This updated edition of the best-selling developer's guide to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface covers all aspects of project development, including hardware design, device firmware, and host application software. Topics include how to choose a device controller chip, how to write device firmware for USB communications, how to cut development time by using USB device classes, and how to write software to access devices that perform vendor-specific functions. Also discussed are hardware interfacing, using bus power, wireless technologies, and USB On-The-Go. The book presents example code for accessing USB devices using Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET. The example code shows how to detect device arrival and removal and how to transfer vendor-defined data using the human interface device class and Microsoft’s WinUSB driver. Also covered is how to write device firmware to communicate with the USB host. The Fourth Edition covers USB 3.0 and SuperSpeed and has new information on controller chips, USB classes, power use, and Microsoft’s WinUSB driver. The author’s website has program code, articles, and other information of interest to USB developers. (www.Lvr.com)
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63 of 67 found the following review helpful:
 A rare combination: easy to read, complete, and accurateJun 30, 2000
By Lane Hauck
I teach a USB class, so I've had occasion to review every book on the subject. I've chosen Jan's book for my class text because it is, by a wide margin, the best single book on the Universal Serial Bus I've seen. Jan has the unique talent of talking directly to the user in a very friendly, clear, and easy to read style, while losing absolutely nothing in scope or detail. The chapter on how to coerce Visual Basic into making the Windows API calls necessary to support the USB HID class got me over major hurdles while preparing lecture materials. Instead of the usual kitchen sink approach, Jan zeros in on exactly what you need to know to do the job and covers it completely. And her examples actually work!If you're looking for a book that spans basic USB principles to advanced topics, all clearly explained, you can't go wrong with this book.
114 of 130 found the following review helpful:
 Indirect & Realiant on 3rd party products.Feb 04, 2001
By David Hunter
I purchased this book with the intention of learning how to communicate with USB peripherals from the PC perspective. What I later found after reading this book is that the author is heavily reliant upon 3rd party products to do the work, which simply means you'll need to pay more money for evaluation modules, and more software rather than being able to make the end product yourself. For someone who is at the hobbiest level, this book would be great perhapse, but the ultimate problem is it lets others do the work which IMO defeats the purpose of a book. If I am going to use 3rd party tools, I'll read their documentation-- not pay for a book to tell me what else I need to use. On another note, this book is an EXCELLENT reference book when you need a little refresher about other things, but you can also find this info online
33 of 36 found the following review helpful:
 USB Complete or is it?Nov 27, 2002
By Roberto J. Rodriguez
The author does a great job reviewing the details of USB. However, if your intentions are like mine to design some hardware and transfer data from the device to the PC, I think your pretty much out of luck. I understand this is a very hard subject but the author does not include sample drivers that allow you to communicate with a generic part, let alone, helping you develop a driver for your application. I think this book is only good to get a sense only for what USB is and how it works. Unfortunately, blocks diagrams do not solve anyones problem, and knowledge-hungry individuals such as myself find these books rather useless. Buy the book only if you have no clue what USB is, else do not waste your money.
18 of 18 found the following review helpful:
Not exactly complete, but good enoughApr 12, 2002
By J. Turner
When it comes to developing USB hardware, there aren't many off-the-shelf-how-to books. This is the only one I am aware of. As a result, it wins by default. Axelson starts by covering the pros and cons of USB, and would be perfect for explaining to a non-technical manager. It covers the USB protocol, and even covers the Cypress USB development kit, which can be used to develop a USB peripheral. Simply stated, this book won't make you a USB genius, but if you are charged with developing a USB device from scratch, it can compress the time required to ramp up. It can save you hours of frustration. Unfortunately, reading this book won't make host (PC) programmers into USB geniuses, but it does explain USB reasonably well.
21 of 22 found the following review helpful:
Excellent for hardware, firmware, and software developersJun 11, 2001
With the help of this book, I went from knowing virtually nothing about USB to having a device programmed and communicating with a PC. The book covers everything from what's important to know in the USB specification, to selecting a controller chip for a device, to writing the device firmware and application programs to communicate with the device. About the only area not covered is how to write a Windows device driver (this is probably a book-length topic in itself), but Jan explains why this is often not necessary and describes tools that make the job easier when needed. Highly recommended
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based on 64 reviews
