Over the last couple of years I have been looking for an easy way to control a few relays from Javascript. I want to build a web App to control starting sequence horns for sailing races.
I recently discovered webUSB and it seems like exactly what I need. A direct connection from JS in chrome to the USB world. Simple coding in a language I already use.
On the hardware side I am having trouble finding a product that is compatible. Googling USB Relay finds 100's of products that all seem to rely on some proprietary SW for the OS. I can find lots of educational demo's that turn an LED on and off.
Does anyone have any ideas where to find such a product?
While I'm sure you will be able to find USB relays that can be controlled via WebUSB, most USB relays will probably come with some kind of serial port driver, e.g. https://numato.com/product/1-channel-usb-powered-relay-module uses a CDC serial port driver. These can be controlled using Web Serial, available in Chrome 77 and later behind a feature flag. For a tutorial, see https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/web-serial/
Explainer: https://github.com/WICG/serial/blob/gh-pages/EXPLAINER.md
API docs: https://wicg.github.io/serial/
If you search for "5V USB Relay Programmable Computer Control For Smart Home" on eBay, you will also find low-cost relays that use HID instead. The advantage of these is that you don't need any serial port or USB drivers, as it will use the operating system's built-in HID drivers. For that you can use WebHID. For more info, see https://github.com/robatwilliams/awesome-webhid.
Related
I am doing some research on the WebUSB API for our company because we are going to start to manufacture devices in house.
Our current device manufacture comes with an application so the team can plug the device into a computer and diagnose it. Their application allows us to read outputs from the device, as well as pushing commands/configuration to the device over a wired connection.
Since this device is 100% ours, we are also responsible for building out the diagnostic tooling. We need some sort of interface that allows a user to read outputs and send commands/configuration to the device over a wired USB connection.
Is the webUSB the correct API? If not, what are some suggestions for accomplishing the requirement? Are we limited to building some sort of desktop or mobile application?
I would recommend resources below to read to help you understand if the WebUSB API fits your needs or not:
https://web.dev/devices-introduction/ helps you pick the appropriate API to communicate with a hardware device of your choice.
https://web.dev/build-for-webusb/ explains how to build a device to take full advantage of the WebUSB API.
From what you describe, WebUSB isn't strictly required but won't hurt either.
First and foremost, you will need to implement the USB interfaces reading data and sending configurations. It will be a custom protocol, and not one of the standard USB device classes such as HID, video or mass storage. The details of the protocol and if you use control, interrupt or bulk transfers is your choice.
I'm assuming you will connect the devices to Windows PCs, and you likely don't want to put money into writing device drivers. If so, the easiest approach is to add the required descriptors and control requests required for Microsoft OS 2.0 Descriptors. That way, the WinUSB driver will be installed automatically when the device is plugged in.
Using the WinUSB API, a Windows application will then be able to communicate with the USB device. No additional drivers are needed. (On macOS and Linux it's even easier as you don't need the Microsoft OS 2.0 Descriptors in the first place.)
On top of that you can implement the additional descriptors and control requests for WebUSB. It will provide the additional benefit that you can write a web application (instead of a native application) for communicating with the USB device. (Currently, you are restricted to the Chrome browser.) WebUSB devices should implement the WinUSB descriptors as the alternative (.INF files, manual installation process) is a pain.
The already mentioned web page https://web.dev/build-for-webusb/ is a complete example of how to implement it.
I have a USB audio device (Scarlett Focusrite 18i6) which does not require a driver, so I assume it uses the USB HID Audio Class standard.
It works on everything from Windows and Mac to Linux and iOS.
But on Mac and Windows, it has a control application which can for instance enable and disable direct monitoring.
How would I go about reverse-engineering how this is done, so that I can reproduce it on platforms where the control application does not exist?
I'm thinking of booting up Windows in a VMWare session and then logging the USB communication (somehow?) while using the control application, but it does sound tedious considering the amount of data and my very limited understanding of USB.
Any other suggestions?
You could try running the control application using Wine instead of reverse engineering it. However, if it's accessing USB devices then there is a good chance it might be using an API not supported by Wine.
To reverse engineer it, you should find a way to look at the USB traffic between the computer and the device. Total Phase has some hardware USB protocol analyzers, but you might be able to find a good software solution for free.
For my project I have an Android phone and an Arduino device that communicate via Bluetooth. I was wondering if anyone knows any software tools I could use to monitor a bluetooth communications between two devices. Something like a packet eavesdropping. Preferably for Linux.
