Parallel port programming

Thread Starter

parjanyaroy

Joined Aug 4, 2009
6
i must admit i am somewhat a newbie in this field .... this is my second year in electronics engg ... nd now i know the circuit basics ....i would like to learn moer about port programming ( using the printers port from pc) ... and how to link it up and use it with circuits.

I know the basics of C language ( guess tat is needed for the programs )

could u plzz suggest from where should i begin ??

thnx a ton in advance ..... :)
 

CDRIVE

Joined Jul 1, 2008
2,219
For the life of me I can't understand why engineering courses insist in requiring LPT projects for their students? Fewer and fewer PCs are being manufactured with parallel ports and the USB/Parallel Port converters are not universal like USB/Serial Converters. What I mean by this is that USB/Parallel Port converters supply drivers that are specific to printer models, not general access to the port through your code. On the other hand, USB/Serial converters are not device specific and can be accessed through various code platforms.
 

Thread Starter

parjanyaroy

Joined Aug 4, 2009
6
but for working with USB as far as i have heard u need more knowledge about microcontrollers and stuffs (i may be wrong ) ... so i havent reached upto that level as yet .... tat the reason i asked about parallel ports ..

if u know any simple way in which i can implement USB with a circuit plzz suggest ...
 

CDRIVE

Joined Jul 1, 2008
2,219
but for working with USB as far as i have heard u need more knowledge about microcontrollers and stuffs (i may be wrong ) ... so i havent reached upto that level as yet .... tat the reason i asked about parallel ports ..

if u know any simple way in which i can implement USB with a circuit plzz suggest ...
OK, lets clarify a few things here.

( 1 ) The difficulties involved in programming to the USB port has absolutely nothing to do with your knowledge or lack of knowledge of Microcontrollers. The reason the USB port is difficult to work with is because the USB port is a changeling of sorts. It's a Printer Port, Flash Drive Port, Modem Port, LAN Port, External Hard Drive Port, etc, etc. The determining factor of what identity the USB port has at any given moment is dictated by the drivers used for the task at hand.

I program in VB6.0 and I can write printer code for a USB printer with nearly no difference than writing code for a printer plugged into a parallel port. This is because a printer is considered a HID (Human Interface Device) by Windows and I communicate with the printer driver, not the USB port directly. However, if I were to purchase a, let's say, a USB Bar Code Scanner and wanted to dump the software it came with in lieu of writing code for it, I would be SOL without a SDK from the manufacturer.

( 2 ) I wasn't suggesting that you should be programming the USB port. I was suggesting that it makes more sense to write code for the Serial Port. Even if you don't have a Serial Port on your PC, USB/Serial Converters are dirt cheap and are transparent to your code platform. In VB, I write serial code nearly every day and VB has no clue that there's no Serial Port on this PC!

The Serial Port may be old but because of the inexpensive availability of USB/Serial Converters, they will be the ubiquitous work horses they've always been, for many more years to come.
 

remex

Joined Aug 16, 2009
2
That's true like what CDRIVE said.

You should learn some popular things rather than old one (parallel port).

Don't be afraid new acknowledges. Once you try, you find they are not so hard as you thought.
 
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