[Robotgroup] USB simple I/O connectivity

[Robo Al]

As I was talking to Eric tonight it seems that there
may be a need to have simple I/O connected to the USB
and start replacing some of the serial port devices
that you may have.

I've had good experience with the USB Bit Whacker (UBW)
More info can be obtained at: http://www.greta.dhs.org/UBW/

The particular one I got was from SparkFun for $24.95:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=762

Really small board and no need for those USB -> Serial converters
everyone seems to be using, as it shows up as if it already is
a serial port.

It has 16 I/O lines and you can put a USB bootloader, meaning that
after the initial programming you can upload your new firmware via
the USB port.

I have successfully used this thing under Linux and windows, so I
will say that I do recommend it.

Hope this is helpful to some of you.

Alberto