[osflash] Flash + Arduino - writing hardware drivers for RFIDreader

Tue May 6 14:10:10 PDT 2008

I like microchip because of it's low level possibilities, but they are very
user friendly as well (it helps to buy a hardware debugger though). I've
used the 18f series, where some (the ones I used) have built-in full usb 2.0
(12Mbit) specs. These chips run at 48Mhz so if speed is what you're looking
for they are a real good candidate. Boost Asio has nothing to do with the
actual usb implementation, I used that for my flash socket server.

All my low level programming was done in the microchip itsselve. But your
approach to take this to a higher level shouldn't be to difficult to do as
well. The usb pc programming isn't difficult at all, and easy access drivers
are already provided by microchip. Another plus is that you can access
multiple devices in one application.

And no, I'm not a microchip sales man :-)

Read more here:
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1335&
dDocName=en010280

If you're looking for a complete board you should check out:
http://www.voti.nl/pic/index.html

Yours, Sander 

-----Original Message-----
From: osflash-bounces at osflash.org [mailto:osflash-bounces at osflash.org] On
Behalf Of AliasT
Sent: dinsdag 6 mei 2008 21:13
To: Open Source Flash Mailing List
Subject: Re: [osflash] Flash + Arduino - writing hardware drivers for
RFIDreader

2008/5/6  <development at wichers.nu>:
> Hi Alias,
>
>  By 'hardware' driver you mean accessing you're proxy, which has the 
> actual  hardware driver to your serial port right?

Yes, I am using a serial proxy, but the actual RFID reader commands are sent
over a serial connection from Flash. The RFID reader stuff is done in
hardware, but as far as the PC is concerned, it's just a serial port. The PC
is connected to an Arduino board, which just relays the serial output from
the FTDI chip directly to the RFID reader package. Technically, you don't
really need an Arduino to do this, you could do the exact same thing with
just the usb breakout, but Arduinos are cheap and ubiquitous, so it's easier
to work with them.

The implementation of the RFID reader is all done in flash. The driver which
is specific to the actual hardware plugged into the port is completely
written in flash. Theoretically, you could plug anything into a usb port,
attach a breakout to it, and write drivers for it in actionscript using
serial proxy.

>  I've done a same sort of implementation for controlling an rca car 
> through  flash. But I've used an usb microchip for this and a small 
> http
>  (c++/boost/asio) socket proxy. The response to the car is awesome and 
> I  believe it's faster than serial communication. You should try
microchip!

Sounds quite similar - however, how does ASIO differ from serial? I'm
interested, because the main limitation with my approach is speed.

Serial over USB can do pretty fast speeds - what kind of speeds are you
getting with ASIO?

>  Mixing hardware & software like that is cool indeed, nice stuff!

Cheers!

Alias

>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: osflash-bounces at osflash.org 
> [mailto:osflash-bounces at osflash.org] On  Behalf Of AliasT
>  Sent: dinsdag 6 mei 2008 15:19
>  To: Open Source Flash Mailing List
>  Subject: [osflash] Flash + Arduino - writing hardware drivers for 
> RFID  reader
>
>  HI guys,
>
>  A couple of people asked me whether I'd be posting videos of a 
> workshop I  did a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd post it to the list.
>
>  Basically, it's a hardware driver written in AS3, which controls an 
> RFID  reader via and Arduino board, which can read standard London 
> Underground  OysterT cards.
>
>
>  Check it out here:
>  http://www.proalias.com/newBlog/2008/05/06/flash-arduino-workshop-2/
>
>  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask on the list.
>
>  Cheers,
>  Alias
>
>
>
>  I've done a blog post with a video of my presentation at the 
> workshop,
>
>  2008/3/6 AliasT <alias at proalias.com>:
>
>
> > Hi guys,
>  >
>  >  Just a quick note to let you know that I'm leading a workshop with  
> > the  Arduino folks on physical computing wih flash and arduino - a  
> > neat  microcontroller board that lets you connect switches, sensors,  
> > motors,  lights - anything electronic, really - to flash.
>  >
>  >  The event page is here:
>  >  http://tinkerit.eventwax.com/h3-arduino--flash-workshop
>  >
>  >  "Lead by Alias Cummins and assisted by Brock Craft, this workshop 
> is  > aimed at people who are comfortable with Flash, and want to 
> start  > experimenting/working with Arduino, but have little or no 
> experience  > of physical computing. The workshop will focus on 
> getting them through  > the first few steps, which are usually the 
> most difficult, and give  > them the tools and knowledge to continue
learning on their own.
>  >
>  >  First, you will quickly cover the basics of getting your Arduino  
> > connected up and writing simple programs and finally getting Flash 
> to  > talk to an integrated circuit via Arduino. All the while you 
> will be  > approaching this from a flash perspective, with our primary  
> > development language being ActionScript 3.
>  >  What do I need to bring?
>  >
>  >  - A laptop
>  >  NB: Prior Knowledge of electronics is not necessary to attend this  
> > workshop but you MUST have prior knowledge of Flash.
>  >  What we will provide
>  >
>  >  - The beginners Arduino kit which you can take away with you after 
> the  workshop.
>  >  When?
>  >
>  >  April 5- 6th 2008
>  >  From 10am to 6pm"
>  >
>  >  Let me know if you have any questions!
>  >
>  >  Cheers,
>  >  Alias
>  >
>
>
>
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>
>
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