[Coco] Smart IO interfacing on the CoCo

[Allen Huffman]

On Apr 25, 2020, at 12:09 PM, RETRO Innovations <go4retro at go4retro.com> wrote:
> 
> Actually, it's a full fledged uC, with a USB host controller built in, like the AVR AT90USB647 and AT90USB1287.  So, you could, in theory, write the USB and the interface code in the same uC, even cheaper.

I wanted to make sure you were aware of them. It’s a dirt cheap and low effort way to bring these USB devices to our old computers for less than the cost of an official Arduino UNO.

I have several of them (the ones on the breakout board). I found them when folks were poo-pooing the idea of USB on a CoCo being impractical. So for ten bucks and a .99 TTL adapter and power, I was able to do IO with all kind of USB stuff. This chip and a programmable potentiometer (I think you were credited with suggesting one I need to track down) and it’s a dirt cheap USB mouse or game pad interface to CoCo joystick ports.

Have you done any USB stuff?