Rolling Your Own USB Devices?

greasyHacker asks: "Back in the old days when every computer under the sun had a parallel port, it was quite easy to whip up a simply parallel port device of some sort, and pretty easy to write software for it.. Now that USB is here and standard, I'd like to make use of the 'power of USB' and roll my own devices. Specifically I'd like to start with a simply interface box that allows me to control a number of simply on/off out/input channels - much like this. (Then maybe fulfilling some other ideas later).. Can anyone suggest where to get information on such a project, both the hardware and the driver side of things?"

Comments

Re:ActiveWire USB kit, USB reference page

[zenyu]

Active Wire is probably best for someone that doesn't have access to a parallel port, but if you just a few on/off switches the cheapest solution is a dissected usb mouse. You can just wire into one the buttons for the switch. Plus you probably have bunch of non-ergonomic mice around, they are almost as common as mousepads...

Youre simply asking for a USB cont. chip datasheet

[mnmn]

I know USB devices at least have a simple usb interface chip that has a parallel like interface to other devices. Try the semiconductor menufacturers and get their datasheets, then see if they have packaging for you (you couldnt work with BGA), then look for a distributer.