Moving from the world of Embedded Micro controllers and C, to C++ with wxWidgets.
I've created a simple GUI program, using codeblocks and wxWidgets to interface with a USB Hid device I've made using the HIDAPI from signal11.
Using simple buttons, I can connect, disconnect and check firmware software versions on the device.
What I want to be able to do is have the GUI automatically detect if a device is present or not, so If I unplug my device the GUI responds (Greys everything out) or re enables everything when plugged in.
Is this something that needs a never ending thread to achieve, or is there a better way? I would usually do something like this in an interrupt routine on a micro controller, but am unsure of its equivalent on the desktop platform?
USB devices connections/disconnections are not handled by wxWidgets, so you will have to use platform-specific APIs for this and they vary depending on your platform. Under Windows, you actually don't need a background thread because you get these notifications in the form of Windows WM_DEVICECHANGE message, so you can simply override MSWHandleMessage() in the window for which you had previously asked Windows to send these messages to using RegisterDeviceNotification() and handle them there.
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Is it possible to write an API with Python so you can connect a physical ON and OFF switch via USB to a PC and when user presses the switch to ON or OFF, the python program detects it and send a signal to a web app and shows ON or OFF message on the website?
I am sorry if what I am asking its not clear enough!
Yes, it is possible. Reading USB devices can be done with Python. In linux USB device inputs can be found in some files(e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0). By reading those files you can get the information that you need. Putting here link that will be helpful
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Firstly, you can't write an API to interact with hardware in python. You would have to use the pre-existing windows API(or the API provided by the Operating system that you are using) in order to interact with hardware in such a high-level language.
If you want to interact with hardware in python, and detect switch presses, releases etc, I would recommend you used a microcontroller such as a raspberry pi(for python) or an arduino(for C++). The respberry pi provides a very easy way to interact with hardware in python. If you still want to interact with a USB stick in python(but not acting as a switch) you can use the pyusb library.
I am designing a USB keyboard with special capabilities. What information can such a HID device receive from the host?
Can I via USB:
Read data from a form on the screen?
Find out what OS the user is on?
Find out if there's been an error message?
Even 'know' what's going on visually on the screen, i.e. what program is selected or whether the program is windowed or fullscreen?
Thank you!
The device can't get any of this information from a standard driver that the operating system supplies because that would be a security issue. It can receive any information that your own driver or application sends it. There are many ways to communicate with it - your device could present multiple interfaces (which will appear as separate devices), multiple endpoints, or use the control channel. You will definitely need to study the spec, and I also found this tutorial helpful.
I have done something similar and used the control channel to exchange feature data with a Windows application (over the standard Windows driver). On Windows, the API calls are HidD_SetFeature() and HidD_GetFeature().
On the device side, my hardware ran embedded Linux and I used the GadgetFS library to create a user-mode driver - much easier to debug than a kernel driver.
As others have said, you'll run into issues if you try this with a normal HID. However, there is a project called the USB Rubber Ducky. From their description:
The USB Rubber Ducky isn't your ordinary HID (Human Interface Device).
Coupled with a powerful 60 MHz 32-bit processor and a simple scripting language
The USB Rubber Ducky looks like a usb-device and is recognized as a HID, but is programmable. You can make a small script that will be typed onto the screen which will allow you to performs the queries you seek.
With the USB Rubber Ducky you can:
Read data from a form on the screen? Yes
Find out what OS the user is on? Yes
Find out if there's been an error message? Yes
Even 'know' what's going on visually on the screen, i.e. what program is selected or whether the program is windowed or fullscreen? Yes
If you aren't hoping to buy this device, at least their firmware is on github so it can provide you a starting point
I'm currently working on a device which is able to work as a keyboard and communicate via Serial with a self-written software.
Now I have to install serial drivers (from Arduino) on different computers if I want to communicate with my application which I actually want to avoid.
Is there any other solution to solve this problem? Is it possible that my microcontroller works as a keyboard AND is able to send and receive data as HID device?
Thanks and greetings!
I actually do something similar with a 32u4, but it receives its serial over the built-in UART. I do this because it's linking between two separate systems. If it were only one system I could implement a 2nd interface. (Don't forget, a USB HID device must have an IN endpoint even if you are not using it.) Or you could just throw a $2 USB/TTL converter on and do it the same as I did.
I have an embedded Linux 3.10.17 system running a Qt Quick 5.2.1 application. It has a graphical UI that can be controlled by plugging in a USB keyboard. What I would like to do is to control the application remotely via a remote desktop connection to a Windows PC sitting next to the embedded system. Currently any STDIO is not sent in as keyboard events to the Qt application. Three ideas came to mind
Modify Qt application to take in STDIO data so it acts on those events. I thought this would be a common thing to do, but so far my searches has not yielded any good solutions.
Create a Linux kernel driver that sends any keycodes received through a char device write (pipe) through the input subsystem. Something like this should be available I'd think...
Buy some form device that plugs into the embedded system via USB and connects to the PC via USB, RS232 or Ethernet.
I'm not sure which path offers the least resistance. Any expert advice on this would be appreciated
Thanks,
Otto
I have to simulate a USB Device for automation and testing purposes (in Linux). Original driver/application for this device uses “libusb” to communicate with it.
I don’t have much experience in Linux and Simulation, after some searching I have understood that I need to write a kernel level driver and an application in user-space to simulate that device. Is this right? If Yes, How can this be done?
Thanks in Advance.
Finally implemented it by modifying "libusb", modified it to send and receive usb transfers from message queue instead of usbfs. Programmed my simulator to create libsub type transfers and send/receive them using message queues as well.
Simulator now interprets the incoming transfers and sends it to a command parser, which sends request/message to automation system using sockets in a specific format. Automation system sends it's instruction by sending to command parser using socket. This socket invokes method specific to each request in simulator, Now simulator forms an appropriate transfer structure and passes to device plugin (via libusb) through message queue.
I think what you're looking for would be called a virtual USB device. Currently there is nothing in standard Kernel.Some virtual machine provides USB emulation.e.g. KVM provides USB emulation. There is framework gadget in which might look for your solution.
Or find something in Linux USB project
Thanks,
Abhijeet
The usb-vhci project could be of use if you want the device to be presented to the kernel in the same way as real hardware.