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IO-Warrior - The "Universal" for USB
Do you know the situation where all you want to do is connect some very simple
electronics to a computer, like a couple relais, switches, or a small display, but the
computer has no parallel port or that port is in use by some other device?
Going to USB for such things so far meant you had to develop specific code for a
USB enabled microcontroller, going through hundreds of pages of documentation,
getting the necessary development system, and finally having to develop a driver
for the thing. No more!
Simple to use
IO-Warrior does answer many of these requirements with an off the shelf solution.
IO-Warrior 40 does have 32 generic I/O pins, IO-Warrior 24 has 16 I/O pins, IO-Warrior56
even offers 50 I/O pins.
The pins can be used for anything, every single one acting as either an input or
output as you want.
For things a bit more sophisticated than just setting or reading a port pin IO-Warrior supports the "special mode functions". A simple command tells IO-Warrior to
enable one of these special mode functions. It is then taking direct control of a couple
I/O pins needed to perform the specific function.
IO-Warrior 40 and 24 support the IIC bus, controlling an alphanumeric LCD and a
LED matrix with up to 8x32 LEDs. IO-Warrior 40 can also control a 8x8 switch
or button matrix and IO-Warrior 24 has a SPI and a decoder for infrared remote
control signals according to the RC5 format. IO-Warrior56 can also control the majority of
graphic display modules, control a 8x64 LED matrix, and its SPI and IIC are faster.
Getting control of IO-Warrior from your software is very simple. On Windows
(any version up from 98 or 2K) you can use any programming language to access
the libraries, including Visual Basic. For MacOS X support does not only
include a library but even goes so far to support access via AppleEvents. Want
FileMaker to open a cash drawer? Just a moment!
IO-Warrior 24PowerVampire is a chip optimized for devices that want to use the USB
primarily as a power source. Four dedicated control lines allow direct connection of power
management chips or high side power switches.
To simplify the process of getting your first prototypes up and running we do provide
starter kits for the chips (not available for IOW24PV). All the basic components and a
few additional ones for initial testing are on the starterkit PCBs.
