USB Software Resources for the EZ-USB FX2 Microcontroller

Unix USB Software for the EZ-USB FX2 Microcontroller

LibUSB can be utilized to control the FX2 through user-mode routines in the Linux, BSD's and Mac OS X Operating Systems. LibUSB is a open-source software suite and may already be installed in your Unix distribution. Download the latest LibUSB distribution from SourceForge.net and many examples are provided to control your FX2 USB board. Use the VID/PID pair as 0x04B4/0x8613 which is the default for the FX2 microcontroller. OpenUSB also provides an alternative to using LibUSB.

An open source project under the GPL called the SDCC (Small Device C Compiler) is perfect for many USB projects, and the SDCC is ported to most popular Operating Systems. Because at the heart of EZ-USB FX2 is an 8051 microcontroller, any compatible 8051 compiler will suffice to develop applications for the EZ-USB FX2. We highly recommend referencing the C code examples provided by the CY3684 EZ-USB FX2 Development Kit before starting to write firmware for the 8051 from scratch. This is because implementation of the standard device requests is complex.

For those who prefer assembly language W.W. Heinz has written a powerful assembler perfect for 8051 microcontroller firmware development called ASEM-51. The assembler is also ported to Windows. Header files are provided for the special registers, and bit masks implemented for the EZ-USB FX2's 8051 microcontroller.

USB Software and Firmware Resources for Unix

The EZ-USB does not have a hardware SPI controller however, Cypress provides two application notes on software implementation of SPI for the EZ-USB. Both application notes give examples interfacing with a 25LC320 EEPROM via SPI. All C and 8051 Assembly code is provided.

Windows USB Software for the EZ-USB FX2 8051 Microcontroller

Cypress offers the CY3684 EZ-USB FX2 Development Kit which provides complete software solutions for accelerating the firmware and device driver development for the EZ-USB FX2 microcontroller. This development kit includes an evaluation version of the 8051 Keil Software Tools in the USB 2.0 development kit. Included in the CY3684 Development Kit is the Keil PK51, a complete software development environment for classic and extended 8051 microcontrollers, and is ideal to developm firmware for the EZ-USB FX2. The Cypress Development kit offers many examples that will get you started in hours. Even if you don't like to be tied to an IDE in Windows, the source code is an excellent place to reference. The evaluation version of the C Compiler lets the designer write 8051 microcontroller applications in C and still get the efficiency and speed of assembly language. The development kit is an excellent way to get started developing applications quickly, especially if the EZ-USB FX2 is configured in GPIF mode. An application note and software example is provided for GPIF by Cypress (see AN1197). Many individual contributors also offer firmware for the EZ-USB FX2 which can easily be found by searching the web.

SuiteUSB by Cypress is offered for application development in Windows XP/2000/Vista and Windows 7. This software offers examples and a generic driver to interface with your EZ-USB in Windows. To program applications using the generic device driver (cyusb.sys) and library code provided by Cypress (cyusb.dll) the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition is required. SuiteUSB is the best way to create USB applications for Windows. The examples are provided in C#, however, the Library API can also be called from Visual Basic, Visual C++, and Visual J#.

USB Software and Firmware Resources for Windows

Software Projects

Many different projects exist for EZ-USB FX2 development. Cypress Semiconductor Examples are provided by Jan Axleson from Lake View Research. In order to download the firmware to the EZ-USB FX2 in Linux the ever popular fx2_programmer written by Vladimir Dergachev can be used. Any project you can find on the WWW for the FX2 can be used for our development boards.

Cypress EZ-USB FX2 8051 Microcontroller Software Examples

Cypress Semiconductor provides many EZ-USB FX2 examples for the 8051 microcontroller. USB is defined to be host-centric, therefore, an In transfer is from the peripheral to the PC, and an Out transfer is from the PC to the peripheral. These examples provided by Cypress include:

A3Load - Upload/Download to EZ-USB FX2 8051 RAM. This example works for the FX, FX1, FX2, and FX2LP.
BulkExt - Loops from endpoint 2 to endpoint 6, and from endpoint 4 to endpoint 8.
BulkLoop - Nearly identical to the BulkExt example, but does not use the autopointer feature.
BulkSrc - Endless source or sink of packets. Out endpoints will always accept, In endpoints will return known data.
EP_Interrupts - Demonstrates looping of packets using EP interrupts
Extr_Intr - Demonstrates using external interrupts for the 8051 EZ-USB.
HID_KB - Uses the FX2LP or FX1 as an USB HID keyboard.
IBN - In-Bulk NAK. Uses an IBN interrupt to initiate an In or Out transfer.
Pingnak - Performs Bulk loopbacks using the Ping NAK interrupt. To be used with the CyBulk host application.
Vend_ax - Demonstrates how to use vendor specific commands. Examples implemented are: Firmware upload/download, EEProm load, External RAM load, set I2C address, get I2C Type, get Chip Revision, and renumerate.

All of these examples are free and provided with the Cypress EZ-USB FX2 Development Kit. The Cypress CyConsole is to be used with these examples.

Documentation for the EZ-USB FX2

All core knowledge for EZ-USB FX2 Transceiver is found in Cypress' EZ-USB FX2 Technical Reference Manual. The CY68013A datasheet is also referenced.

Documentation Reference

USB Boards

All software herein is fully compatible for our USB Boards. The Cypress FX2 is the device powering the USB Peripheral world. The FX2 is the most popular and powerful chip on the market. Please see our USB Boards built around the FX2.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see our USB FAQ Page for the frequently asked questions for the FX2 Development boards. We are currently trying to respond to everyone's questions so don't be hesitant to contact us so we make sure to post the answer to your question.