Per usual, I have an Evil Genius (TM) scheme in the works.  The scheme involves using Linux to control a robot.  Of course, I need a way for the CPU to talk to the peripherals.  USB is a great choice, especially since AT90USB is cheap and easy to use.

The chip shown to the left costs only about as much as its FTDI counterpart, except that it can be completely programmed in C.  This is the latest incarnation of my development board.  One of the buttons is reset, and the other one triggers the bootloader.  For the sake of simplicity I will probably emulate a USB serial port and then use the serial port to talk to the board from Linux.  A generic HID class would also work, but that might be a bit more work than I want to commit to right now.

There are a couple nice features about this board.  It is the first one I displayed a copyright notice on.  The etching mask was printed on a laser printer instead of an inkjet, which is new for me.  This is my first ever board to use a mini USB connector, and it is also the first board I have created which has buttons built into it.  In the future I will probably use a surface mount crystal, and I may also use surface mount posts instead of drilling through holes.