On Sat, Oct 13, 2007 at 04:39:19PM +0200, Uwe Hermann wrote:
just curious -- where do we get hardware to use with the USB Debug Port debugging functionality in LinuxBIOS? Can you buy something in stores?
Get the NET20DC from e.g. semiconductorstore.com. I paid USD 80+VAT+shipping.
Is this specialized,
Yes.
high-price hardware?
Not that bad.
Can you build your own?
In theory, but it's too much work IMO. It must support high speed USB signalling and all the standalone chips that do are fine-pitch SMD which brings it's own set of issues with PCB manufacturing and supporting passive components even if one is comfortable soldering the .2mm wide pins by hand.
Are there any HOWTOs?
The USB debug class device specification contains all you need to know about how the device functions. Note that the class spec describes a device with USB on both ends. That's not strictly neccessary as long as the host end of the device can keep up with the bandwidth - important because the debug port has reduced error recovery IIRC.
//Peter