Parallel Ports

Serial / RS-232 Ports

Interrupts

AT Keyboard Ports

USB

---

AT Keyboards

---

Interfacing the PC's Keyboard

---

IBM Keyboards. Not really an interesting topic, one would expect. So why would you want to interface the Keyboard? The IBM keyboard can be a cheap alternative to a keyboard on a Microprocessor development system. Or maybe you want a remote terminal, just couple it with a LCD Module. If so, then this page has all the required information to get you started.

101 AT Keyboard to ASCII Decoder using 68HC705J1A MCU

---

An interfacing example for the AT keyboard is given showing the keyboard's protocols in action. This interfacing example uses a 68HC705J1A MCU to decode an IBM AT keyboard and output the ASCII equivalent of the key pressed at 9600 BPS. Includes Direct Decimal and Hexadecimal Enter Routines. Ideal companion to a microcontroller development system or embedded system.

---

Universal Serial Bus

---

Universal Serial Bus Hardware Options

---

Looks at some of the Universal Serial Bus Microcontrollers and I.C's on the market today.

---

Parallel Port Interfacing

---

Interfacing the Standard Parallel Port


---

Describes interfacing the Standard Parallel Port (SPP). Includes a general introduction to Parallel Ports (SPP, EPP & ECP) and their standards. Looks at reading 8 bits of data using the bi-directional port, and using other methods such as reading a nibble at a time etc. Also details the Parallel Ports interrupts. Programming examples using C are included along with a detailed description of the Parallel Port's Registers.

Interfacing Example - 16 Character x 2 Line LCD


---

This is the first interfacing example for the Parallel Port. This example shows connecting a 16 Character x 2 Line LCD module to the Standard Parallel Port (SPP.) Shows the use of the Parallel Port's Data and Control Ports.

Interfacing the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP)


---

Interfacing the Enhanced Parallel Port is the first page, out of the Parallel Port Series which has been revised. This page, devoted entirely to the EPP port, now includes waveforms plus a more detailed description of this Port.

Interfacing the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port (ECP)


---

Interfacing the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port has just been revised. This page focuses on the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port (ECP), and now includes waveforms plus a more detailed description of this Port.

Parallel Port Debug Tool


---

The Parallel Port Debug Tool is a handy DOS utility when debugging devices connected to the Parallel Port. It gives a visual display of the three software registers used by the Standard Parallel Port. Each individual bit can be turned on or off by a simple click of the mouse.

FDC37C67x Parallel Port Mode Controller


---

Tried of having to reboot your computer and enter BIOS every time you wish to change your Parallel Port Settings? If so the FDC37C67x Parallel Port Mode Controller Utility will allow you to make changes to your SMC FDC37C67x Parallel Port Parameters in an instant! It also provides many more options than is currently available from Average BIOSes. Sorry, only designed to work with the FDC37C67x.

W83787IF EFDR Register Reader


---

This is a contribution from Michael Boehmer. The W83787IF EFDR Register Reader can be used in similar fashion to the above Parallel Port Mode Controller to change the base address and the port mode of the Winbond W83787IF. Program written in Qbasic. (4,759 bytes)

---

Serial / RS-232 Interfacing

---

Interfacing the Serial Port - Parts 1 and 2

---

Explains the pin diagrams of the RS-232 Port and the 8250 & Compatible UARTs. Includes information on handshaking, Null Modems, DTE/DCE Speeds, flow control, types of UART's etc. The second part of this series gives details of the Serial Ports Registers for the PC (8250 to 16750 UARTs) and the Serial Port's Addresses in the PC.

Interfacing the Serial Ports - Parts 3 and 4

---

Starts with example programs written in C, using both the Interrupt Driven and Polling methods for the PC. Gives details of how the programs work and how they can be changed to suit your requirements, i.e. Changing addresses, FIFO Buffers, IRQ's etc. It then gives details of interfacing your own projects to the RS-232 Port using MAX-232's, CDP6402 UART's and Micro-Controllers.

Interfacing Example - Analog Sampling Via the RS-232 Port

---

Have you ever wanted to sample analog voltages and log it to your PC for further analysis? Maybe you have looked at circuits which did just this using the Parallel Port, but it was no use to you as you only have one Parallel Port and the Printer is connected to it. Or maybe you are using a Palmtop computer which doesn't have a Parallel Port. If so, then this is the circuit for you.

Interfacing Example - Connecting a LCD Module to the RS-232 Port.

---

This interfacing example, shows how to hook up an 2 line x 16 character LCD display up to your Serial/RS-232 Ports so that anything sent via the serial port, will be displayed on the LCD's Screen. It also uses the Request to Send line to demonstrate the use of the RS-232's Handshaking lines and gives details on expanding it to make a remote keypad with display.

