PSoC5 Grbl with Native USB

I added native USB support to my PS0C5 port of Grbl. The PSoC has USB capability on the chip. It also has a component for using it as a USB UART (CDC Interface). This means it looks like a serial port to the connected PC and uses the standard CDC interface driver that most OS have.

I am currently only using this on the PSoC5 development board so I am comfortable using their VID and PID values. If I make some custom hardware and distribute it, I will need to get my own.

Advantages

  • Low Cost – You don’t need to buy a separate USB/TTL chip
  • Faster – It should be able to run a lot faster. You can select any baud rate you want. It never converts to TTL I think the rate is meaningless. I am not sure if it translates to actual fast jobs, but it might on data heavy laser type jobs where the laser power level is changing a lot.
  • Compatibility – It still looks like a UART to senders, so you can use all existing senders.
  • Future Features – It might be possible to have the USB look like multiple features like a memory device, to make file transfers possible.

The Code

I put it in a separate repo from my last code. I started with a more recent version of Grbl, plus I removed the LCD code. I typically don’t use the LCD and prefer a serial/bluetooth remote. It could be easily added back in from the original port.

To do list?

  1. The USB is checked for incoming data in the protocol_main_loop(). Is there a way to do this with an interrupt?
  2. Arduinos have a DTR triggered reboot. Some senders expect this. Can we emulate this behavior?
  3. I want to add SD card support to Grbl
    • Then try to make that accessible as a USB drive.

Help?

If you want to help, just let me know via comments below or on the GitHub page.

 


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2 Responses to “PSoC5 Grbl with Native USB”


  1. Evgeniy

    Thanks for the project!
    the program define incorrect CMD_RESET = ‘^’ (0x5E)
    I had to specify the code otherwise in the config.h file, line 52:
    …….
    52 #define CMD_RESET 0x18 // ‘^’ // 0x18 // ctrl-x.
    ……
    Now it works.
    Pavloven

  2. bdring

    Thanks, I think I accidentally left that as a type-able character. I’ll fix that soon.

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