Something occurred to me the other day when looking
into what a pain USB is to implement in/with a PIC.  I
just do electronics stuff for fun, so I'm always
looking for ways to do things free/cheap.

To that end, what about using a hacked up USB Mouse or
Joystick as a way to get data into VB or whatever thru
USB.  I'm not sure about the joysticks, but I don't
imagine it would be very difficult to fake the mouses
encoders with a signal from a pic.  I know for a fact
that it is simple to get mouse coordinates in visual
basic, and I'm sure it's not dificult to do in other
languages.

One could use the mouse buttons and the mouse position
as a way to send data over USB and let the mouse's
controller do all the hard work.   You could easily
trim down a mouse's pcb to fit into a small enclusre
or whatever.

The only major problem I can see is that you would
lose  use of your mouse or possibly may need two
(maybe PS2 for real mouse and USB for faker).

Can anyone else think of another USB device that would
provide an even simpler interface to the computer like
this?  What's everybody think of this idea for people
who don't have money and don't use surface mount (ie.
half-assers)?


=====
MJ Brush
LeftClick.ca Internet Media Services
mbrush@[NOSPAM]leftclick.ca

______________________________________________________________________
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.