Fletchtronics

I wanted a way to control MythTV and my television with a single remote control.

So I used a Bumble-B, an IR receiver and LUFA to create a USB keyboard from the Sony remote control for my television.

This setup turns out to be really nice. Since it is just a normal HID compliant USB keyboard, it literally works in any computer with USB support. No drivers are needed, just mappings of remote buttons to keyboard keys.

Due to popular demand, fletchtronics.net is accepting pre-orders for Bumble-B version 2.

Read all about the original Bumble-B and about the Bumble-B version 2 updates.

Bumble-B version 2.0 is coming soon to fletchtronics.net. There have been several improvements.

• Updated microcontroller: ATMega32U2
• 3 pin power header replaced by a switch
• Improved silkscreen
• USB D+, D- lines now accessible
• 100% RoHS

The new microcontroller ATMega32U2 is pin and firmware compatible with the chip it is replacing, the old AT90USB162. You can flash an image made for the 162 on to the 32u2.

Inside LUFA is a neat project called AVRISP. With this code, your BumbleB becomes a programmer for other AVRs. The project can be found in ./Projects/AVRISP. With a few changes we can use this code and BumbleB to program other AVRs and even other Bumble-Bs.

Bumble-B AVRISP -> ATMega168 Example

PCA9555 is a 16 bit general purpose serial IO expander from NXP Semiconductors. It speaks I2C/TWI. PCA9555 gives your application 16 more IO pins. Up to eight devices can share the same I2C bus. Therefore you can add up to 128 (16*8) additional outputs and/or inputs, using just two microcontroller pins to control them. This version is DIP-24/600 mil shape, perfect for breadboarding.