Fletchtronics

So you want to build USB enabled devices. Bumble-B is here to help!

It is a breakout board for Atmel's at90usb162 microcontroller, along with supporting hardware and USB connector. It is DIP-24/600mil shape, and works very well on a breadboard.

You can program Bumble-B without any special hardware and using entirely free and open source software from Atmel and the AVR community. This makes Bumble-B a self-contained AVR development kit that you can start working with instantly, with no special tools.

You can use the default Bumble-B firmware, a program called userial to communicate over i2c, SPI, or do general purpose IO bit-banging without writing code.

When you use Bumble-B to build HID devices such as keyboards, joysticks, mice, or build CDC virtual serial devices, Bumble-B works without drivers on all modern computer platforms. The development environment is also supported in all modern operating systems including Linux, Windows, and Macintosh.

You can read a bit about the history of Bumble-B and the preloaded firmware in the Fletchtronics blog. Read more about how people are using Bumble-B here.

Bumble-B Related Links:

• Datasheet (updated 8/6/2009)
• Schematic
• LUFA (recommended) NOTE: As of LUFA release 090924, BumbleB is an officially supported board so the patched version is no longer supplied here. [USING LUFA README]
• Atmel examples
• Atmel Flip (Atmel's programmer)
• DFU-Programmer (OSS programmer)
• Atmel AVR Studio
• AVR-GCC
• userial virtual serial commands
• Bumble-B virtual serial port firmware (0.4 updated 10/27/2009) [source .tgz .zip] [binary] [README]
• Userial Tutorial
• Eagle Library Part for making breakouts
• Chat with us on irc.freenode.net / #bumbleb

Customer Quotes

btw, i did manage to plug it in. and it does work. damn fine craftsmanship too
ArmedGeek on IRC

dfletcher!
NullMoogleCable on IRC

<laen_> Also, my bumble-b has gone through the wash three times.
<dfletcher> :o
<dfletcher> does it work?!
<laen_> Yep!
<dfletcher> holy cow that's amazing
<dfletcher> I knew they were pretty rugged but dang
<laen_> I carry it in the coin pocket on my pants with a mouse-mover program on it. I always forget to check that pocket..
<dfletcher> hah I should do that
<dfletcher> man you're like walking advertising ;)
<dfletcher> hey it fits in that pocket perfect!
<laen_> Yeah!
This is an actual real IRC conversation! Laen is a PDX Dorkbot

NOTE: Preorder is closed. Please go here to order Bumble-B. Software, links, and updated datasheet can also be found on the product page.

You can now pre-order Bumble-B. The prototypes have been built and tested, and soon we will do a big run of boards. You can help speed this process and ensure you receive one quickly by pre-ordering a Bumble-B today!

The arcade controller has been detailed and this project is finished. It is now attached to my living room entertainment computer and doing double duty as a video selection "remote" and also of course used for playing classic video games.

Several folks have asked if they could buy it or a similar one. We may well start selling controllers from fletchtronics.net. Keep your eye out and drop a line to fletch if you're interested in arcade controllers or kits or both.

This arcade controller was made by myself and my good friend Chris. It uses Petunia and LUFA to connect to any computer that supports USB joysticks.

Very exciting news, Petunia has arrived! In the first post, I talked all about what prompted me to create Petunia, and some of the methods involved in creating the circuit board. Now the circuit boards have arrived, I have practiced the hot-plate soldering technique and have working prototypes to develop code on.