Programmable USB dongles

Question

Where can I buy a programmable USB dongle that supports C as a development language?

Do you mean you want to have a USB dongle that, when inserted, will automatically run an executable? — Noon Silk, Sep 04 '09 at 04:39
why was this closed? he is looking for a programmable usb dongle — hhafez, Sep 04 '09 at 05:05
why indeed, there are lots of questions about embedded devices, why not USB dongles? — Carson Myers, Sep 04 '09 at 05:19
I reworded the question to [hopefully] better capture what he is trying to ask. English may not be his first language, but the question makes sense to me :) — warren, Sep 06 '09 at 14:17
What do you mean by a dongle; does it have to have a specific shape and size? What kind of USB interface do you want to present to the computer (e.g. mass-storage device, HID)? If it's a mass storage device, how much memory do you need? (Yes I realize this is 5 years old, but there is no accepted answer and it could still be clarified.) — David Grayson, Nov 08 '14 at 02:55

score 12 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

12

We use Senselock in our application. It is a smart dongle, that you can download your custom code into it. The way it works is that instead of just checking the presence of a dongle, your code should expect a correct output from the dongle emitted from your code inside the dongle.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Sep 04 '09 at 04:39

Graviton

76,900
138
399
575

+1 I never heard of code in a dongle, could be a good approach. Thanks. – kenny Sep 11 '09 at 11:23
Can off the shelf USB dongles be programmed? – CMCDragonkai Feb 22 '14 at 09:14
@CMCDragonkai, depends on what dongle you have. Now, even HDMI dongle like Chromecast can be programmed! – Graviton Feb 23 '14 at 08:55
Is there any resources, you can point me to discover how to do this. I asked a question here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21952307/off-the-shelf-programmable-usb?lq=1 – CMCDragonkai Feb 23 '14 at 18:04

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 06 '09 at 15:01

One place to start is Hexwax. Try http://www.hexwax.com/Products/expandIO%2DUSB/ which will give you an idea of what you can do and where to start. These are firmwares for the PIC18 series of microcontrollers but you can buy the modules off the shelf. They may not suit perfectly but they'll give you an idea of what is possible without having to build your own from scratch.

Don't forget that you would have to build a Windows driver if you rolled your own USB device. The hexwax firmwares use the HID interface (keyboard, mouse, joystick etc) so drivers come with Windows/Linux/OS-X already. This is a significant bonus.

If I rolled my own I would use a PIC18 device, snarf as much code as possible from Microchip's (the maker of the PIC) website - they have USB interface code - and go down the HID route. Other sources: MicroElektronika (www.mikroe.com) do lots of C libraries and compilers for exactly this kind of stuff. Google for pic, hid, usb to get lots of info, people have made their own keyboards from scratch without too much trouble.

nice! I like how this isolates the USB concerns from the microcontroller (uc). By the way, the expandIO-USB device docs mentions a PIC as the underlying uc. But it talks SPI and I2C so any device or any uc with SPI or I2C slave code can work. Also, you might not even need a uc as it has an A/D, digital I/O, interrupts, etc. — Core, Mar 01 '14 at 23:17

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 22 '14 at 14:01

Crossware seems providing programmable USB dongles. The dongles themselves are not expensive and from having no better may even be used as end products. However the development suite is not that cheap.
Calao Systems offer kind of "super dongle" that can be viewed as an "USB stick" of monstrous size. It is more powerful and runs Linux inside. This device even features own additional USB and RJ45 connectors but still can be plugged into USB port and hang there feeding from it. Some enclosure is provided.

Martin Delille · Answer 4 · 2018-02-01T08:38:35.217

0

SG-Lock provide a simple solution from programable USB dongle: http://www.sg-lock.com/fr/index.php

Affordable, easy to program, the API is a DLL so it supports only Windows (I don't know if it works with other systems).

edited Feb 01 '18 at 08:38

answered Sep 11 '09 at 11:01

Martin Delille

9,399
11
55
118

It is a copy protection dongle and very good as such (some data can be saved on the key, for instance). However it is not an universal freely programmable dongle. – Audrius Meskauskas Aug 22 '14 at 14:08
1

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - [From Review](/review/low-quality-posts/18686768) – user28434'mstep Feb 01 '18 at 08:30
@user28434 I just had some info! – Martin Delille Feb 01 '18 at 08:38

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 17 '10 at 02:13

Where can I buy a programmable USB dongle that supports C as a development language?

Try ROCKEY6 its Executable and programmable inside the dongle itself. Works fine with our software on its secure protection.

http://www.rockey.com.my/prod-dongle-rockey6.php

Programmable USB dongles

5 Answers5

Linked