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What's Hanging on Your Parallel Port?
CryoStasis asks: "A buddy of mine reciently stated that 'You're not a real techie unless you have some weirdo contraption hanging off your parallel port." This comming from a guy who is using his for programing some type of micro-controller (he's being rather secretive about it until he's finished). I've decided to go into a different direction however and currently have an old NES PowerGlove hooked up that I use as a game controller. It works great and brings a whole new dimention into gaming. On the side I'm also looking at getting some kind of mouse script functioning desktop applications, no more mouse for me!. So what about everyone else. Who has something odd/unique hanging out of thier parrellel port?" Call me boring, but the only thing that hangs off of my parallel port is my printer, however I'm sure that there are a few of you out there who put their parallel port to some novel uses. Care to share?
no...but the HAL will let you "BSOD" the system instead.
Doesn't a dot matrix count as a "wierdo contraption" nowadays?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I'm poking around on the back of my system, but I just don't see anything like that. Digital video, S Video, Firewire, USB, some audio ports... But a "parallel port?" Maybe that's some fancy new thing that my Apples don't have yet?
-Waldo
and a a printer have all hung off my parallel ports at one time or another.
The sound thing is neat, it was intended for notebooks, and runs in wfw3.11.
I finally bought a new web cam, so I can take my PC with the webcam on it and keep it in Linux, instead of dual booting.
later, thermo
Wasn't there an old Disney sound box that hooked up through the parallel port?
Anyway, I just though I'd point out the worst thing ever to get hooked up to the LPT port: The Xircom Pocket Ethernet Adapter. And, gack, even one for Token Ring!
It seems a general truth of PC hardware is that anything hooked into the parallel port that isn't a printer is bound to work poorly if at all.
--
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
I only have a Xilinx CPLD programmer on my parallel port. On the other hand my serial ports regulairly get to talk to my Parallax SX Blitz and SX Key, a Microchip PICSTART programmer, and a computerised timing gate for recording the velocity of the balls my coilgun shoots. Another one of my computers talks to a couple of motor controllers and a few touch sensors.
Xfree 4 fixed it. But I sort of liked the MacGyver factor.
http://www.acm.wpi.edu/sinlab/
You push the button, and it updates the web page... It also has a row of LEDs that blink in a pattern that is settable over the web.
It's completely powered and controled by the paralel port.
It isn't there anymore. But back when I was crusing along with my 386/25, I got together the plans and put together one of those home-built D/A converters. The actual use for this device, however, was sound. Basically, it allowed you to play digitized sounds through the parallel port. And I'd play a lot of MODs through it. Those were good stuff. Of course, it was mono, and 8 bit, and not super high frequency. Frankly, even a SoundBlaster Pro would have been better.
I have a Rainbow dongle for my copy of Lightwave. AutoCAD in the single user version (not networked) also comes with a dongle.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
LOADING...
READY.
RUN
laser pointer.
It's hooked up through a solid-state relay so you can switch it on and off . . . it doesn't get used much now, I had it blinking net traffic on the wall at one point, but the original reason it got hooked up was for some experiments in ultra-low-cost direct datalinks between apartments. (After a fellow geek and I realized our rooms had line of sight.) We got some basic comms working with a $9 laser pointer and a simple light sensor, but it was tooo  slow for any kind of real use. Plus those 'N' batteries go quick with all that switching (and aren't cheap!) Kind of cool though.
Tap THIS, echelon! :)
Back when my Linux server was hanging on my pegboard wall with no case, I had LEDs on it. I used them for indicating waiting mail, etc. Also fun to cat /dev/hda to it.
Of course, I wouldn't be a real EE geek if I hadn't put at least one motor on it over the years. I've had 2 DC motors and 6 steppers on the two parallel ports. (Use relays and an external supply or you'll burn your drivers.)
Remember, you can't spell "geek" without "EE".
I've got a pug-dog that hangs around behind my computer! I don't tether her there, she just seems to like it. At least that's better than her hanging around the front of the computer where all of her shedding hair can get sucked in by the front fan and distributed across the motherboard...
I wonder if dog hair conducts electricity? Hmm...
Amongst common uses of the parallel port besides the standard of printers, there are lots of other devices that attach to them, like scanners and Imation's SuperDisk, which is a device like a ZIP-drive, but that can store 120 MB (maybe newer versions support more). I'm sure you can find other common uses, like control of cars and other electronic devices -- kids do it a lot, controlling something like a car or an electronic arm connected to the parallel port with the adequate software.
check out my new dongle, word!
Hung like elephant.
Word Nick, good karma hording story.
The chuckster
Lemure, wtf! Don't you mean Lemur?
- An interface to a Dreamcast VMU for uploading / download save files and mini-games.
- A ribbon cable to a small board that looped back into the case to the front that provided a row of LED's to display CPU usage. (Actually, I used a dual parallel port add-in card to get 16 output lines for 16 mini green LED's).
- An adapter to use Sony Playstation controllers for PC games.
Also, I guess this doesn't exactly count because it's not a standard parallel port card... but I used the Datel PC Comms Link card to talk to a Sony Playstation through a Pro Action Replay with modded firmware (Caetla).Cryptnotic
My other first post is car post.
I've seen "electronic counters" attached to the computer. One implementation of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test has a small piece that attaches to the paralell port. The piece is accessed by the program which decreases a counter inside the box every time a test is taken. That way, MBTI can charge you per test you make avaliable.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
Ok, as a college project I was tasked with pointing a radio telescope (basically so they could watch shomaker-levy crash into Jupiter a year or so later). Used the parallel port to send the commands to turn antenna up/down/left/right and get feedback from the antenna on where it was pointed... From there is was just a bunch of math to figure out where to point the antenna when I was done
I only got to the testing phase, as i lost interest (plus the small problem with toasters and such turning on when i was not at home..) It only cost me a burned out parallelport, as i forgot some resistors in the first model.. a.k.a. Ooops!
Well at least learnt to include protective resistors between computers and home made stuff..
Yours Yazeran
Plan: To go to Mars one day with a hammer.
I don't have a printer--I'drather recycle an electron than kill a tree... Just ~1/4" of dust (~6mm for you folks @ NASA).
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"