8 Dec
2009
8 Dec
'09
8:18 p.m.
On 8 Dec 2009 at 19:19, Tony Duell wrote:
I don't think a PC printer port can do that, can
it? A Victor
9000/Sirius printer port on the other hand...
Depends on the device. If you have a bidirectional printer port (or
hack a unidirectional one to be so) you can communicate with a
variety of GPIB devices, so long as you're not sharing the bus with
more than one device.
Many years ago, I wrote a DOS TSR to drive a HP plotter with HPIB
interface from a PC XT with a bidirectional-hacked port. It
redirected the BIOS printer service interrupt, so you installed
whatever software you had (in my case, SuperCalc) and told it you had
a parallel-interface version.
I think I used a modified version of the software to later talk to a
HP voltmeter.
It's probably still buried somewhere in the SIMTEL library.
Cheers,
Chuck