Parallel port control with USB->Parallel converter

[c d saunter]

Doh!

It's been a while since I used these.

I was slightly wrong; actually both the 232 and 245 devices can be 
accessed either via a serial port interface (COMx on windows, /dev/??? on 
linux etc.) or via a direct API.

The 245 provides a parallel FIFO and the 232 a serial data link, so you'd 
want the 245.

regards
cds

 c d saunter (christopher.saunter at durham.ac.uk) wrote:
: Soren,
: 	I don't know about the USB parallel port converters but there are 
: variousways you can add USB connectivity yourself.  

: A simple way are the USB devices from FTDI 
: (http://www.ftdichip.com/FTProducts.htm)

: Either the FT232R or the FT245R.  These are both single chip solutions 
: that provide a USB interface on one side and an 8 bit bi-directional fifo 
: on other.  The 232 is mapped as a serial port at the system level, whilst 
: the 245 is higher bandwidth and accessed through an API (use ctypes etc.)  
: Windows, Linux & Mac OS X are supported.

: FTDI provide evaluation modules (tiny, USB powered) that you can be up and 
: running with in no time:

: http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/EvaluationKits/FT245RModules.htm

: Good luck!

: regards
: cds

: Soren (soren.skou.nielsen at gmail.com) wrote:
: : Hi,

: : I want to control some motors using the parallel port.. however, my
: : laptop does not have any parallel ports (very few do). What I do have
: : is a USB->Parallel converter... I thought about using PyParallel, but
: : the USB->Parallel converter    doesn't actually map to the LPT port ..
: : and PyParallel only looks for LPT ports?

: : Has anyone tried doing this? What are my options for controlling
: : parallel connections on a laptop with no parallel port?

: : I also thought about controlling the USB natively.. but since I dont
: : have any instructions on how to do this with my Velleman USB->Parallel
: : port converter... i guess I would be totally blind.

: : Any help would be appreciated!

: : Soren