20 Oct
2007
20 Oct
'07
1:18 p.m.
Pete Turnbull wrote:
The _oriignal_ use of the 'user port' was for _users_ to connect their
own gadgets to.
It is a lot easier to connect you hamster wheel/ relay-to-control-lights/
homebrew circuit to an 8-bit parallel port than to a serial port (or
worse a USB port). Yes I know there are microcontrollers with built-in
serial ports, USH interfaces, and whatever. But the thought of having to
write the firmware for the microcontroller, get it debugged, etc, puts
people off. COnnecting a couple of resistors and a transistor together is
an easier introduction to hardware hacking.
-tony
The user port was typically used for home-grown
digital I/O, but some
commercial hardware used it too, eg at least one mouse, some satellite
hardware, a turtle, a robot arm, and a CNC lathe controller. I used it
to interface to a PCB tester I made to test some circuit boards I made.
All of these can be hooked up with a serial port, so I'm still wondering
why today's machines are considered lacking for not having a "user port".