[Discuss] new serial port question

[pw]

spencer kelly wrote:
> And we're obliged
> 
> I would like to make a computer do things in real life.
> 
> hi all. has anyone done any serial port work in linux? I want to interface
> with motors and switches. I have learned programming and learned
> Electronics, but have not been able to reconcile the two subjects. how hard
> is this?
> 
> i figure serial is easier than usb, though ive looked into midi.  what i
> want is a wire coming out of the computer whose voltage i can adjust,
> monitor, script to, blahblah. But this is sort of out of the realm of those
> without a engineering degree isnt it? is my computer a little closed
> universe?


Hello,

I think what you need is an A/D and digital I/O board.
Low end ones can be pretty inexpensive these days.
National Instruments has a variety of boards ranging
from ISA to PCIX that have linux drivers and sources
available.

http://www.ni.com

There are other cheaper brands as well. Search around.
You can probably even find a few on ebay used. Be sure to
check the make and model against teh manufacturers specs
to see if there are linux drivers. You can write your own
drivers but it's a bit of a pain in the colon when all you
want to do is get some signals up and running.

There are a variety of things that you can do with
A/D-DI/O boards like sensing analog signals and then
turning relays connected to motors on and off based on those
signals. ~$200 for an 8AD+4DIO PCI card.

If you're really adventurous get yourself an electronics
mail order catalog and spend a few bucks on an
'Analog Devices' A2D integrated circuit, a Maxim Max232
RS232 integrated circuit (the 8 bit parallel IO version)
and a small breadboard. You can build your own
serial port AD converter. Plug a thermistor into
the A2D converter and you have yourself an RS232
thermometer.

Make your own android!!! My master did.

Peter