Keith’s RS232 Library Page

---

This page, provided by Keith Welker gives details of Keith's RS-232 Code Library which you can download from this page. Keith has also provided a Sample RS-232 Communications program to demonstrate the use of the Library.

---

Programming and the use of Interrupts (IRQ's)

---

Using Interrupts

---

A dedicated document exploring the use of interrupts on your PC. Includes information on the IRQ 2 to IRQ 9 Re-direction, the 8259 and compatible Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC), Initialization Command Words (ICW's), Operation Command Words (OCW's), Interrupt Service Routines (ISR), Interrupt vectors and using interrupts under the C environment.

---

Assorted Documents & Programs

---

Configuring Your Modem for Optimum Performance

---

Many people incorrectly set the speed of their communications package to that of their Modem's (Line) Speed when in fact they should be setting the (Terminal) Port Speed. By setting the Port Speed with your modem's speed, you can be limiting the overall performance which can be obtained by using Data Compression. This tutorial is set up to explain how to achieve higher transfer rates and how to set up your configurations correctly in order to do so.

The Concise LCD Data Sheet

---

The Concise LCD Data sheet, features all the required data on the HD44780 & compatible LCD Modules on one easy page. Included is the Instruction Set, Write Operation Waveforms, Timing information & the LCD Module's Pin numbering & description. Everything you need to get started. Only available in PDF (19.7Kb).

Device Driver Tools - Making your life easy

---

Features three Device Driver Tools for making your life easier. Writing Device Drivers? Perhaps playing with Cypress Semiconductor's USB Starter Kit? If so, the Device Driver Fiddler allows you to test DeviceIOCommand() Calls before you write your User Mode Application. . . The Windows NT Device Driver Installer prevents making and testing of your newly written drivers a chore. It loads, unloads, starts and stops Windows NT Device Drivers. The Device Driver Remover, removes all traces of your device driver.

---

PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format) / Postscript Formats

---

Document	Download PDF	Download PS
Interfacing the Standard Parallel Port (SPP) - 17 Pages	PDF 76Kb	PostScript 248Kb
Interfacing the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) - 6 Pages	PDF 33Kb	PostScript 99Kb
Interfacing the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port (ECP) - 12 Pages	PDF 53Kb	PostScript 169Kb
Using Interrupts (IRQ's) - 18 Pages	PDF 62Kb	PostScript 229Kb
Interfacing the Serial/RS-232 Port (Parts 1,2,3 and 4 + Source Code) - 40 Pages	PDF 140Kb	PostScript 455Kb
The Concise LCD Data Sheet - 1 Page	PDF 9.4Kb	-

---

Useful Links . . .

