Hi there,

I've got some kind of project in mind and I would be very pleased if any of you could tell me whether it would be possible to actually implement it, or if it's only some kind of fantasy

Suppose I have got an ordinary electronic device (I mean, not a computer device; let's say it is a light bulb, a servomotor or even some kind of screen; all of them can do "something" depending on the electric signal it receives). Suppose now that I connect an ordinary USB extender cable to the USB port in my computer and then cut it off in the middle and splice one of the wires from inside the USB cable with the coax (or whatever) cable that is intended to transport the electric pulses to the bulb or the servo or the screen. Finally suppose that I would like to write a computer program that 'guides' or controls how it works, by generating the electric signal that is sent to the device. For example, a program that turns the light on or off at a certain time or that simply sends a certain signals to the servo or to the screen in the way and moment I want.

My question is: is there a way (under C++ or Visual Studio) to communicate with the USB ports "directly", whatever the device connected is? In the cases I've mentioned the O.S. will not recognise any devices connected to the USB port (the bulb/servo/display are not USB devices at all that can be connected to a computer...) but will it still be possible to write a program that tells the USB port (or the USB host driver) to send pulses or words through that cable at a certain time?? I know that the WinAPI and the WinDDK provide libraries for communicating with I/O devices, but this is not exactly what I'm pretending... there is not an actual I/O device here!

Of course, I suppose that the power of the signals that travel through the wires in the USB cable is very low and may or may not be enough for lighting up a bulb, but... I suppose that amplifiers or voltage adapters can be used for that purpose.

Finally, if I connect to the USB port not a bulb / servo / screen but the antenna of my radio tuner or my TV, would in any way a USB port be able to generate valid FM/TV signals?? A TV signal is composed of several carriers at different frequencies... it's not just a simple pulse, but several pulses traveling together through the cable.

I know that all this is a weird idea, but maybe someone who understands about hardware and driver implementation better than me can give me some advice...

Thank you very much!!