Hardware Secrets
Home | Camera | Case | CE | Cooling | CPU | Input | Memory | Mobile | Motherboard | Networking | Power | Storage | Video | Other
Content
Articles
Editorial
First Look
Gabriel’s Blog
News
Reviews
Tutorials
Main Menu
About Us
Awarded Products
Compare Prices
Datasheets
Dictionary
Download
Drivers
Facebook
Forums
Links
Manufacturer Finder
Newsletter
On The Web
RSS Feed
Test Your Skills
Twitter
Newsletter
Subscribe today!
Search



Recommended
Parallel Port Complete: Programming, Interfacing, & Using the PC's Parallel Printer Port
Parallel Port Complete: Programming, Interfacing, & Using the PC's Parallel Printer Port, by Jan Axelson (Lakeview Research), starting at $14.00
Home » Motherboard » Bus
How To Build Parallel Port Prototypes
Author: Gabriel Torres
Type: Tutorials Last Updated: October 13, 2005
Page: 1 of 7
Real-time pricing for StarTech PM1115P.
StarTechnode StarTech PM1115P 1 Port 10/100 Mbps Parallel Network Print Server STARTECH.COM SYU-1090141 Electronics Usually ships in 24 hours
Amazon: $36.99 TigerDirect: $39.99
CompUSA: $39.99 Buy.com: $37.24

Introduction

The computer parallel port is the easiest way to control devices outside the PC, like LEDs, lights and even home appliances. In this tutorial we will teach you how to use the computer parallel port to control circuits outside your computer.

The greatest thing about printers nowadays is that they use USB connection. Thus, on the majority of modern PCs the parallel is not used, so it is available for us to use it to control circuits outside the computer box.

In fact the idea behind parallel port is really simple. It is an 8-bit parallel interface, so you have eight bits available there. Simple put, since each data bit can be set as either ”0“ (”turned off“) or ”1“ (”turned on“), we can directly turn on or off up to eight devices, like LEDs, lights and even home appliances. You can connect LEDs direclty to the parallel port and play with them – actually that is exactly what we are going to do in this tutorial, since this is the best way to learn how to use the parallel port. But for ”heavier“ circuits like lights and home appliances, you will need to build a power circuit, because the computer parallel port is not capable of driving enough current to deal with such devices. We’ll explain how to build this kind of circuit as well.

Building Parallel Port Prototypes
click to enlarge
Figure 1: Connecting LEDs to the parallel port.

Page 1 of 7  | Next »
Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark Article | Comments (5)

Related Content
  • Computer Port Extension
  • Why Serial?
  • Installing Frontal USB Ports

  • Recommended Deal.
    tplink TL-WN350Gtplink TL-WN350G

    Tplink TP-Link TL-WN350G 54Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter TP-LINK GD6426 Electronics Used and New Usually ships in 24 hours

    Amazon: $16.85 Newegg: $19.99

    RSSLatest News
    Corsair Upgrades GS Series Power Supplies
    May 17, 2012 - 12:49 PM PST
    New 140 mm Case Fans from Arctic
    May 17, 2012 - 12:47 PM PST
    Intel Intros New Intel Xeon Processors
    May 15, 2012 - 5:04 PM PST
    Transcend Launches mSATA SSD Drives
    May 11, 2012 - 8:56 AM PST
    NVIDIA Launches GeForce GTX 670
    May 10, 2012 - 7:44 AM PST
    .:: More News ::.




    © 2004-12, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Advertising | Legal Information | Privacy Policy
    All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -08:00)