USB host (read a USB keyboard/mouse) without hardware

I have not had time to spend on any research lately, but I did want to pass along this link:

https://courses.cit.cornell.edu/ee476/FinalProjects/s2007/blh36_cdl28_dct23/blh36_cdl28_dct23/

These folks have a software-only implementation of USB host for the AVR chip like the Arduino uses. It allows, with software only and some wires to a USB connector, the device to read a basic USB device like a mouse or keyboard.

The only thing I noticed was it requires a 16Mhz crystal, instead of the stock 15mhz. They did it by building their own system, but someone wanting to do it on an Arduino would need to desolder and replace the crystal.

However, there are some pretty simple plans to “build a $5 Arduino” with minimal parts — so perhaps it would be very cheap to breadboard something that supports this.

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