[time-nuts] OT - USB to LPT Adapter - Does it exist?

David McGaw n1hac at alum.dartmouth.org
Fri Jan 11 19:23:23 UTC 2013


I have looked into this at length without success.  It appears that the 
parallel port was orphaned in the USB definition and an emulation can 
only support printers.  Scanners, software key dongles and other 
parallel port devices are not and apparently cannot be supported.  An 
adapter may say that it supports IEEE1284 but they lie.

David


On 1/11/13 1:40 PM, Jim Stephens wrote:
> On 1/11/2013 8:46 AM, Chris Albertson wrote:
>> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 5:09 AM, J. L. Trantham <jltran at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>> My goal is to connect a parallel port chip programmer via USB but the
>>> software only looks for LPT ports.  It works with PCMCIA to parallel 
>>> port
>>> adapters but I haven't solved the puzzle yet with a USB connected 
>>> device.
>>>
>>
>> I think the best solution is to finally retire that old parallel port 
>> chip
>> programmer and replace it with something more modern.  You might have 
>> paid
>> a lot for it but today $35 will get you something with a USB cnetion and
>> then you don't need the printer port.
>>
>>
>>
>> Chris Albertson
>> Redondo Beach, California
> Chris,
> there are programmers out right now that include the parallel port 
> bitbanging feature.  Old isn't part of the equation.
>
> They are identified with the "willem" in the title in some cases. The 
> one I have derives the power for the logic to run the board and 
> oversee the programmer from a USB connection.  The data to and from 
> the device is sent via the parallel port to a PC with the software.
>
> Power for programming comes from a wall wart.
>
> The parallel port must be a physical LPT port as mentioned here, on 
> the PC because of timing issues.  I don't think the programming timing 
> is done by the board, but by the PC's code banging the port.
>
> Many discussions here all have touched on how good you can rely on 
> timing when USB is involved, so I doubt if the USB extenders will work 
> very well.  People who have tried may comment here, but I would not go 
> down that path.
>
> A higher cost fully standalone USB attached device is the other 
> alternative, but would probably still require its own power as well to 
> get the programming voltages and currents required.  What comes down 
> the USB port probably would not be enough.  That is a bit off topic, 
> but worth mentioning.  I am commenting on full capability prom 
> programmers which will program a wide variety of devices.  If you had 
> to make a USB dongle to program a specific device you might get away 
> with it.  However to handle large devices which require high speed to 
> get them programmed in a reasonable time period would probably need 
> more power.
> Jim
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/261149380462
>
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