look elsewhere. Some of Hyde's explanations of how various hardware companies solved USB problems--Symbol Technologies' use of a keyboard emulator for its barcode scanners, for example--are intriguing, but more information (in the form of circuit diagrams, preferably) would be better. The clear explanation of what happens when a new device is plugged into a live USB bus is very intriguing, though. Overall, peripheral developers will find this book useful, but not encyclopedic. --David Wall

Topics covered: Universal Serial Bus (USB) architecture, packet contents, device detection, drivers and run-time software, and bridging older connection specifications (RS-232, parallel, SCSI and I2C) to USB.

Product Description
A complete, how-to guide to designing USB devices

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a new standard specification for PC peripherals that provides a uniform approach to developing products that work together seamlessly through a single, one-size-fits-all plug and port connection. Virtually all new PCs, and the iMac, now ship with USB ports. Written by an Intel insider, this practical, step-by-step guide uses fully documented examples to get developers up to speed on everything they need to know to design and program USB devices-from schematics and codes to prototypes. The book is specially formatted to serve as both a step-by-step manual for creating specific devices, and a complete reference to understanding and using the USB.

CD-ROM contains all the source code for the examples in the book, color versions of selected diagrams, photographs, and a link to the USB specification site.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (August 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471370487
• ISBN-13: 978-0471370482
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,139,298 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 30, 2002

By	Tom L. Davis (Carrollton, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Short review: this book [stinks].

On the surface, this book looks like it is fairly good although it includes a lot of Intel PR about what a good thing USB is. Digging deeper, you will find serious errors, omissions, and examples of poor programming. Files mentioned in the book as being on the CD aren't. Could not find errata at the Intel Press web site. Assembly code just includes all source files in the project. I still haven't figured out how to debug a project like this. Any normal person would set the project up to assemble each file separately. All but one (firmware) project are written in assembly and the one C example doesn't work. The list could go on ...

Before I bought the book, I read these reviews and, generally, they were favorable. Now, I'm simply amazed that anyone would give it any more than 2 stars.

BTW, I think the book and CD are on-line at the Intel Press web site. At a price of $0.00, I'll give it 2 stars.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars CD examples are broken, September 29, 2003

By	"ben32694" (UK) - See all my reviews

Bought this book for one of the examples which seemed to be exactly what we needed - the Two Keyboards example. We had a great deal of trouble getting it to work, and we contacted the author directly. He was initially keen to help, telling us he was aware that the CD was generally messed up and versions of files were wrong. He pointed us at an updated online version. We tried this and had even worse problems getting it to build, let alone install. We contacted the author again, and he admitted the online versions were broken too, but he wasn't prepared to help us any further. The least you would ask is that the examples work fairly well and have installation advice either on the CD or in the book. I concur with another reviewer who said that the CD seems to be a mess and full of useless product information. It is hard to see a target audience for whom this book would be useful.

We made this purchase in spite of the poor reviews here, however we implore you to avoid this book: it is unlikely to fulfill your requirements and John Hyde does not deserve your money. It is clearly intended as a money-spinner rather than a useful reference.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Overview for Managers - Poor Programming Detail, April 11, 2000

By A Customer

This book starts out with a very good overview of the USB system. It then does a reasonable job giving one introductory programming example using the Anchor Chips EZ-USB chip. The rest of the book, however, seems to be a management level overview of all the things USB could/would do. But these are all high level examples with mostly pictures and block diagrams, and have little to no techincal details. Some of these refer to source code on the CD, at best, but there is no desciption of how to actually interface to any of the complicated devices. A detailed example of each of the USB communication methods (simple I/O, bulk port, isochronous port, ...) would have been better. It also needed better descriptions of all intervening OS software that is "magically" used to avoid writing new device drivers. Overall, it is a good overview for anyone that is new to USB, and has lots of high level ideas for a manager designing a new USB product, but very little detail for the software developer trying to develop a USB product.