computoman

Shame that computer makers have pretty much eliminated the parallel port. You can use the usb parallel cables or if you can find them pci cards are available on a declining basis. The usb parallel cables are not completely compatible with the traditional parallel port.  This a shame because so many options are available for the parallel port. Everything from the old Covox fake sound card interface, digital interfacing including I2C, and even doing CNC machining.  So many options taken away from users. Using the parallel port is as easy as making a cable. The centronics parallel interface has the available thirty-six pins. Coming off the computer the computer has only twenty-five pins. If you really look at the parallel port only eighteen pins are only what is used. With two ten pin terminal bars, you can access the eighteen usefull pins from the parallel port. You can control stepper motors, led lights, and a host of other pieces of equipment. One of the reasons like to...

Whether you prefer a graphical user interface such as: Where all you have to do is just double click a picture is so sexy and seems very easy. Let's consider and alternative where all you have to do is just press a single key to start the program you want: But then you could actually sort of do the same thing with an interface like this: Oh but it is not as sexy some might say. It does exactly the same thing, but without using so many system resources. Not only that but you could get even more choices without having to redo the desktop. So if you pressed 1, you would get: Or if you pressed 2 than you would get: All this was done without any swiping!  Of course that does not prevent you from using your favorite program such as a spreadsheet or whatever: But then you could do sort of the same thing with a text based alternative like homecalc or sc: With all the embedded devices such as the Raspberry Pi and the like, you will want to be as r...

This company ( http://arstech.com/install/ecom-prodshow/usb2isar.html ) advertizes it has a usb to isa card interface. Just saw the ad. I do not endorse it, as I have never used or thoroughly tested one. But it looks interesting if you really have the need for one.

This company ( http://arstech.com/install/ecom-prodshow/usb2isar.html ) advertizes it has a usb to isa card interface. Just saw the ad. I do not endorse it, as I have never used or thoroughly tested one. But it looks interesting if you really have the need for one.

If you set up your serial port for communications and have a serial terminal (some systems may require a usb adapter), you will never worry about not having a monitor for emergencies. (Connecting in this case to an nslu2 running linux.)   Notes from an earlier article to set up serial communication, Your system may vary. Now to get the Pda working with the unit. The Palm pda will not work as is as a dumb terminal, so I had to install a program on to it from another computer called ptelnet.prc using a usb to serial interface. The Palm has an interface cable that will plug directly into the 9 pin serial port on the back of the computer. HP Journa has a standard rs232 port. $  pilot-xfer -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -i ptelnet.prc That should be easy. First to test the port. Strange the serial port on what is commonly known as com2:. (com1: =ttyS0) $ sudo /sbin/getty -h -L /dev/ttyS1 9600 vt100 & $ sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyS1 A prompt did not show up on the Palm pda. ...

Vga cards are slowly being replaced by HDMI interfaces. What a lot of people do not know is that some vga cards come with a special port that allows us to attach devices known as i2c (I squared c) to the vga cards. That allows a personal computer to be attached to a host of devices from all kinds of sensors to other input devices. In fact you can connect Arduinos and other microprocessors to the vga port. Since most traditional personal computer motherboards allow the attachment of more than one vga card to the system, that allows for some interesting setups. Data is sent and received over two wires (aka serial) to make interfacing rather easy.  Temperature sensors can be interfaced to the vga ports to detect dangerous sutuations insde and outside servers or other valuable equipment. The SDA and SCL connections are the key points of interaction.   If we can connect sensor devices to the vga port, they we can go one step further and add microprocessors to control other devices....

Vga cards are slowly being replaced by HDMI interfaces. What a lot of people do not know is that some vga cards come with a special port that allows us to attach devices known as i2c (I squared c) to the vga cards. That allows a personal computer to be attached to a host of devices from all kinds of sensors to other input devices. In fact you can connect Arduinos and other microprocessors to the vga port. Since most traditional personal computer motherboards allow the attachment of more than one vga card to the system, that allows for some interesting setups. Data is sent and received over two wires (aka serial) to make interfacing rather easy.  Temperature sensors can be interfaced to the vga ports to detect dangerous sutuations insde and outside servers or other valuable equipment. The SDA and SCL connections are the key points of interaction.   If we can connect sensor devices to the vga port, they we can go one step further and add microprocessors to contro...