From: Joe B. <jb...@ne...> - 2005-09-24 19:31:39
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> JB- I believe that we'll use the USB host as our "data bus" and I=20 > would guess run the remote (and any other accessory) through there. Hmm. USB host is one of the few things in the spec Rockbox is not ready = for today and will require some effort to accomplish. I like the idea of an =FCber-flexible connection allowing practically = anything (keyboard, usb dac, you name it) but I think it will put a lot = of extra strain on the programmers. Linux spends some 200K lines of code = on the USB layer and although we don't need all that Linux has, it's = going to be heavy. Personally, I would probably choose something simpler such as SPI for = the remote and save the very complex add-ons for the 443, if at all.=20 Because in reality, I don't see many companies wanting to spend a lot of = money developing add-ons for a specific player. Apple's players comes = close, but only because they are the market leader. And the most = advanced add-on anyone makes for the iPod is gadgets that can read the = song name from the serial port on the dock connector and send next/prev = commands. (I.e. the very same thing an SPI remote would allow.) Are you = planning on making and selling complex add-ons yourselves? JB- The real idea is that USB is an already established standard. Our = strategy overall is to adopt those standards wherever possible. USB is = appealing precisely because we would not require proprietary accessories = due to all the available USB accessories (web cameras, mice, keyboards, = mp3 players, digital cameras, etc.) If the hardware supports USB, then = it's a matter of drivers (obviously not a trivial undertaking) which at = least theoretically opens the door to a lot of possibilities. In fact = this is more realistic for the home versions of the products due to = space and mechanical issues, but I do think that being able to pull = files from a thumb drive or digital camera are real applications that = people are seeking. My understanding is that the biggest tradeoff from = a hardware perspective will be the connectors themselves (since host is = likely to require it's own connector). I'm ok with leaving it off, but = I do think it warrants more discussion. However, I do believe that serial will be available as well through the = A/V connector, so that's an option too. I know we talked about that and = I'll take a look at the spec.=20 |