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There was something about typing out commands on a keyboard and sending them to a 7-segment LED array that you wired up yourself, that isn't really comparable t

by qq66 10y ago

There was something about typing out commands on a keyboard and sending them to a 7-segment LED array that you wired up yourself, that isn't really comparable to an Arduino.

phkahler 10y ago
Or that the joystick ports on the Atari 400/800 were actually bidirectional and you could get a speech synth chip at radio shack and wire it up that way...
- greggman 10y ago
  I used the bidirectional ports on the Atari 800 and C64 to cross compile for C64 because The Atari Macro Assembler was much better than anything on the C64 at the time :P
- Turing_Machine 10y ago
  Another common use for those in the days before every modem had an auto-answer mode was to hook up a "ring detector". The ring detector would send a 5v pulse into the joystick port when the phone rang, then the BBS or terminal software would issue the necessary commands to tell the modem to answer.
taneq 10y ago
So don't use an Arduino if that makes it too easy. Get yerself an FTDI USB-to-parallel module (http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Modules/DevelopmentModules.htm#UM245R http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Modules/DevelopmentModules....) and set it to bit-bang mode, and away you go. Edit: Or get something from a different vendor, since as mentioned below, FTDI now has a track record of punishing their legit customers for the existence of knockoff chips.
- qb45 10y ago
  > USB-to-parallel module Those have awful latency so bitbanging is less efficient. > FTDI now has a track record of punishing their legit customers for the existence of knockoff chips. At least they only bricked the knockoffs. Prolific simply disabled support for their older, widely counterfeited PL2303HXA chips in Windows 8+. The same driver binary loaded under W7 still supports them.
  - eumoria 10y ago
    > At least they only bricked the knockoffs. As opposed to what? Making them burst into flames in the hope of burning the person's house down? Bricking is pretty much the worst thing you can do.
    - qb45 10y ago
      As opposed to disabling the knockoffs and genuine chips. Sorry for the confusion. I noticed that English speakers place "only" before the verb in such sentences and I'm monkeying them even though it doesn't make sense to me either ;)
      - Tiksi 10y ago
        Nah, what you said made sense, I initially read it the way you meant it, but it is ambiguous enough to read either way.
SixSigma 10y ago
My MBED has a USB port so I can use a keyboard on it. Or a ethernet. So many to choose from https://developer.mbed.org/platforms/ https://developer.mbed.org/platforms/

by qq66 10y ago

There was something about typing out commands on a keyboard and sending them to a 7-segment LED array that you wired up yourself, that isn't really comparable to an Arduino.

phkahler 10y ago

Or that the joystick ports on the Atari 400/800 were actually bidirectional and you could get a speech synth chip at radio shack and wire it up that way...

greggman 10y ago
I used the bidirectional ports on the Atari 800 and C64 to cross compile for C64 because The Atari Macro Assembler was much better than anything on the C64 at the time :P
Turing_Machine 10y ago
Another common use for those in the days before every modem had an auto-answer mode was to hook up a "ring detector". The ring detector would send a 5v pulse into the joystick port when the phone rang, then the BBS or terminal software would issue the necessary commands to tell the modem to answer.

taneq 10y ago

So don't use an Arduino if that makes it too easy. Get yerself an FTDI USB-to-parallel module (http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Modules/DevelopmentModules.htm#UM245R http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Modules/DevelopmentModules....) and set it to bit-bang mode, and away you go. Edit: Or get something from a different vendor, since as mentioned below, FTDI now has a track record of punishing their legit customers for the existence of knockoff chips.

qb45 10y ago
> USB-to-parallel module Those have awful latency so bitbanging is less efficient. > FTDI now has a track record of punishing their legit customers for the existence of knockoff chips. At least they only bricked the knockoffs. Prolific simply disabled support for their older, widely counterfeited PL2303HXA chips in Windows 8+. The same driver binary loaded under W7 still supports them.
- eumoria 10y ago
  > At least they only bricked the knockoffs. As opposed to what? Making them burst into flames in the hope of burning the person's house down? Bricking is pretty much the worst thing you can do.
  - qb45 10y ago
    As opposed to disabling the knockoffs and genuine chips. Sorry for the confusion. I noticed that English speakers place "only" before the verb in such sentences and I'm monkeying them even though it doesn't make sense to me either ;)
    - Tiksi 10y ago
      Nah, what you said made sense, I initially read it the way you meant it, but it is ambiguous enough to read either way.

SixSigma 10y ago

My MBED has a USB port so I can use a keyboard on it. Or a ethernet. So many to choose from https://developer.mbed.org/platforms/ https://developer.mbed.org/platforms/