OK, I'm making a MP3 box sort of thing... its going to be just a m/b, hdd and sound card. I want some buttons for stop, play, shutdown etc... My first idea was to use the parallel port, but i can only work out how to turn LEDs on/off using it. Does anyone know how to get inputs from it using buttons/switches? Or has anyone got a better idea of getting inputs like that? w/o using a keyboard... Ta, -DRR104 btw... I'm using VB6
There are several devices that allow you to use the keybaod interface, but accept switches that you can map to keypresses. http://www.inclusivetlc.com/catalog/technology/inclusive_swbox.shtml http://www.donjohnston.com/catalog/switchpro.htm Are a couple, I'm sure if you look around there are cheaper or DIY alternatives. I'd work hard to make keyboard input (from switches) work, because you don't really have any options with the parallel port that don't involve writing software to handle it. I believe I read about someone salvaging the keybard interface chip out of a 10 dollar keybaod and using that, let me see if I can recover that URL.
Thanks for that but i think they're a bit out of my price range... which is around £0 Also the main reason i dont want to use a keyboard is that the port is right up against the case, can't really get to it... As for the parallel port... i can write the software using Visual Basic, as i said i only know how to turn on LEDs. What i really need is to know who to wire buttons to the parallel port... Ta ne way, -DRR104
Well, there's stacks of information out there, here's one to get you started: http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/vblpt.htm But google for "interface parallel port visual basic" will get you an avalanche of info.
Does it have to be on the parallel port? If you can use a serial port instead, try http://diba.by.ru/comctrl/interface.html I use it, and the buttons are very easy to wire. Here are some wiring diagrams http://www.qsl.net/ly2np/homemade2.html I did the 4 button version, and like it alot!
