***************************** USBNotify *******************************


Fnordlicht-SMD is a free software/hardware project to power and control
some high-power LEDs via USB.
It is a SMD version of the Fnordlicht http://www.lochraster.org/fnordlicht
by FD0.
It is intended to:
(a) provide controllable ligthing
(b) provide software control notification about certain events to the
    user
(c) as an experimental/educational environment to learn working with
    microcontrollers and usb


============================== License ================================
GPL v2, see LICENSE-file

=============================== Author ================================
Timo Boettcher <fnordlicht@spida.net>

Please send comments, bugreports and pizza to sbnotify@spida.net

============================== Homepage ===============================
http://www.spida.net/projects/hardware/fnordlicht-smd/

============================== Hardware ===============================
The Fnordlicht-SMD hardware is a double sided PCB. Except the 5mm
high-power LEDs, all parts are SMD (surface mounted devices). The
schematic and some rendered images are in the hardware-directory.

============================== Firmware ===============================
The firmware for the device is in the /firmware directory.
There are two versions of the firmware:
(a) blinktest--do-not-use-with-usb
    This firmware is intended to test the microcontroller and all
    connections. NEVER use it with USB connected, as it will test the
    USB-Connection with signals that are NOT USB-COMPLIANT.
    Always use an external powersupply when using this software.
(b) fnordlicht
    This firmware is the primary firmware for the device, and enables
    a software on the USB-host to control the 4 LED-channels.
    It uses obdevs free software-usb-stack, see
    http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb for details.
    Compile it with
      make USBSERIALNUMBER=xx HW_VERSION=2
    where xx is your serialnumber (integer).

Additionally there is the usbload bootloader, which emulates a usbasp
programmer and can be used to install/update the firmware on the
microcontroller. It is preinstalled on the microcontrollers delivered
in the kits sold from lochraster.org.
There are two ways to activate it:

- There is no further software installed
- A reset is triggered via the reset-pin (the pins on the ISP header next
   to the USB-connector have to be shorted)

When the bootloader is activated, the blue LEDs will ligth and the
white LEDs will blink with approximately 2 Hz.

The firmware can now be installed with avrdude:
   avrdude -p m88 -c usbasp -P usb -U flash:w:usbnotify.hex


It shouldn't be possible to overwrite or otherwise damage the bootloader
using the programming feature of the bootloader


To install the firmware on a factory-fresh microcontroller, an
isp-programmer, like the AVRISPmkII, is necessary. The bootloader can be
installed using the following commands:
  avrdude -p m88 -c avrispmkII -P usb -U flash:w:usbload.hex
  avrdude -p m88 -c avrispmkII -P usb -U lfuse:w:0xE7:m -U hfuse:w:0xDF:m -U lock:w:0x2f:m


========================== Control-Software ===========================
The Control-Software for the device is in the /host directory.
There are currently six versions of the Control-Software:
(a) python
    The python version of the Control-Software is written in python
    and uses the pyusb library. This is the reference implementation.
(b) c
    The c version of the Control-Software is written in c and uses the
    libusb library.
(c) perl
(c) ruby
(d) java
(e) lua


============================= Disclaimer ==============================
As this is software controlled hardware, it may break all kinds of
things when done wrong. This includes the USB-Port and its controller
that is driving the USB-Port.
The LEDs are really bright, so do not look into them with unprotected
eyes, you might suffer permanent eye-damage.
The LEDs are driven with currents (27-39mA) higher than specified for
these LEDs. This means the LEDs may not be powered permanently, so
that they have time to cool down between uses. It is possible to
simulate permanent lighting with fast pulsing, though.
Don't use it to get notified about real important things, notification
may fail.