[minus1]

Anything based on the AVR USB series can be configured to auto-detect as a keyboard/joystick/misc (see http://www.fourwalledcubicle.com/LUFA.php), so that would simplify your comm layer. However, I'm not aware of a good off-the-shelf board that wouldn't require some microcontroller development.

I am actually working on a simplified AVR USB board for just this purpose, I'll post it to HN when I'm done.

[ricardobeat]

Interesting to hear. I imagined simple IO interfaces would be popular, but every project focuses on programmable, self-powered boards (maybe because they are so cheap anyway?). Wish you success.