I/O interface recommendations

[Calum Chisholm]

Hi All,
Can anyone recommend a USB I/O interface with decent Linux support? The Vellman K8055 looks like a good bet (and isn't too expensive) - has anyone here tried it?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/k8055-usb-experiment-interface-board-n67bh

I initially tried using a CP210x USB to UART Bridge (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/198), as it has a couple of general-purpose IO lines. I can get an LED flashing with it under Windows, but Linux kernel support appears to be severely lacking.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Calum

[Calum Chisholm]

Answering my own question, I bought an 8055 (the kit version) and managed to get it built and working under Fedora without any real drama. If I get some time over the next few days, I'll post some details of the project I have in mind for it.


A few links (largely for my own benefit):

The libusb-based driver can be found here:
http://libk8055.sourceforge.net/

The 'N' variant of the hardware requires a minor code change before building:
http://forum.velleman.eu/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7851

The device is currently only accessible when running as root, but this should be fixable by setting the appropriate udev rules:
https://github.com/jeremyz/k8055/blob/master/velleman.rules

The unpopulated SK9 header appear to be a programming interface for the on-board PIC:
https://sites.google.com/site/pcusbprojects/4-velleman-experiment-board-k8055-pic-replacement/p-sk9-connector-on-velleman-k8055n-board-is-pickit-2-and-pickit-3-ready

Resistors R53 and R54 (left unpopulated) are intended for when higher input amplification is required on the A/D lines:
https://sites.google.com/site/pcusbprojects/4-velleman-experiment-board-k8055-pic-replacement/h-it-is-really-to-add-an-illumination-sensor-to-k8055-or-k8055n-board