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Python USB control on Windows 7?

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  Python USB control on Windows 7? Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> - 2012-12-21 08:36 +0000
    Re: Python USB control on Windows 7? Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> - 2012-12-22 23:28 -0800
      Re: Python USB control on Windows 7? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-12-23 18:34 +1100
        Re: Python USB control on Windows 7? Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> - 2012-12-23 18:11 +0000
          Re: Python USB control on Windows 7? Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2012-12-23 14:14 -0700
          Re: Python USB control on Windows 7? Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2012-12-23 16:48 -0500
      Re: Python USB control on Windows 7? inq1ltd <inq1ltd@inqvista.com> - 2012-12-23 10:33 -0500

#35278 — Python USB control on Windows 7?

In this year's Christmas Raffle at work I won a 'party-in-a-box' including 
USB fairy lights.

They sit boringly on all the time, so does anyone know if I can toggle the 
power easily from a script? My work PC is running Win7.

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#35400

Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>In this year's Christmas Raffle at work I won a 'party-in-a-box' including 
>USB fairy lights.
>
>They sit boringly on all the time, so does anyone know if I can toggle the 
>power easily from a script? My work PC is running Win7.

Not easily, no.  It's not really a USB device -- I'm betting it doesn't
even enumerate.  It's just sucking power from the USB wires.  There's
nothing to control.
-- 
Tim Roberts, timr@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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#35401

On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> wrote:
> Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>In this year's Christmas Raffle at work I won a 'party-in-a-box' including
>>USB fairy lights.
>>
>>They sit boringly on all the time, so does anyone know if I can toggle the
>>power easily from a script? My work PC is running Win7.
>
> Not easily, no.  It's not really a USB device -- I'm betting it doesn't
> even enumerate.  It's just sucking power from the USB wires.  There's
> nothing to control.

Hmm. Can you control whether a particular port is on or off? (I have
no idea what's possible with the underlying API, much less whether
it's exposed.) It should in theory be possible - disable the
appropriate USB port and the device loses power.

ChrisA

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#35409

Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> wrote:
>> Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>In this year's Christmas Raffle at work I won a 'party-in-a-box'
>>>including USB fairy lights.
>>>
>>>They sit boringly on all the time, so does anyone know if I can
>>>toggle the power easily from a script? My work PC is running Win7.
>>
>> Not easily, no.  It's not really a USB device -- I'm betting it
>> doesn't even enumerate.  It's just sucking power from the USB wires. 
>> There's nothing to control.
Yes, I understand that, I was wondering whether the power could be toggled.
> 
> Hmm. Can you control whether a particular port is on or off? (I have
> no idea what's possible with the underlying API, much less whether
> it's exposed.) It should in theory be possible - disable the
> appropriate USB port and the device loses power.
> 
So far as I can tell Windows doesn't let you turn the ports on and off. I 
found some suggestion that by connecting it to a powered hub it may be 
possible to toggle the hub power on and off but that many hubs don't bother 
implementing the functionality.

Thanks anyway.
-- 
Duncan Booth http://kupuguy.blogspot.com

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#35413

On 12/23/2012 11:11 AM, Duncan Booth wrote:
> So far as I can tell Windows doesn't let you turn the ports on and off. I 
> found some suggestion that by connecting it to a powered hub it may be 
> possible to toggle the hub power on and off but that many hubs don't bother 
> implementing the functionality.
> 
> Thanks anyway.

Or you might have more fun if you cut off the USB plug, and drive the
thing directly using an Arduino board.  You can use the USB serial port
on it to prgrammatically turn the thing on and off from your computer,
or a billion other possible things.

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#35417

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:14:08 -0700, Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com>
declaimed the following in gmane.comp.python.general:

> On 12/23/2012 11:11 AM, Duncan Booth wrote:
> > So far as I can tell Windows doesn't let you turn the ports on and off. I 
> > found some suggestion that by connecting it to a powered hub it may be 
> > possible to toggle the hub power on and off but that many hubs don't bother 
> > implementing the functionality.
> > 
> > Thanks anyway.
> 
> Or you might have more fun if you cut off the USB plug, and drive the
> thing directly using an Arduino board.  You can use the USB serial port
> on it to prgrammatically turn the thing on and off from your computer,
> or a billion other possible things.

	Hook up a USB > X-10 controller, plug an X-10 switchable outlet
module somewhere, plug-in a USB charger unit, and plug the lights into
the USB charger... Then use the computer to command the outlet module
on/off...
-- 
	Wulfraed                 Dennis Lee Bieber         AF6VN
        wlfraed@ix.netcom.com    HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/

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#35406

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Sunday, December 23, 2012 06:34:41 PM Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> wrote:
> > Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> >>In this year's Christmas Raffle at work I won a 'party-in-a-box'
> >>including USB fairy lights.
> >>
> >>They sit boringly on all the time, so does anyone know if I can toggle
> >>the power easily from a script? My work PC is running Win7.
> >>
> > Not easily, no.  It's not really a USB device -- I'm betting it doesn't
> > even enumerate.  It's just sucking power from the USB wires.  There's
> > nothing to control.
> 
> Hmm. Can you control whether a particular port is on or off? (I have
> no idea what's possible with the underlying API, much less whether
> it's exposed.) It should in theory be possible - disable the
> appropriate USB port and the device loses power.
> 
> ChrisA

If you have the time;

Using communication software, you can control a modem to call, hang up, and 
call again every few seconds. Since you can make a phone do the same thing, 
there is most likely a way to get those lights to respond the same way, at 
least by next Christmas.  

jd

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