[time-nuts] OT - USB to LPT Adapter - Does it exist?

J. L. Trantham jltran at att.net
Mon Jan 14 04:18:45 UTC 2013


Sorry to take so long to reply to the many great contributions to the
issue/question.  Work is really beginning to interfere with my hobbies.  

But now, the rest of the story.....

My goal is to connect a BP Micro BP-1600, parallel port connected Universal
Programmer, to a computer using USB.  BP Micro makes the BP-1610 which does
just this.  It appears to be the same programmer, uses the same software,
but connects via a USB port instead of a parallel port.  I have not had a
chance to see the inside of the BP-1610 and would really appreciate some
pictures if anyone has one, particularly the corner of the PCB that connects
to the USB connection.

All I have is an Actel Silicon Sculptor 3, also made by BP Micro, that looks
like the BP-1710 (with the 'START' button) but connects via a USB port.  On
the main PCB of the BP-1600 and the SS3 are two, 2 row, 26 pin, connectors,
one toward the back edge of the PCB toward the back panel and the other just
inside the first connector.  The inside connector directly connects to the
parallel port on the back of the BP-1600.  On the SS3, there is a small PCB
that plugs into the same connector, takes a power input, and also has 6 pin
connections to the other 26 pin connector.  This small PCB has a USB
connector that is connected to the back of the SS3 as the USB connection.

These observations lead me to believe that it is possible to do a 'USB to
parallel' adapter to make the connection.  Of course, I don't have a clue
about the onboard firmware that might be different to allow the unit to be
recognized as a USB instead of a parallel port connected device.

So, some 'experimenting' seems in order, after first trying to closely
inspect the small PCB and try to reverse engineer it a bit.

In the mean time, I have a collection of laptop's and desktop's with
parallel port connectors so keeping the programmers humming is not a
problem.  Just would like to make the 'jump' to the 'modern era'.  A project
that has been in the back of my mind.  I will probably try one of the
adapters referred to.

Thanks again for all the info.

Joe



-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
Behalf Of GandalfG8 at aol.com
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 5:38 PM
To: time-nuts at febo.com
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] OT - USB to LPT Adapter - Does it exist?


Hi Luis
 
No problem, and it's much better anyway to hear from someone  who's used 
it:-)
 
I only took a quick look at the web site before and didn't see the self  
build instructions at that time, but having seen the SMD chip he's using I  
think asking for a price might be safer:-)
 
I see from your earlier comments that you've used it ok with old  
programmers but on the page you've linked do he doesn't recommend that, have
you  
come across any problems with this?
 
Regards
 
Nigel
GM8PZR
 
 
In a message dated 11/01/2013 20:15:15 GMT Standard Time, ct1dmk at gmail.com  
writes:

Hi  Nigel,

I missed your post before my reply to Joe, so I made no mention  to your 
suggestion.
I have those and they are not a printer thing, they  really work low level.
The list of programmers and bit oriented  stuff that was reported to work
well is big and surely there are  more stuff that works that is not in the
list...

Joe,  take a  look a check if you app is reported  good:

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/bastelecke/Rund%20um%20den%20PC/USB2LPT
/liste.en.htm


Cheers.

Luis  Cupido
ct1dmk.



On 1/11/2013 5:03 PM, GandalfG8 at aol.com  wrote:
> Hi Joe
>
> As per other replies I was going to  suggest this won't work because  
> USB adapters are for printing  only and my solution would be to buy an 
> old
486 or
> early pentium  laptop and use that, I've bought several over the past few
> years   for really silly money on Ebay for this very reason, but I have 
come
>  across what  might be a possible solution....
>
>  
_http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/bastelecke/Rund%20um%20den%20PC/USB2LP
>  T/index.html.en_
>  
(http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/bastelecke/Rund%20um%20den%20PC/USB2LP
T/index.html.en)
>
>  I can't vouch for this, just found it via Google, and although the   
drivers
> are downloadable you need to buy the adapter and have to email  for
prices,
> but it might be worth a try.
>
> My  preferrred solution would still be the old laptop:-)
>
>  Regards
>
> Nigel
> GM8PZR
>
>
> In a  message dated 11/01/2013 13:09:45 GMT Standard Time, 
> jltran at att.net
>  writes:
>
> Not sure  where to ask this question but thought  I would start here.
>
> Is  there a way to connect a parallel  port to a computer via USB?  
> Not  a device that shows up as  'USB Print Support' but, instead, 
> shows up in Device Manager  as an LPT port?  I have been able to do it 
> via PCMCIA  to
Parallel
> Port adapters but I have never found a USB device that would  do  
> this.
>
> My goal is to connect a parallel port chip  programmer via USB but  
> the software only looks for LPT  ports.  It works with PCMCIA to  
> parallel
port
> adapters but  I haven't solved the puzzle yet with a USB  connected
device.
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Joe
>
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