Digispark RC — USB Party Trick

A two-part project: a Digispark ATtiny85 USB device that auto-types a command on plug-in, and a Python HTTP receiver that catches the message and displays it in a styled terminal panel.

Project Structure

digispark_rc/
├── receiver.py                          # Python HTTP server (Rich UI)
├── requirements.txt                     # Python dependencies
├── digispark_sketch/
│   └── digispark_sketch.ino             # Arduino sketch for Digispark
└── README.md

Setup

1. Python Receiver

# Create and activate a virtual environment
python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate        # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Start the receiver
python receiver.py

The server listens on port 8080 by default.

2. Digispark Sketch

1. Open digispark_sketch/digispark_sketch.ino in the Arduino IDE.
2. Install the Digistump AVR Boards package via Board Manager.
3. Edit the configuration at the top of the sketch:
   • RECEIVER_IP — IP address of the machine running receiver.py
   • RECEIVER_PORT — Port (default 8080)
   • MESSAGE — The text you want to appear on the receiver
4. Select Digispark (Default — 16.5 MHz) as the board.
5. Click Upload, then plug in the Digispark when prompted.

How It Works

1. Plug the Digispark into a Windows machine.
2. It emulates a keyboard and types a PowerShell one-liner that sends an HTTP GET request to the receiver.
3. The Python receiver catches the request and displays the message in a Rich-styled terminal panel.