[Noisebridge-discuss] computer interfacing

[Tymm Twillman]

In the exhibit world, these are fairly common:

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html

-- switch-to-keyboard emulator (note that there is a USB version).


Also, along the same lines, I *heart* Teensy's 

http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/

which you can very easily (and in the Arduino environment) program to be a virtual USB keyboard.


Also as Dr. Jesus mentioned the FTDI chips are good... and there are FTDI chips made specifically for parallel interfacing, and for very fast IO...


Another option is the BitWhacker -- you can build your own or pick one up from SparkFun pre-programmed.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=762


I also have friends who love LabJacks.

http://labjack.com/


and for low pin count interfacing, there's always the BusPirate

http://dangerousprototypes.com/bus-pirate-manual/


On Nov 13, 2010, at 11:38 AM, travis+ml-noisebridge at subspacefield.org wrote:

> So, I've often wondered what the best way to control a computer with
> simple NO/NC inputs would be.
> 
> I used to rig buttons and such to the parallel port.
> 
> But computers don't have parallel ports much any more.
> 
> I also used to hook them to RS-232 ports.
> 
> But those are going away too.
> 
> So what's left?
> 
> Last I heard, several years ago, the USB drivers were still somewhat
> flaky.  Is it better now?
> 
> Also, HOW exactly do I hook up to USB?  With parallel it was just some
> passive circuits.  (Perhaps the answer here is "use Arduino")
> 
> And, finally, how do I avoid polling loops?  (Perhaps again the
> answer is "use arduino").
> 
> And, for low-power scenarios, is there any obvious way to make a
> system that waits in a very low power mode, then wakes up on certain
> events?
> 
> Things that come to mind are rigging something to soft power-on (can
> this be done on a laptop?) or Wake-on-LAN (but that requires something
> capable of sending custom ethernet packets, which itself might consume
> a fair amount of power).
> -- 
> Good code works on most inputs; correct code works on all inputs.
> My emails do not have attachments; it's a digital signature that your mail
> program doesn't understand. | http://www.subspacefield.org/~travis/ 
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