First look at Service USB gadget

[Richard Gaskin]

DunbarX wrote:
> I got one of these, a general purpose I/O device. It simply plugs into a 
> USB port on a Mac. It is a stronger, though very similar version of the old 
> Beehive "ADB I/O" device. Stronger mainly in that USB is much faster than 
> Apple's ADB bus. It is completely self contained. Plug and play. It comes with 
> externals for revolution, as well as other environments.
> 
> It is a fabulous toy. Basically, a suite of rev commands and functions 
> allows one to "write" (open and close output switch contacts) or "read" (detect 
> the state of input switch contacts). There are also analog inputs with 12 
> bit resolution, and pulse width modulation is implemented internally
> 
> Almost anyone could create an alarm system, a light show or the like with 
> radio shack components. You need hobby level electronic know-how to do 
> anything really cool, but your Mac can completely control the world. It is 
> hardware I/O for the rest of us.

Way cool!  Thanks for posting that.  Somehow I'd missed it, but after 
your post I dug up RR's press release:
<http://www.runrev.com/company/press-release-archive/service-usb-plus/>

This caught my eye there:

    SERVICE USB plus is a proven, robust control technology in
    professional implementations for industry, tradeshows and
    entertainment. With this release, it can be used, for example,
    to drive special effects such as flashes or fog machines at
    concerts and tradeshows, directly from within Runtime
    Revolution applications.

Hmmm...I can envision all sorts of things I'd like to do for my next Rev 
seminar presentation.  With Rev and Service USB I can now replace Steve 
Jobs' entire support staff with some really cool robots to drive lights, 
projection, lasers, and a fog machine....  :)

Okay, there are a million more useful things that can be done with it, 
but I can dream can't I?

Don Rossi, is this not the thing you need to take CyberRave into the 
21st century?

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  Developer of WebMerge: Publish any database on any Web site
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com