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Updated USB developer’s guide adds material on 3.0 and Superspeed

By Dan Strassberg, Contributing Technical Editor -- EDN, 6/10/2009

USB Complete: The Developer’s Guide by Jan Axelson, author of many books on embedded-system development, is now in its fourth edition. With little question, hardware and software developers have recognized the earlier editions as the most authoritative, readable, and indispensable compilations of information on what has to be the 21st century’s most ubiquitous peripheral bus. But with the advent of USB (Universal Serial Bus) 3.0 and its Superspeed capability, Axelson decided to write a new edition (Lakeview Research, June 2009, ISBN: 978-1931448086).

You might wonder whether a 504-page book on USB whose index lists only 20 pages of material on USB 3.0 and Superspeed provides adequate coverage of the bus’ latest capabilities. For many readers, it almost certainly does so, although the author provides frequent updates on her Web site. If you find the Web site useful, however, you probably can’t help wondering whether a fifth edition of the book will be forthcoming, and if so, when.

If you are not yet developing USB 3.0/Superspeed products, the USB 3.0 frequently asked questions of the Web site, which you can also find on pg 27 of the $54.95 book, may provide all of the answers you are looking for. If you are new to USB development and are just getting into a project that involves USB 3.0, however, you might relish additional detailed hardware and programming examples based on real-life projects to which you can relate. You can hope that such material will appear first on the Web and eventually in the book’s next edition.