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ADB Busboy: Adapter for USB peripherals over ADB

Johnnya101

Well-known member
By chance, any way to reverse it? Make one for connecting adb keyboArds to usb computers? I would buy that for sure.

 

Scott Squires

Well-known member
peafour asked about bi-directional functionality on Reddit. It's something that I could add. It would increase the price because it requires additional hardware components. It's looking like it would be somewhere around $8 price increase. For people who would use it in both directions, it would be a cost savings to have it in a single device. But it would make it more expensive for people who only use it in one direction.

Opinions?

 

techknight

Well-known member
I recognize that this has mostly been done before, but none of those efforts have resulted in an off-the-shelf solution. My intention is to provide a product that people who want this functionality can actually purchase.
And I am all for that. I hope it works out great. Trust me :)

 

techknight

Well-known member
the griffen devices are getting expensive and are slowly disappearing off the market so eventually one would need a solution to go in the reverse direction. 

 

Scott Squires

Well-known member
You don't need a Griffin, you can get a brand new ADB keyboard adapter from hasu over at geekhack for $32 + $8 worldwide shipping. hasu is the author of the very popular TMK keyboard firmware.

 

Scott Squires

Well-known member
You can also buy a Teensy or Arduino Pro Micro and make your own using the TMK firmware for around $15. Frequently people go that route when they're modding an ADB keyboard to add a USB port.

 

CelGen

Well-known member
peafour asked about bi-directional functionality on Reddit. It's something that I could add. It would increase the price because it requires additional hardware components. It's looking like it would be somewhere around $8 price increase. For people who would use it in both directions, it would be a cost savings to have it in a single device. But it would make it more expensive for people who only use it in one direction.

Opinions?
I say just start with the basic design for now and make a two-way adapter once you're done. The latter adapter already exists so people still have options in the meantime while your original design has pretty much nothing and there's an obvious demand.

 

peafour

Well-known member
I say just start with the basic design for now and make a two-way adapter once you're done. The latter adapter already exists so people still have options in the meantime while your original design has pretty much nothing and there's an obvious demand.
This seems like a reasonable approach.  My question was more about consolidation of devices, as you mentioned above.

 

Scott Squires

Well-known member
So I've been thinking about the design for making the adapter work both directions, and it just adds too much cost and complexity. So I'm just sticking to the original design.

I've been trying to get a better fix on production costs. I knew I shouldn't have stated a price yet, but I did anyway. <rolls eyes at myself> I really want to keep the price affordable on this product. For my initial estimate I had in mind cheap Chinese pcb fabrication and assembly services. However, there are hidden costs with doing that. The higher risk of a botched batch has to be factored in. And the prices I had in mind only really happen at around 100+ boards.

When I finish my pcb design, my plan is to order prototype pcbs from OSH Park and test the design. Then I will order some boards from Elecrow or similar shop in China and see if those boards are functionally adequate and work as well as OSH Park boards do with my reflow process. I am stuck using some 0.5mm pitch components (I would prefer to use 0.8 or 1.0 if I could), which Elecrow may not handle as deftly as OSH Park. For assembly, I think I'm going to stick to domestic services. Either assembling them myself or locally. I'll be doing boards myself at the beginning, in case I need to make revisions before committing to a higher volume order. So assembly labor is going to be a lot higher either way. But I think that cost will be more representative of the actual cost of Chinese production anyway, after factoring in the associated risks.

 

ArmorAlley

Well-known member
Hi Anthon,

 There is a demand for ADB devices, mostly from us. It may not be big, but a demand it is. Make a lot and see how it goes. You probably won't make any money on the first attempt, but you will gain experience.

As you learn more, the possibility of building other ADB devices becomes more feasible. I reckon, for example, that an ADB KVM would sell well. If you could put 12 ports on it, I'd say many would be prepared to pay $100 for it.

 I, myself, would love some devices that cross the ports-divide: for example, a SCSI-FW converter. If I could have a FW-SneakerNet drive that I could use on my SCSI Macs that'd great. SCSI on PCI Macs is not so urgent as I can use a PCI SCSI card. What I would really love would be an enclosure with both SCSI and FW on it.

I am excited by your current project,

aa

 

bdurbrow

Well-known member
Could you design in the extra hardware to operate bidirectionally, and just not populate that area of the PCB for the unidirectional boards?

 

Scott Squires

Well-known member
bdurbrow, that is a reasonable idea. I just haven't thought of a design I'm satisfied with. So for now, I'm not going to try to make a bidirectional option.

 

Gorgonops

Moderator
Staff member
Have you tested your prototype with a IIgs yet? I might actually be vaguely interested in one myself so I could park my IIgs under the monitor I have my Raspberry Pi velcro'ed to and be able to switch between the two with a simple USB KVM-type switch. (Or just plugging and unplugging, if hotplugging is indeed supported.)

A weird edge case, perhaps: I'd want it to work with a little USB wireless keyboard that has an integrated thumbstick mouse. I assume the device announces itself as being two normal USB HID devices since it works without any special drivers, but I haven't delved into it at all.

 

Scott Squires

Well-known member
I tried it on my IIgs today and it didn't work. Not entirely surprising, since the IIgs acts a bit differently as a host than System 6 does. I also need to test on some later Macs. I will make it work on all the ADB computers I have.

 
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