projects / usb-relay-hid.git / blame
| Commit | Line | Data |
|---|---|---|
| 3fef637d P |
1 | usb-relay-hid |
| 2 | ============= | |
| 3 | ||
| e0716ab3 | 4 | The goal of this project is to provide open-source API for Chinese low-cost USB HID relays |
| 5 | (search on eBay for "5V USB Relay Programmable Computer Control For Smart Home"). | |
| 6 | ||
| 7 |  | |
| 8 | ||
| 9 | The big advantage of HID-based interface is that no kernel drivers and no simulated COM-ports are needed. It is easy to detect and address the connected devices. | |
| 10 | ||
| 11 | Unfortunatey, the vendors currently offer only API library for Windows, and only in binary form. | |
| 12 | ||
| 13 | The main project web page is on the [V-USB wiki](http://vusb.wikidot.com/project:driver-less-usb-relays-hid-interface "driver-less-usb-relays-hid-interface"). This is because the firmware of the device is based on [V-USB](http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/index.html). V-USB enables amazingly simple and low-cost USB hardware solutions. This repository, however, contains only the host side software. | |
| 14 | ||
| 15 | License | |
| 16 | ------- | |
| 17 | ||
| 18 | We are not associated with the manufacturer(s) of these devices or author(s) of the original software offered by eBay sellers. | |
| 19 | ||
| 20 | Our intent is to make this software free; free even from restrictions associated with the GPL. Currently we reuse some code from other V-USB projects, which is dual-licensed: GPL + commercial. Until we remove this code, we cannot set any other license. | |
| 21 | ||
| 22 | We could not find any copyright information in the software package offered by the eBay sellers. No source code was reused from this package, besides of the C API declaration (the .h file). | |
| 23 | ||
| 24 | Current state | |
| 25 | ------------- | |
| 26 | ||
| 27 | A simple command-line utility for Linux (x86 or x64) and Windows. | |
| 28 | This is enough for our own usage. | |
| 29 | ||
| 30 | - Windows version builds with VC++ and WDK 7.1 | |
| 31 | - Linux version builds with gcc and libusb v. 0.9. Tested on RH and Ubuntu. | |
| 32 | ||
| 33 | ||
| 34 | ||
| 35 | To do: | |
| 36 | ------- | |
| 37 | ||
| 38 | * Reconstruct the API library, which will be binary compatible with the original software package. | |
| 39 | * Move the Linux variant to modern libusb (1.x) | |
| 40 | * Make bindings for Python and Java | |
| 41 | * Maybe, reconstruct the GUI utility |