PIC18F14K50 USB Development boards - just $11.99 + Shipping.  

Details are available here: [1] http://store.tautic.com/pic18f14k50-usb-breakout-board.html

Looking to get started with USB development, or add USB to your latest project? You’ve come to the right place!

After the success of version 2 of this handy board, and thorough review of all of the wonderful and helpful feedback, i’m pleased to present the new and improved version 3 of my PIC18F14K50 USB Breakout Board!         

What’s new?

• Programming header holes are now 0.1″ on center - standard. No more mini-icsp headers required!

• Two new LED’s - they’re connected through a solder jumper so you can disable them if necessary. Just check the schematic for details.

• Two push buttons - One is perfect for use with the included USB HID Bootloader, and the other one is available for your use as you see fit.

• The board now offers selectable power via a jumper. You can power the board via the USB bus, or by supplying your own regulated power to the VIN and GND pins of the PWR header of the board.

• The board comes pre-loaded with a slightly modified version of Microchip’s HID Mouse demo. When you plug the board in, you’ll see the two LED’s flash alternatively (once connected to usb), and your mouse cursor will move in a circle. Press the RB4 button to start/stop the mouse movement. This simple demo verifies the board’s functionality.

• Still nice and small - This board measures just 2″ by 0.8″ (only .6″ larger than v2!)

 [2] Schematic

Here are the features of this board

• Header are 0.1″ spaced, so if you solder standard break-away pins into the board, this board will fit nicely in a breadboard!
• Able to run off of USB bus power, no external power needed. The usb protocol allows you to draw up to about 100MA, so keep this in mind Simply place the power jumper in the right most two pins marked “BUS”.
• Able to run off of power you supply - simply apply regulated voltage to the GND and VIN pins of the PWR header, and set the power jumper to the left most two pins, marked PWR.
• The design includes a 120MA PTC (polyfuse) on the power line to help protect your USB port when using bus power.
• Microchip’s USB demo code intended for the low pin count demo board compiles fine for this board with no modification.
• In case you don’t want to use the USB HID bootloader (I use the PicKIT3 with great success)
• All of the 20 pins of the PIC18F14K50 are available on the headers, and pin numbering matches that of the PIC18F14K50.
• This board takes a lot of the time around basic design and gives you a running start.

Now shipping with Microchip’s HID Bootloader pre installed on the board!

I’ve tested this board with Microchip’s HID bootloader available in their USB framework download. While using the bootloader takes up a portion of the flash memory, it allows you to experiment with this board without access to a PicKIT3 programmer! Simply hold down the RA3 button while connecting the USB cable to enter bootloader mode. Then all you need to do is run the HID Bootloader PC application to upload your HEX file. You can get the PC program in Microchip’s USB framework. Once you’ve uploaded your file, simply cycle the power off and on, or remove and re-insert the USB cable without holding RA3 to run your program. I will flash the bootloader onto the board before shipping for your convenience and as a test to make sure the board is ready to go. You can always overwrite the base firmware with your programmer if necessary. Each board is hand assembled and tested before shipping.  

What can you do with it?

• Build an HID device (mouse, keyboard, some other kind of input device - Convert that retro controller into a USB device!)
• Use the built in ADC on the PIC to for voltage measurements and read these values on a PC. You can easily add a simple resistor based voltage divider to read higher voltages.
• Build a CDC Serial device (see Microchip’s sample code) - This is one of the quickest ways to get started in USB. Your device will show up as a new serial port on your computer, and you can interact with it just like any other serial devices you may have created in the past.
• Just about anything else you can think of related to USB, or not !