USB Complete: Everything You Need to Develop Custom USB Peripherals

Media:	Paperback
Author:	Jan Axelson
Publisher:	Lakeview Research
Release date:	15 September, 2001
List price:	~~$49.95~~
Our price:	that is 100% off!

USB Complete: Everything You Need to Develop Custom USB Peripherals

Average rating:

USB Complete or is it?

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.

USB Complete: Everything You Need to Develop Custom USB Peripherals -

A rare combination: easy to read, complete, and accurate

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.

- USB Complete: Everything You Need to Develop Custom USB Peripherals

Not exactly complete, but good enough

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.

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