Re: [PLUG] Serial & parallel ports; lack thereof

[Doug Crompton <doug@crompton.com>]

Google  "industrial motherbord"  There are many out there.

http://www.bcmcom.com/bcm_product_rx945g.htm

is an example. Most of these boards have everything including video and
sound. Of couse you can add whatever you want. If you want small mini ATX
are there also. We used industrial boards for year in our company for
stepper control but used a dedicated stepper controller on ISA or PCI bus.


On Tue, 19 Oct 2010, JP Vossen wrote:

> At dinner last night after PLUG W we were talking about the difficulty
> of getting newer computers, esp. laptops, with serial or parallel ports.
>   Those ports can be important for controlling certain devices (notably
> CNC devices, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNC).  And the
> USB<-->serial adapters do NOT work for CNC due to various timing issues,
> according to...Eric, I think it was?
>
>
> The short answer looks like, lots of people [1] still sell PCI Parallel
> Adapter and PCI serial Adapter (and combo) cards.  Not so useful on a
> laptop, but if you have a PCI slot, you're golden.
> http://www.provantage.com/scripts/search.dll?SEC=~IOSPA&A1=3188&V1=PCI
> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=512
>
>
> Longer answer:
> I didn't look that hard, but I didn't find any current laptops with either.
>
>
> I thought that my Atom-based System76 Meerkat NetTop has a serial and a
> parallel port, and I was right.  Unfortunately, the NEW one does not:
> http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=91
>
> None of the S76 laptops have either.
>
> All of the System76 servers do have 1 serial port, but I didn't find any
> parallel ports.
> http://www.system76.com/index.php?cPath=29
>
>
> A couple of ZA Reason servers had a serial port too:
> http://zareason.com/shop/ZR-4110.html
> http://zareason.com/shop/ZR-4330.html
> http://zareason.com/shop/ZR-6220.html
> http://zareason.com/shop/ZU-4110.html
>
>
> Finally, my old backup server was a Synertron Twister, and they still
> sell some stuff with serial & parallel ports.  They have fanless units
> and CF-CARDs as well, which is perfect for high contaminate, high
> vibration environments, like mounded on the side of a CNC rig.
> Most of these are available with up to 4 serial ports:
> http://synertrontech.com/products/Embedded%20Systems/embedded_systems.htm
> e.g., http://synertrontech.com/products/Embedded%20Boards/cv_860c.htm
>
> This is the only one that claimed to have a parallel port, but the
> picture doesn't show it:
> http://synertrontech.com/products/Embedded%20Systems/es_mini_cool_box.html
>
> Some of the boards have what looks like a parallel port, but from
> reading the specs it may be a serial port...  Like:
> http://synertrontech.com/products/Embedded%20Boards/cv_866c.htm
>
>
> Anyone else have any ideas?
> JP
> ______________________
> [1] I still have a StarTech ISA Parallel Adapter Card, and it's the same
> distinctive triangle shape as the newer PCI ones.  Funny.
> ----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
> JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/
> My Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
> ----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
> "Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
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"Those that sacrifice essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
 deserve neither liberty nor safety."  -- Ben Franklin (1759)

****************************
*  Doug Crompton	   *
*  Richboro, PA 18954	   *
*  215-431-6307		   *
*		  	   *
* doug@crompton.com        *
* http://www.crompton.com  *
****************************


___________________________________________________________________________
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