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Ask HN: Advice for creating a USB device linking 2 computers

20 points WorldDev | 1 comments | 25 Oct 25 19:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.208s | source

I want to build a little device that connects two computers together via usb, and send keystrokes from one to the other.

(I would use it to use a laptop keyboard on a headless computers).

I am looking for an easy solution, it does not have to be the cheapest.

ChatGPT points me to Arduino, but as far as I can see, there's no arduino with 2 usb ports. It also points me to Raspery pi zero, but that's a computer, not a microcontroller, so not sure if it's suitable.

If anyone with experience can give me some pointers, it would be greatly appreciated!

1. vbezhenar ◴[25 Oct 25 20:07 UTC] No.45706585[source]▶
Get two microcontrollers with USBD peripheral and connect them using SPI or UART. Write two firmwares for these microcontrollers. Probably two Raspberry Pi Picos would be the easiest way to implement that project.

You also might want to use optical isolators between these microcontrollers, instead of wiring them directly. Just connecting grounds might be wrong, because different computers might have different grounds.