“ phatIO – a different way of interfacing a computer with the world.
When plugged into a computer’s USB port, phatIO (pronounced “fat-eye-oh”) appears as a USB filesystem/memory stick. You can control devices connected to phatIO by writing to files on that filesystem. Any computer that can write to a USB memory stick and any program/language that can write to a file can talk to phatIO.
phatIO significantly reduces the effort needed to control things with a computer – no drivers have to be installed or low level libraries used. Each of the 20 general purpose IO pins can be controlled by saving a “0” or “1” to their control file. Some features:
- Small and compact (44 by 36mm), with a 2×14 IO socket. Great for embedding or use on a Breadboard
- File based IO for each of the 20 Digital IO pins (12 are also ADC inputs and 5 PWM outputs). See an example 8 line shell script Larson Scanner
- Customizable config driven drivers and device files to interface more complex devices behind a file. For example, a TWI interface LED display controlled by writing “1234” to a file on phatIO
- Event and schedule driven system to execute actions when a digital or analogue condition occurs
- Simulate typing on a USB keyboard with a few lines of config
- Upgradable by dragging the new version to the phatIO filesystem“
