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GeneralRe: USB 2.0 XP Driver Download Pin
Luc Pattyn30-Oct-09 5:36
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn30-Oct-09 5:36 
GeneralRe: USB 2.0 XP Driver Download Pin
Jörgen Andersson30-Oct-09 5:52
professionalJörgen Andersson30-Oct-09 5:52 
GeneralRe: USB 2.0 XP Driver Download Pin
Eddy Vluggen30-Oct-09 23:15
professionalEddy Vluggen30-Oct-09 23:15 
QuestionMoitor HDMI Pin
cdpace29-Oct-09 2:33
cdpace29-Oct-09 2:33 
AnswerRe: Moitor HDMI Pin
Dan Neely29-Oct-09 2:40
Dan Neely29-Oct-09 2:40 
GeneralRe: Moitor HDMI Pin
cdpace29-Oct-09 2:50
cdpace29-Oct-09 2:50 
QuestionIS possible to activate after safe remove in USB Port Pin
anishkannan27-Oct-09 19:47
anishkannan27-Oct-09 19:47 
QuestionDoes anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
ROVIO26-Oct-09 4:39
ROVIO26-Oct-09 4:39 
AnswerRe: Does anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
Indivara30-Oct-09 4:31
professionalIndivara30-Oct-09 4:31 
GeneralRe: Does anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
ROVIO1-Nov-09 20:30
ROVIO1-Nov-09 20:30 
GeneralRe: Does anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
Indivara2-Nov-09 22:58
professionalIndivara2-Nov-09 22:58 
GeneralRe: Does anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
ROVIO2-Nov-09 23:16
ROVIO2-Nov-09 23:16 
GeneralRe: Does anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
RTek233-Nov-09 6:52
professionalRTek233-Nov-09 6:52 
GeneralRe: Does anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
Dan Neely3-Nov-09 7:37
Dan Neely3-Nov-09 7:37 
GeneralRe: Does anyone have an app or source code (c# or c++) to control servo motors directly via the parallel port Pin
ROVIO3-Nov-09 19:04
ROVIO3-Nov-09 19:04 
Questiondongle Pin
J.K.Sharma26-Oct-09 2:01
J.K.Sharma26-Oct-09 2:01 
AnswerRe: dongle Pin
Jörgen Andersson29-Oct-09 22:05
professionalJörgen Andersson29-Oct-09 22:05 
QuestionCreating USB Harware Keys Pin
Som Shekhar24-Oct-09 5:56
Som Shekhar24-Oct-09 5:56 
AnswerRe: Creating USB Harware Keys Pin
Luc Pattyn25-Oct-09 12:51
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn25-Oct-09 12:51 
QuestionRe: Creating USB Harware Keys Pin
Som Shekhar26-Oct-09 3:36
Som Shekhar26-Oct-09 3:36 
AnswerRe: Creating USB Harware Keys Pin
Luc Pattyn26-Oct-09 3:50
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn26-Oct-09 3:50 
GeneralRe: Creating USB Harware Keys Pin
Som Shekhar26-Oct-09 3:59
Som Shekhar26-Oct-09 3:59 
GeneralRe: Creating USB Harware Keys Pin
AlGor26-Oct-09 4:35
AlGor26-Oct-09 4:35 
AnswerRe: Creating USB Harware Keys Pin
supercat930-Oct-09 7:00
supercat930-Oct-09 7:00 
There are a variety of USB-based microcontrollers available; evaluation kits can be had for $100 or less. The normal approach for hardware copy protection is to have a key receive a packet of data from the PC, munge the data, and send it back. The PC can then check whether it got what it expects.

The amount of time and effort you spend on the dongle code will depend greatly upon your perceived threat model. Ideally, there would be some algorithm used in your code which (1) did not require a large bandwidth for inputs and outputs; (2) did not require an enormous amount of CPU power to compute; and (3) could not be readily inferred by examining inputs and outputs. A roll-playing game, for example, might put some aspects of a character's AI into the dongle. If the character is supposed to do something special if it enters the room with the golden fiddle, and the code for that behavior is only in the dongle and not in the PC-loaded software, even someone with full source code for the PC software wouldn't be able to "crack" the game to run properly without the dongle.

If there aren't any "useful but obscure" algorithms that can be usefully put into the dongle, security will be much tougher. It wouldn't be hard to write a dongle that takes 8 bytes, encrypts them with some secret DES key, and sends them back, but someone who reverse-engineered the PC-side code could then imitate out the dongle. Using a public-key system like RSA would be better, but even if someone couldn't imitate the dongle the code that requires it could likely be bypassed.
QuestionTCP/IP Offloading Engine based NIC's, RDMA, and a new Innovation? Pin
Aerman456721-Oct-09 18:35
Aerman456721-Oct-09 18:35 

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