He hasn't used it. Based on my experience with the parallel port on the D400 docking station I would expect it to work well.
I could swear I've seen an F2812 eZdsp with USB on it. Perhaps it was the socketed R2812 eZdsp with an F2812 in the socket.
No, you don't need to spend that much for c2000:
Click on "compare models" near the top and you'll see JTAGjet for c2000 is only $595 and I bet performance is better than what you see with your parallel port emulator. Note however that this will not work with any of the c5000/c6000 DSPs whereas your current PP emulator will.