You have a miscalculation there in your logic. Commercial USB-to-Parallel adapters that are true parallel ports, that I have see […]
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You have a miscalculation there in your logic. Commercial USB-to-Parallel adapters that are true parallel ports, that I have seen or heard about, typically go for $100 or more.
USB is designed in such a way that there are generic "classes" of devices, and any OS with a USB implementation has generic built-in drivers for these classes. Bluetooth is much the same way. Of course, that means that USB-to-Parallel adapter manufacturer can just create a single-function device for a USB Printer class, and then implement a microcontroller-based solution that only implements that class. (Prolific is a common manufacturer)
mosc - unfortunately, generic USB docking stations are implemented much the same way. Dedicated converters for each input/output that are generally single-function. Unless you can reprogram the microcontroller too, it's not simply a driver issue.
Possible solutions:
1. Purchase a parallel interface card for your computer if it is lacking one. PCI, PCI-Express, 16-bit PCMCIA, 32-bit PCMCIA/Cardbus, and ExpressCard all exist at this point. Typically pricing is $30-to-$80 USD.
2. Purchase a new scanner. Assuming you have limited requirements, you can pick up a Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 or LiDE 100 for around $60 USD.
3. If you're a notebook user, and your notebook has a dedicated, proprietary docking station connector, try that. Depending on the implementation, it may be a true parallel port.
4. Purchase or build one of the true USB-to-parallel converters.
USB2LPT is commonly referred to in forums - http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/bastelec … T/index.html.en
A funny part is that most of his microcontrollers used in these need to be programmed, he recommends a programmer with a parallel interface. 😀
I'm not sure if any company is selling any based on his designs and drivers.
5. Opportunities if you're a hacker:
- Keyspan made a USB-to-parallel device specifically for file transfer, PN UFT125. It was USB 1.1 only, and designed for transferring files from a old Windows 95 computer over parallel to USB on an Windows XP computer. Reprogramming the microcontroller and drivers could get you a full parallel port implementation.
- DataAction RICE3000 USB2PIO "USB to parallel port module" - "The USB2PIO was designed for special USB to Parallel port interface, it will not work with generic USB driver provided by the Microsoft Windows system. The software driver files (FTD2XX.DLL; FTD2XX.INF; FTD2XX.SYS) have to be installed before connecting USB2PIO module to USB port (through USB cable).". Might also provide a full parallel-port implementation if the right driver was programmed for it. Uses a FTDI FT245 chip, basically a 384-byte FIFO buffer for transmit, and a 128 byte FIFO buffer on receive. The FT245 works in the full USB speed mode and can transfer data at around 1 Megabyte per second.
- Lucent USS720 or USS725 chip offers full parallel port functionality in "manual mode". Unfortunately, drivers for USB-to-parallel adapters based on this chip are often only single-function devices since they use the chip's "automatic mode" which only implements USB printing. Still, Linux drivers exist for bitbanging through this device as a parallel port. Possibly someone could port this over to Windows.
Small list that may use the chip: Aten UC-1284 Printer Port, Amitm USB Parallel Port, Belkin Components F5U002 Parallel Port, Lucent USS720 Parallel Port, Edgeport/(4)21 Parallel port, Lucent USS-720 evaluation kit
- Moschip MSC7715-based adapters also could in theory provide access to individual parallel port pins. The SYBA SY-USB-P originally used this chip. Linux drivers exist for this too: http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=2286&page=2
- GSM Smart-Clip-to-USB Adapter - http://www.gsmserver.com/cables/Smart_Adaptor … _Smart-Clip.php
The Smart-Clip adapters originally used the parallel port to program it. This adapter now uses USB. Perhaps it could be converted to full parallel with new drivers.