[Elecraft] RE: K2 with USB anytime soon??

[Rick Commo]

Fran brought out some good points.  Thanks you Fran.  I'd like to take it a bit deeper.

 

Technically Elecraft could develop a set of USB based rig control semantics that allowed end user
programs (loggers or just simple rig controllers) to use the Windows native HID (Human Interface
Device) USB API (Application Programming Interface).  Other ham radio programs have done this.  But
it's really a bit of a hack and often falls short of what the programmer was trying to achieve.

 

On conjecture, let's assume that Elecraft wanted to do it the right way.  They would have to develop
a native "kernel mode" USB driver unique to the K2 that would be inserted into the "I/O stack" above
than the raw USB protocol driver.  Realistically this could be done for Windows.  It probably would
not be done for Linux or the Mac.  Well, now they've gone beyond just doing firmware that runs
inside the rig to supporting an OS driver(s).  And they would probably want to change the PIC chip
on the KIO card to be one with the USB serial engine built on board - more design and firmware
coding.  It could be done but it would be a major effort.  

 

If they are doing it right they will spend upwards of $2000 (every two years) to get a registered
"USB vendor ID" from the board that handles this.  Or they could just becomes USB-IF members at
$4000 annually.  Not a cheap thing in either case.

 

Finally people who write the application programs that we use to control the K2 would now have to
include the Elecraft driver so that their program could work.  Chances are these "application"
programmers (some are really good at it, some only so-so) might not know how to debug problems at
the USB and/or kernel level.  Ugh, what a mess.  RS232 is a lot simpler.

 

Let's consider developing a rig control program.  With RS-232 you can take two computers and connect
their com ports together.  Then you could use a terminal program to see what your program is sending
down to the rig.  You might even quickly throw together an "emulator" for a rig that sends a
response back to the program.  In fact if your computer has two com ports you don't even need the
second computer.   

 

However all is not black for the USB only laptop crowd!  There are a number of USB->RS232 adapters
available.  They are inexpensive and the few that I've been lent to try out have worked just fine
for rig control.  They are not that expensive.  I just did a quick check at http://www.outpost.com
and found the cheapest at $15 ranging up to $40.

 

Using a USB->RS232 adapter lets a USB only equipped laptop work with an RS232 protocol that probably
has been well debugged.  And rig control just doesn't need raw USB speeds.  Anything above 4800 baud
is probably more than enough for most purposes.

 

Sorry to be long winded but I wanted to convey some idea of the ripples that would ensue from trying
to oblige a "simple" request like native USB control.  I have looked into doing this for a couple of
project that I would like to do myself.  RS232, while long in the tooth, look pretty good in
comparison.

 

Cheers,

-rick, K7LOG

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
Francis Belliveau
Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2006 1:27 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] RE: K2 with USB anytime soon??

 

I think that those asking the question do not fully understand all the

facts.

 

Admittedly, all computing hardware that comes with USB and RS-232 hardware

comes with drivers for this hardware.  However, USB is treated as another

bus, like PCI, and drivers must be installed for each kind of hardware

installed there.

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Fran, KA4FRH