Hi,
I have a FPGA board that can be programmed via parallel port. But I have no parallel port on my laptop. Can I use a USB to parallel port converter to program the board? If yes, then does the converter come with some software or driver. Please advice also for parallel to usb converter too! John
No, a USB-to-parallel port converter won't work. These converters simply emulate the parallel port and are designed for use with printers. They do not provide the low-level hardware access necessary for programmers, dongles, etc. There are PCMCIA cards that provide a true parallel port (with a proper physical address on the PC bus). Check this out:
I've been using their PCMCIA-to-parallel card on my laptop with no problems. My PIC programmer works fine with it. There may be other brands too, try Google, but always look for PCMCIA, *not* USB.
-- Regards, Costas _________________________________________________ Costas Vlachos Email: c-X-vlachos@hot-X-mail.com SPAM-TRAPPED: Please remove "-X-" before replying
Hi John,
like Costas told you; use a PCMCIA card and not an USB to serial/parallel convertor (from FTDICHIP -->
I have tried to use those and it gave a lot of problems over here for programming.
Best Regards, Vince
Costas Vlachos wrote:
You need to get a proper PCMCIA parallel port card. Just about the best, is the Quatech unit. Unforunately, the USB adapters, are not really USB-parallel adapters, but USB-printer adapters. The difference is that the 'printer', only needs basic 'printer' transfers and handshaking. The actual parallel port, can be directly programmed to do a whole lot of other things, but these emulators can't do any of these...
Best Wishes
As others already mentioned USB to Parallel Converters don't emulate a printer port. Connecting such a converter, the computer will see a printer with USB interface. I bought two of them to get aware of this!
However I found a webpage for DIY converter for USB to IEEE1284 printer port, but haven't time to build one yet.
the URL is:
Peter
maybe (probably not)
usually, if your operating system doesn't and isn't too ancient.
parallel port has no 5V output, that makes it kind of hard.
with a 5V supply from elsewhere and the right software it may be possible to bit-bang USB at a low rate. (I don't know for sure)
Bye. Jasen
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.