Re: Interfacing to parallel port dongle via USB adapter

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:36:02 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:16:18 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:01:45 GMT, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

mrdarrett@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Apr 2, 2:36 pm, "Paul E. Schoen" <pst...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have software (PADS Layout) that requires a parallel port dongle, and it
works fine on my present (fairly old) computer, which has a native parallel
port. But newer computers, particularly laptops, do not have these legacy
ports and instead use USB to Parallel (or USB to Serial) converters. They
generally work well for printers, but I have heard that they do not work
for dongles. The usual solution is to obtain a USB dongle from the software
vendor (www.mentor.com), but they require the user to be on "maintenance"
in order to get a USB dongle, and they impose outrageous penalties and
payment of back (unused) support in order to be reinstated.
Newer DESKTOP computers, to my amazement, often still have parallel
ports.

My department is upgrading computers this month - the lease is up for
our current computers - and the newer, 2GB HP machines have... a
parallel port! I expressed my amazement to the IT staff, and they
looked at me like I was on drugs...

True, to save space, newer laptops likely won't have them.

Any particular reason you can't maintain an older machine to run
"legacy" applications? Sounds cheaper.

The bridge chips on main boards almost all support LPT. Sometimes there is a pin header or at least the empty position for one. On my latest Dell there ain't. The bridge chip supports LPT and all other legacy stuff but they took LPT out of the layout. They even removed the 2nd floppy support from the BIOS :-(

Harumph. Grumble.
So why did you buy Dell?

Because they have been good to me and most of the other name brands didn't have legacy ports either. Before the purchase I found out that they use a particular Foxconn MoBo in there and that had all the header positions. Turns out Foxconn made a slightly modified one for them, taking all those out :-(

Another reason was because the Dell business section offered XP. Vista is not acceptable to me. Anyhow, you can order this particular PC with LPT if you wanted to. I guess then they stick a PCI card in there, which I can always do later.
I don't buy "name brand" PC's. My local PC Club churns out anything I
want... cheaply. I also don't buy Intel, I buy AMD. AMD processors
run circles around Intel chips when it comes to simulators. I also
bought a bunch of batch of XP for future use... just in case I can't
get it, though it looks like demand will keep XP there, at least for
awhile.

My experience with wrench shop PCs isn't that great. And yeah, AMD chips are good for math intense stuff but nowadays the processor isn't the pacing item in a PC. This one has an Intel dual core and it's faster than I'll ever need. Also, my real simulator is a DSO and a Weller :-)

I, and a number of lurkers here, have run benchmarks of simulators on
Intel vs AMD. AMD is generally 2X faster.


I have noticed it as well since the laptop I usually take on the road has an AMD. OTOH my sims aren't anywhere close to the big ones you most likely do a lot so processor horsepower isn't all that important. Plus I use two PCs in the office so if one has to do lengthy sims I just use the other for CAD or Word. That's where the little file server comes in handy because I can access all docs from either PC.


And, knock on wood, my "wrench shop" PC's outlast the steps in
technology. Actually all I've _ever_ had fail over the years is hard
drives.


Didn't you have a RAM reliability problem a while ago? As for technology I often use PCs a decade or longer. Steps in technology are not always forward steps. As evidenced in the latest, ahem, "new and improved" OS developments ;-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
.

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