FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Here you will find answers to typical questions we've had from prospective and current customers. If you still have questions about what Belcarra is and does, please contact us at the link on the bottom of the page.

What does Belcarra do exactly? Belcarra creates and supports "Gold Standard" USB driver and solutions packages for manufacturers' and OEMs' embedded systems running a variety of operating systems on SOC microprocessors...(more)
Why do I have to license your software? Belcarra's software is used not only in open source systems, but also proprietary ones. Our license in some cases allows our customers to release our code under GPL themselves to support open-source products. Belcarra's software is itself proprietary, and this allows it to be integrated in both closed and open-source projects...(more)
What is the advantage of Belcarra's licensing model? Belcarra's licensing model allows our customers to decide when and whether to release drivers for their hardware to the open source community...(more)
Is Belcarra's code ready for large-scale deployment? Belcarra's drivers and software is currently deployed in millions of units in end-user hands.
What services do you provide? Belcarra provides software and hardware support services to OEMs and silicon manufacturers to ensure correctly functioning USB subsystems...(more)
Do you take on fixed price contracts, or is everything by the hour/day/week? On projects where we are involved very early, e.g. from initial hardware specification, and certain other situations, yes...(more)
Will USBLAN work with other device solutions? Yes, USBLAN works with other devices that comply with the CDC Ethernet standards.
Does Belcarra supply drivers to end-users? Belcarra creates host drivers and installation packages for OEM inclusion in end product packages. At this time we do not sell or deliver any end user package.
What is the difference between a USB Host and a USB Device?
In a USB system, only the host can initiate a connection. The Devices are in fact slaves to the Host as master - only speaking when spoken to (polled), and unable to listen in on conversations between the host and other devices on the link...(more)
Should we request Belcarra's built-in DHCP for our driver?
The built-in DHCP server is suitable for PAN (personal area network) devices. This applies to all peripherals EXCEPT infrastructure devices, i.e. peripherals explicitly designed to provide access to a remote network, such as a satellite connection. Such networks will have their own management machinery and will not want Belcarra's built-in DHCP server...(more)
How does this relate to protocol selection?
Belcarra's USBLAN supports several network protocols, including the following:
CDC-ECM -- the original CDC protocol was designed for infrastructure devices. However other devices still use CDC-ECM because they lack CDC-EEM capability on the device. CDC-EEM -- this recently introduced standard is designed for PAN devices, and omits much complexity...(more)