CANtact Pro Launches with Two CAN Interfaces, Isolated USB, and Cross-Platform Driver Support
Designed with the automotive user in mind, but compatible with anything talking CAN, CAN-FD, and SWCAN, the CANtact Pro is a major upgrade.
Linklayer Labs has launched a crowdfunding campaign for its CANtact Pro, an open source tool with the automotive hacker in mind and designed to simplify investigation of Controller Area Network (CAN) devices.
"CANtact Pro is an open source USB to Controller Area Network (CAN) device. This allows you to connect a computer to anything that talks CAN," the company explains of its creation, which builds on the earlier CANtact. "CAN is used in a wide range of embedded systems including vehicles, robots, industrial control systems, and avionics."
"The CANtact Pro improves on the original CANtact hardware by adding an extra CAN bus, support for CAN-FD and single-wire CAN, high speed USB, and electrical isolation. The CANtact Pro also introduces new software that supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. On all platforms, a command line interface is available for basic interaction with CAN buses. The cross-platform driver support allows developers to build CAN tools that run on all platforms."
The CANtact Pro has two CAN interfaces — up from the single interface of the original — with the both supporting CAN and CAN-FD operation and one additionally supporting single-wire CAN (SWCAN) — linked to a 480Mb/s USB interface. Unlike the original, there's protective solution between the CAN and USB interfaces — addressing one major criticism of the original.
The open-hardware device comes with a cross-platform USB driver, command-line interface, and APIs, tying in to Python via python-can, C and C++, and Rust, as well as supporting anything which can talk ETAS BUSMASTER on Windows or SocketCAN on Linux.
The CANtact Pro is now available on Crowd Supply, with shipment scheduled for the end of September, for $129; limited quantities of the original CANtact are also available, priced at $49.
