parallel port PIC programmer

Until yesterday, I was using a home made PIC programmer (Tait style) connected to the parallel port of my laptop running Windows XP. Always worked flawlessly with ICprog or WinPIC software.

Now my laptop is dead and, unfortunately, new laptops don't have parallel port. Or it's not obvious to find one. I tried a Dynex USB to parallel converter on a friend of mine's laptop with no success.

Is there a better adapter for this kind of application? Anyone had the same problem, is there a solution to this (beside a new programmer...:) ?

Thanks for any suggestions! Jim

Reply to
J. Murdock
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Try a Radio Shack adapter. A cheap ebay adapter did not work for me, but a RadioShack one did.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus14534

Buying a new peogrammer on ebay may be the cheapest route.

Reply to
Brian

Depending on how much free time you have, a cheap way out might be to find an older computer (486, older Pentium). Might need to use Windows

95/98, or even DOS (shudder!)

Should be plenty of those at the local secondhand store.

Then again, if time is money for you... this won't work.

Cheers,

Michael

Reply to
mrdarrett

Main problem is that most tait style programmers manipulate the printer bus signals in a fashion that doesn't match normal printer operation, and I would be surprised if any USB to parallel converter will work out of the box, as a programmer interface without some additional software manipulation.

Someone will correct me if I am wrong.

However, parallel port programmers are dinosaurs, as are serial port programmers. You should be moving towards USB. You will have to eventually.

If you can't find a cheap one on ebay, try:

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Don...

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Don McKenzie
E-Mail Contact Page:               http://www.dontronics.com/e-mail.html
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Reply to
Don McKenzie

You might look into getting a docking station for your new laptop. That will provide a parallel port that looks just like a dedicated parallel port on your old computer. Depending on the retailer, make, model, etc., the price can go from about $75 - $200. Ebay might be a good place to compare prices. I bought a docking station for my HP laptop awhile back... only paid $50 plus shipping for it. Works beautifully for me.

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Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net  (Just substitute the appropriate characters in the 
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Reply to
DaveM

Question - if you end up selling a USB device, don't you have to pay royalties to the people who developed the USB spec?

Michael

Reply to
mrdarrett

connected

flawlessly

no

You may also find a parallel port PCM card.

Luhan

Reply to
Luhan

connected

flawlessly

no

bought

Yep...

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but expensive. Might as well buy a docking station.

Docking stations are handy. I have one for my Vaio. Drop the laptop in, connected to the network and the KVM, clickety-click ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Hi Jim,

Try these cheap USB programmers. I also used my home made parallel port programmer with PicAllw software but recently moved to a USB programmer.

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Pubudu

Reply to
Pubudu

Ok! So I believe you convinced me guys. I'm gonna look for a USB programmer. I see they are quite cheap, I expected more expensive. I have to move to new stuffs and retire my good old parallel programmer. Sniff!

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Jim

Reply to
J. Murdock

connected

flawlessly

with no

will

your

go

bought

shipping

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I have a docking station for my ThinkPad too, with a USB KVM to connect the keyboard and mouse to my desktop Linux system. I'm not using the V part though. The laptop is connected to the external monitor via DVI and the desktop VGA. I plan to add a graphics card to the docking station so I can add a third monitor. Then I'll likely use the V switch.

--
  Keith
Reply to
krw

Don, you're not wrong at all.

greetings, Vasile Surducan

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Reply to
vsurducan

I second the recommendation of older PC but I would watch the curb instead of buying. I drive my PP programmer with either a PC-AT or a '486-20, depending on which one happens to be more accessable at the time.

"DOS (shudder)" ?? Both of the above 'puters have DOS 5.0 and they "burn" EEPROMs and FLASH every bit as well as Win-32 can. Cheaper too. AND! never a blue screen of death nor a screwed registry.

--
Michael
Reply to
Michael

Don McKenzie wrote: (snip)

(snip)

Most of this country's electrical power plants are dinosaurs too. But they work. I'll think about moving to USB as soon as my huge stash of PP cards and ISA mobos has dwindled. At the current rate that won't happen before I'm pushing up daiseys.

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Michael
Reply to
Michael

I saw this Targus docking station at a BestBuy store. Look nice! Is it possible the implementation of the parallel can be more "complete" than with the Dynex adapter?

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Jim

Reply to
J. Murdock

on

The (shudder) was a joke. I grew up / was in high school during the DOS days. Whatever became of Watcom, anyway?

Watch the curb... you must live in a pretty rich area then! I saw an old vacuum cleaner on my neighborhood's curb a few weeks ago, and was sorely tempted... but resisted the temptation.

Now there's Caldera / some sort of open-source DOS. Haven't played with it too much... it seemed to cause some lost sectors when I tried CD-booting it and writing files to my C: drive.

I still have my DOS 3.3 and DOS 5 upgrade disks *somewhere*! Will have to dust off my 5-1/4" drive to install DOS 3.3.

Michael Darrett

Reply to
mrdarrett

with

depending on

a

Middle-class, but low-class borders within 4-5 blocks. Certainly not rich, and certainly not as rich as that of another poster who sniffed at my "new" PII-450 and claimed that he considers 700 MHz 'puters on his curbs to be "junk". I should be so lucky. I've never seen that speedy a machine on *my* streets.

You might regret passing it up if it was ever any good. More and more, the stuff I consider to be good also is old. In mid-70's I rescued an Electrolux because #1 I needed a vacuum, #2 I was a college student w/ no $$, and #3 it was identical to the gray Electrolux that my mother had when I was a toddler (I was born in the 40's). I used to love to straddle that thing and let Mom tow me through the house. Well, I bought a new bag and a new power cord for the rescued vac. and it's still going strong today ... about 30 years after rescue!

What? Dust off the 5-1/4"? It's not in your 'puter? Mine is. Really. Not cabled in (I use two 3.5") but it's there when I want it. :-)

--
Michael
Reply to
Michael

...

was

Oh, it wasn't *that* nice a vacuum... just a simple upright.

Yup, not inside mine. My computer's running out of space as it is... got a DVD drive, a DVD burner (maybe I should just remove the DVD drive...? There's an idea) and two hard drives. Always meant to install Linux on the older drive, but just never got around to it. One partition on the older drive holds my Windows swapfile - a co-worker mentioned that was a performance tip.

Wanted to play DOS video games from the good ole' days... Kings Quest, Space Quest, Rogue, that kind of thing. Rogue just doesn't look very nice in the Windows 2000 DOS box - it's really meant for 80x25 text mode. (Running Rogue from the DOS boot CD corrupted my FAT32 C: partition - rogue.sav, that kind of thing. Nothing too major, just lost my saved games)

DOSBox is fun too. Used it to rescue my .MOD and .S3M collection.

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Michael Darrett

Reply to
mrdarrett

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