Take a look at ubertooth one. In the linked webpage there are instructions on how to build the dongle, as well as links to shops selling assembled dongles may be bought. Ubertooth one should work well with Kismet, and thus in Linux, by using a BT plugin (disclaimer: I have no personal experience on this).
Sounds like you are after a Bluetooth sniffer.
Bad news: They are almost exclusively Windows OS based and cost mega-$.
http://www.fte.com/products/bluetooth.aspx
If you were using BlueZ for one side of the communication you could use the BlueZ HCIDUMP app and Wireshark.
I don't think anyone has made a Linuz/Bluez Sniffer - could be wrong.
I am trying to figure the AT command set issued by the Hauwei's Mobile Partner Software for making voice and video call. Mobile Partner is the bundled software for almost all Hauwei 3G Modems and comes with ability to make and receive voice calls. I need to know the AT commands it issues for my E1732 modem for voice, VIDEO calls and other things.I need the log. I have the Mobile Partner for Linux(Ubuntu) and Windows.It is working in both platforms. So any help in either of the platforms is appreciated.
My aim is to make a Linux based IVR system so I need them.
Thanks for your help
You will want to look at usbsnoop as all these devices are actually emulating serial communication across usb.
Also, have a look at USB modeswitch
homepage
debian repo
Modeswitch packs a lot of vendor specific 'magic' knowledge, that has been obtained by reverse engineering. Of course it was geered towards switching the USB device to 'modem' mode in the first place, but I suspect their developer list will have ample resources on tracing usb traffic.
Also, UMTSMon is Open Source code that allowed me to use several brands of 'unsupported' (undocumented) USB UMTS dongles in the past. UMTSMon will send specific sequences of AT commands if you want. I assume again, that the developer list will help you gather more information.
Disclaimer: I only used the mentioned packages, and have not been involved in their development
I have a USB to parallel port device that i want to interface with through c++ on a modern windows OS (xp and newer).
I've done a little research but the information is a bit patchy when it comes to programming to one of these USB to parallel port devices (most of the information is dated and assumes that you have a parallel port built right into the motherboard, something my brand new computer doesn't have). One reference even says that it is not possible to interface with a USB to parallel port from a C++ program without some sort of software changes.
All i want to do is to is be able to read or write 8 bits to the parallel port through a USB to parallel port device on a modern computer running a modern windows OS (with ports being dedicated to reading or writing only).
Is there any quick and easy way of doing this? Some sample code would be greatly appreciated.
Also, how many of these USB to parallel ports can I interface with my computer? Am i limited to 3 due to some sort of legacy addressing or can i have as many as my USB and CPU are able to support?
Working off VC++ 2008, running Windows 7 x64 with a Core i7 860.
Edit: a bit more information...
I've tried using inpout23 along with some prewritten test program. It compiled just fine and ran just fine claiming to have both read and written to a parallel port. I had my USB to parallel port connected to the computer and that port connected to a cable in which i had identified, stripped and soldered each of the 25 wires onto a sort of plug for quickly plugging into a breadboard for testing. None of the output pins had changed to what the program had said was written to them (instead they were all set to high and never changed).
I've done this in the past and I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that it always worked (sometimes with tweaking), which is a tribute to the electronic manufacturers of designing extremely robust protocols. Apparently the USB to parallel converters all provided the hardware port emulation.
The bad news is that performance was awful on the 'bitbanging' interface models. If you do not mind slow updates this is not an issue at all. I used it for programming uControllers and soon the price of serial or USB programmers was overcome by my impatience.
Just use the windows API to read/write the LPT or COM ports and it works (slowly).
I've worked with a USB-to-serial port adapter before and I guess USB-to-parallel should be the same. You should have got a driver along with the adapter - this does most of the work for you, hiding the USB interface and presenting it to the OS as a traditional parallel port. For example, when I plug my adapter into the USB port, it just shows up as COM4 in Device Manager. I'm guessing yours will show up as LPT1 or something. From there on, it's a matter of using the standard Windows API to access these ports. (see Communications Resources on MSDN)
Misteriously I succeed with the USB to LPT-DB25 Wire bought in ebay.com.
We should connect a LED between the /LF Line Feed and GND pins.
After discard the USB registers in order to find that one associated to the USB Cable, we should build an API (Application Programming Interface) to interact with the outputs/Registers.
I'm going to try to attach a picture to have a look how I managed it: