Circuits@Home have managed to host a USB keyboard with an Arduino and display the keyboard inputs on a character LCD. This uses the USB host shield we covered in August. That host shield includes a… ...

So he tried his hand with some really small SMD parts by building this USB to serial Arduino programmer. The chip he went with isn’t the FTDI part we’re used to.

Approx 70% smaller footprint, additionally includes RJ45, USB-A3, USB-B3, USB-B, USB-Micro3, touch screen menu that enables manual selection of ports to do a deeper diagnosis of faulty cables.” ...