Simtec Electronics [4], famous for their ARM processor hardware and more recently, the
NET 100 [5] ethernet cards have just announced a range of
USB [6] interfaces for the
RISC OS [7] market.
There are two versions. One is an ISA card (USB11-isa) suitable for the RiscStation R7500. The other is a podule version (USB11-pod). This means that they are suitable for Acorn computers, such as the RISC PC, A7000, A5000 and even the lowly A310!
In addition, there is a full support website that already contains a user guide and full-on Device driver API documentation - culminating in about 300 pages!
The
new site [8] lists the partners who are already helping out with the device drivers - an impressive line up:
Explan [9] (Printers),
STD [10] (Mice Keyboards, Joysticks),
Freedom 2 [11] (formerly Argonet - ADSL drivers),
Surftec [12] (Storage media),
Photodesk [13] (Cameras) and
RiscStation [14] (Portable).
This line up means that Simtec should acheive their objective:
[15]
"This is the culmination of a two year development. One of the main objectives has been to simplify the writing of device drivers to ensure that the widest range of USB [16] peripherals can be supported."
The last twelve months have seen work to improve the developer API and to ensure that peripheral drivers are available as soon as the interfaces are released.
The cards, including basic drivers, will be shipping in July 2002 and should cost £79.00 (+vat and carriage). Additional drivers will be available at extra cost from the Simtec development partners.
Further information can be found at:
USB 11 Podule [17]
USB 11 ISA card [18]
