The following press release may be interesting to readers of this news
group because it presents a complete solution for interfacing AVR
mircrocontrollers to USB Hosts. In the minimum configuration the
additional cost for USB is one resistor and a USB connector (if you
choose the free Open Source software license). Sorry for the partially
commercial content!


Die folgende Pressemitteilung koennte LeserInnen dieser Newsgroup
interessieren: Sie stellt eine vollstaendige Loesung vor, mit der AVR
Mikrocontroller an USB Hosts angeschlossen werden koennen. In der
Minimalkonfiguration beschraenken sich die zusaetzlichen Kosten fuer
USB auf einen Widerstand und einen USB-Stecker (bei Verwendung der Open
Source Software Lizenz). Sorry fuer den teilweise kommerziellen Inhalt!


Subject: PR: Firmware-Only USB Driver for Atmel's AVR Microcontrollers


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Objective Development Announces Commercial Licenses and Bundled USB IDs
for Their Free Firmware-Only USB Driver for Atmel's AVR
Microcontrollers

Vienna, Austria - January 31, 2006 -- Objective Development today
released a new version of their firmware-only USB driver for Atmel's
AVR
microcontrollers (AVR-USB), just in time for the driver's one year
anniversary. This version adds new licensing options and free USB
Product IDs bundled with all license types, even with the free Open
Source compliant license.

AVR-USB is targeted to small companies and hobbyists designing hardware
with USB connectivity based on standard AVR microcontrollers. It
implements a low speed USB device in the same way as a Software-UART
implements asynchronous serial data transfer. The only hardware
resources needed from the AVR microcontroller are two I/O pins, one of
them must be an edge triggered interrupt.

Since RS232 ports have become rare in modern computers, USB is the
method of choice for connecting various gadgets to the PC. The major
drawback for small companies and hobbyists is the relatively large
upfront investment which is usually required to work with USB: You need
to buy a USB Vendor ID from usb.org (currently 1,500 USD) and maybe a
new development system for USB capable microcontrollers. Furthermore,
microcontrollers with USB are often available in SMD packages and large
quantities only, making things even harder for small startup companies
and hobbyists.

AVR-USB addresses all these issues. It comes with an Open Source
license, a USB Product ID which can be used for free (shared according
to the certain implementation rules), it is based on the free GNU
compiler as development environment and works with low cost AVR
microcontrollers which are available in DIP packages. The PC side
driver
can be constructed with libusb, a free USB abstraction library which is
available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and BSD Unix. No Microsoft SDK
or
development environment is required for Windows driver development.

Two affordable commercial license types are available for those who can
not agree to the publication requirement of the Open Source license.
The
entry level license for 199 EUR allows using AVR-USB in up to 150 units
and comes with a dedicated USB Product ID for exclusive use. The
professional license for 500 EUR has virtually no limit in the number
of
units (fair use) and comes with two dedicated USB Product IDs.


AVR-USB can be downloaded as part of an example application at the URL

http://www.obdev.at/products/avrusb/powerswitch.html

For more information about AVR-USB see

http://www.obdev.at/avrusb/


------------------------------------
About Objective Development
------------------------------------

Objective Development is a creative team of experienced software
engineers, specialized in developing innovative, intelligent computing
solutions. The brand "Objective Development" represents high quality
niche products for private and commercial users, filling the gaps
between large standard applications.

The company's product line includes "LaunchBar" (an award winning
search
utility and recent winner of the Macworld 2005 Editors' Choice Awards),
"Little Snitch" (an application based reverse firewall), "WebYep" (a
web
content management system) and Sharity (an SMB file system for Unix).


------------------------------------
Press Contact
------------------------------------

Objective Development Software GmbH
Grosse Schiffgasse 1A/7
A-1020 Vienna, Austria, Europe

Christian Starkjohann (Product Manager)
http://www.obdev.at/avrusb/

Fax: +43 1 81749554000