---

Tomi Engdahl's Electronic's Info Page	Has links to many useful sites, including many Serial & Parallel Links.
The Elektro Web	Stefano Nardone's The Elektro Web is a well presented web page with many electronics links.
The PC's Parallel Port	Jan Axelson's Parallel Port Page. Includes a great Parallel Port FAQ and .DLL's for using the Parallel Port under Windows Environments.
Warp Nine Engineering	A commercial site which hosts some good IEEE 1284 Pages
Kris Heidenstrom's PC Parallel Port Mini-FAQ	A concise HTML document covering the essentials of standard and bi-directional PC parallel ports.
LPTCAP Parallel Print Data Capture System	Diagrams and documentation on a hardware/software system to capture print data from any device that prints to a Centronics printer, using a PC. Another one of Kris Heidenstrom's Great Pages
Peter H. Anderson's Home Page.	Embedded Processor Control - Parallel Port, Stamp, 68HC11, PIC. Interfacing with 1, 2, 3 and 4 Wire Serial Devices
Use of a PC Printer Port for Control and Data Acquisition	Another one of Peter H. Anderson's Pages - Hosted by the Morgan State University.
Steve Walz's FTP site.	Steve Walz's FTP Site has many useful electronics files. Includes Serial and Parallel Directories.
Universal Serial Bus Homepage	Information on the Universal Serial Bus (USB) Standard.
Dontronics	After a PIC16C84 or other Microcontroller's ? Try Don's Workshop.
F1 Controller Home Page	This site relates to the F1 Controller, an embedded controller based on the MC68HC11F1 microprocessor and designed by Pete Dunster.
Roger's Embedded Microcontrollers Home Page	This page, written by Roger Schaefer is intended to be a source of information for those interested in Motorola MC68HC05 and MC68HC11 Microcontrollers. One of his projects is a Two Line RS-232 Mini-Terminal using a 68HC11, a 2 line by 40 character LCD and an IBM Keyboard. Well Worth a Look!
Electronics 2000	Electronics 2000 is provided by Raymond Miecznik. The site contains information and many links related to Electronics.
Electronics Australia	Electronics Australia is the top selling electronics monthly magazine in the south Pacific and one of the longest-running technical magazines in the world, last year celebrating it's 75th year of publication.
David . Jones	If you are into electronics, computers, or anything else remotely technical, then I'm sure there will be something of interest for you here. David has written serveral articles for Electronics Australia.
Windows 98 Device Driver Kit.	You can now download the Device Driver Kit without being a member of MSDN. Has some USB Driver examples amoung other drivers examples.
Windows NT5 (Win2000) Device Driver Kit.	Same than above, but for Windows NT 5.0. NT5 now has support for Plug and Play.
Portmon for Windows NT/9x	Portmon is a GUI/device driver combination that monitors and displays all serial and parallel port activity on a system. It has advanced filtering and search capabilities that make it a powerful tool for exploring the way NT works, seeing how applications use ports, or tracking down problems in system or application configurations.
Hans Wedemeyer's Seven Port Serial Unit and Eight Channel 12 bit Serial ADC.	Serial-ADC is a small portable eight channel 12 bit ADC, it uses the MAXIM(r) MAX186 as the ADC and is connected to a MicroChip(r) PIC16C66 micro-controller.
JED Microprocessors Pty. Ltd.	JED Microprocessors designs and builds scientific and industrial computers using a number of formats, including PC/104 ISA and STD bus. Latest developments include Autralian made boards supporting the Tiny Tiger BASIC module, compiled on a PC, with up to 50 analog/digital I/O. JED also makes a low cost PC parallel port PROM programmer and RS232/RS485 converters.

---

Newsgroups

---

aus.electronics	comp.ibm.pc.hardware
sci.electronics	comp.sys.ibm.pc-hardware
sci.electronics.design	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.nt.kernel-mode	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc
microsoft.public.win32.programmer.kernel	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm

Search DejaNews

---

Search the Web with Google

---

---

The Interfacing Mailing List / Newsgroup

---

Subscribe to the Interfacing Mailing List and get Interfacing discussion and help delivered to your email box. A mailing list directed at interfacing electronics to your computer. Includes discussion on Parallel Ports, Serial Ports, Universal Serial Bus, Games Ports, Midi, IrDA, Windows Device Drivers, Linux Drivers & Support etc.

Enter your e-mail address to join

Send messages and requests for help to the group using interfacing@eGroups.com or use the Web based form.

View the Interfacing Archive

---

Feedback

---

In order to make these pages more useful, we would like to know which document(s) did you find the most useful?

Parallel Ports	Interfacing the Standard Parallel Port Interfacing the Enhanced Parallel Port Interfacing the Extended Capabilities Port Parallel Port Debug Tool FDC37C67x Parallel Port Mode Controller
Serial Ports	Interfacing the Serial / RS-232 Port Analog Sampling Via the RS-232 Port Connecting a LCD Module to the RS-232 Port.
Assorted Documents	Configuring Your Modem For Optimum Performance The Concise LCD Data Sheet.
Interrupts	Using Interrupts
AT Keyboards	Interfacing the PC's Keyboard 101 AT Keyboard to ASCII Decoder using 68HC705J1A MCU
PDF's	Documents available in Adobe Portable Document (PDF)
Any General Comments?
How did you find this site?
Your Email Address (Optional)
Yes, Please keep me informed about updates to this site. (Requires a valid email address)

Just some of the comments readers have made over the years

---

	StudyWeb Excellence Award, January 1998		Electronics 2000, 5 Star Award, April 1998
	PC Webopaedia Outstanding Page Award, July 1998		Links2Go Key Resource Parallel Port

---

Next meetings November 12 Integrated Electronic Systems - IC Wafer fabrication, Short run and prototyping December 10 Zatec - PIC microcontroller family by Jason Moss.

---

Computone - Woodcroft, South Australia Specialising in Computers and Musical Equipment

Previous 5 Sites | Skip Previous | Previous | Next Skip Next | Next 5 Sites | Random Site | List Sites | Stats

Previous 5 Sites | Skip Previous | Previous | Next Skip Next | Next 5 Sites | Random Site | List Sites | Stats

---

Parallel Ports

Serial / RS-232 Ports

Interrupts

AT Keyboard Ports

Coming Soon . .

---

Copyright 1995-1999 Craig Peacock - Last updated Sunday 10th October 1999.

---