PIC18F4550 Driver

This page will cover the creation of the driver for the REPING program

REPING: A Linux server program constructs a packet of data and sends it to the PIC18F4550 microcontroller using USB communications. The microcontroller reverse the order of the bytes in the packet and send the new packet back to the server. I call this program "reping".

OS Commands

 > lsusb
 Bus 001 Device 011: ID 04d8:000c Microchip Technology Inc.

  ROM USB_DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR device_dsc=
  {

    0x12,         // Size of this descriptor in bytes
    USB_DESCRIPTOR_DEVICE,  // DEVICE descriptor type
    . . . 
    0x04D8,       // Vendor ID 
    0x000C,       // Product ID 
    . . . 
  };

More information about the usb device can be obtained with the the -v and the -s options of the lsusb command. The lsusb command identifies one interface, interface number 0, with two end points (EP). The first EP is an OUT end point, with address 0x01 and is configured for Bulk transfer mode. The second EP is in IN end point, with address 0x81 and is configured for Bulk transfer mode. You can compare the lsusb output with the definitions in the usb_descriptors.c code.

  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    . . .
    bNumInterfaces          1
    . . .
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      . . . 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               none
        wMaxPacketSize         64
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               none
        wMaxPacketSize         64
        bInterval               1

  /* Configuration 1 Descriptor */
  ROM BYTE configDescriptor1[]={
    /* Configuration Descriptor */
    . . .
    
    /* Interface Descriptor */
    . . . 
    USB_DESCRIPTOR_INTERFACE,
    0,            // Interface Number
    0,            // Alternate Setting Number
    2,         // Number of endpoints in this intf
    0x00,         // Class code
    . . . 
    
    /* Endpoint Descriptor */
    0x07,                       /*sizeof(USB_EP_DSC)*/
    USB_DESCRIPTOR_ENDPOINT,    //Endpoint Descriptor
    _EP01_OUT,                  //EndpointAddress
    _BULK,                      //Attributes
    USBGEN_EP_SIZE,0x00,        //size
    1,                          //Interval
    
    0x07,                       /*sizeof(USB_EP_DSC)*/
    USB_DESCRIPTOR_ENDPOINT,    //Endpoint Descriptor
    _EP01_IN,                   //EndpointAddress
    _BULK,                      //Attributes
    USBGEN_EP_SIZE,0x00,        //size
    1                           //Interval
  };

The wMaxPacketSize corresponds to the USBGEN_EP_SIZE field. The macro USBGEN_EP_SIZE is defined in usb_config.h with a value 64.

The Microchip USB Framework provides pre-defined values for end point addresses. The EP used in the example firmware code is EP number 01. However, we reference the EP by its address. Section 9.6.6 (page 269) of the USB 2.0 Specifications defines an Endpoint Address as follows: Bit 7: Direction (0 = OUT, 1 = IN); Bit 6...4: Reserved, reset to zero; and Bit 3...0: The endpoint number.

The USB Framework file \Microchip\Include\Usb\usb_device.h defines _EP01_OUT as 0x01 and _EP01_IN as 0x81. This seems to explain the origin of the EP01 addresses.

LibUSB client (user-space)

Here is the command to compile this program. The program will need to be run as the root user.

  wget http://www.camotruck.net/rollins/electronics/reping.c
  gcc -o reping.exe reping.c -lusb
  ./reping.exe

Kernel Module and SYSFS

I don't know all the tricks about adding kernel modules, but I found a way to add this module to a kernel source tree. This example assumes you have the linux-2.6.18 source. Here are the steps.

Unpack the kernel source
tar xvzf linux-2.6.18.tar.gz

Modify Kconfig
cd linux-2.6.18/drivers
Open the file Kconfig
Add the line, source "drivers/reping/Kconfig" at the end of the file, just before the endmenu tag.

Modify Makefile
cd linux-2.6.18/drivers (you should already be in this directory>
Open the file Makefile
Add the following to the end of this file:

    obj-$(CONFIG_REPING)            += reping/

Add the REPING kernel module code
Download the kernel module and install it into the directory linux-2.6.18/drivers.

  wget http://www.camotruck.net/rollins/electronics/reping.tar.gz
  tar xvzf reping.tar.gz

  cd linux-2.6.18
  make oldconfig
  make modules
  make modules_install

  insmod /lib/modules/2.6.18/kernel/drivers/reping/reping.ko

    [root@host]# ls -l /sys/bus/usb/drivers/reping

    total 0
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 Jul  4 13:49 1-2:1.0 -> ../../../../devices/pci0000:0...
    --w------- 1 root root 4096 Jul  4 13:50 bind
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 Jul  4 13:50 module -> ../../../../module/reping
    --w------- 1 root root 4096 Jul  4 13:50 new_id
    --w------- 1 root root 4096 Jul  4 13:50 unbind

   [root@host]# ls -l /sys/bus/usb/drivers/reping/*/reping

   -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jul  4 13:51 /sys/bus/usb/drivers/reping/1-2:1.0/reping

    [root@host]# echo "Countdown: 5 4 3 2 1" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/reping/1-2:1.0/reping

    [root@host]# cat /sys/bus/usb/drivers/reping/1-2:1.0/reping

    1 2 3 4 5 :nwodtnuoC