Mechanics and Construction > Mechanics and Construction

PC-Laptop robot?

<< < (2/3) > >>

Admin:
they sell usb to serial adaptors for like $20-ish

my laptop has 6 usb and zero serial . . . sigh . . .

Nyx:

--- Quote from: Admin on July 26, 2006, 05:12:48 PM ---they sell usb to serial adaptors for like $20-ish

my laptop has 6 usb and zero serial . . . sigh . . .

--- End quote ---

But how would you interface a serial port with several DC motors or servos? You'd have to build some sort of complicated decoder circuitry, which would end up costing quite a bit, no?

Nyx:
Well, I've been looking for cheaper options on how to drive at least 16 relays... And it seems all boards cost at least 16 dollars and come with proprietary drivers/APIs.

However, I came accross this USB to parallel cable, which is dirt cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-USB-To-Parallel-Cable_W0QQitemZ180011720277QQihZ008QQcategoryZ11196QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I was wondering, do you think it would be possible to use this as a parallel port, as if it were 16 independent 1 bit inputs, and directly drive a relay (or a transistor and then a relay) off of each of these bits, as needed?

Admin:
Ive never done it, but it sounds doable to me . . .

Nyx:

--- Quote from: Admin on July 27, 2006, 04:47:21 AM ---Ive never done it, but it sounds doable to me . . .

--- End quote ---

Except I just realised the parallel port only has 8 data pins and not 16 (d'Oh!). I guess I can just run several ones ;).... Or buy that USB I/O card...

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page