Parallel port for PCI Macs

[boing]

For more than 2 years, I've been searching for a working parallel port for my Mac.
Until yesterday, I've been out of luck.
But now it seems that Axxon (http://softio.com/) can offer Mac (and) Mac OS X compatible serial and parallel ports. They confirmed that (some of) their cards work on the G5.

Unfortunately, it'll take a while before I can get my card (I live in Denmark, have bad economy, etc...), but I decided to let you guys know of this possible solution.

Why would I like a parallel port?
I'm interested in programming PIC-chips (www.microchip.com) for doing all kind of funny things, but also for making a TZX converter for the Mac. The TZX converter could use CoreAudio, but it's easier and more accurate the other way round.

So I hope some of you will be happy with this new information. =)

 

[bobw]

Nothing on that site that would indicate these cards will work with a Mac. No drivers available for Macs.

 

[boing]

Nothing on that site that would indicate these cards will work with a Mac. No drivers available for Macs.

While that is true, I have been asking them via email, whether their cards works with Macintosh. They have tested with some Macintosh models so far, and will test with a G4 tomorrow. (Yes, they also have Macs themselves).
Furthermore, Apple asked them some time ago to support Mac.

Drivers are not needed, as they are PnP compatible (Plug-and-Play).

I will recommend you to email them, if you're interested in the cards; they're not so expensive: around $40 for a dual serial port, around $20 for a parallel port. =)

 

[bobw]

Thanks, but I'm not interested in these cards.

You shouldn't post this saying they will work with a Mac unless their site specifically says these cards are compatible with Macs.

 

[boing]

Thanks, but I'm not interested in these cards.

You shouldn't post this saying they will work with a Mac unless their site specifically says these cards are compatible with Macs.

If I don't, nobody will ever find out that they work with Mac...
I could save other people 2 years of searching; those 2 years I spent myself, and that's why I posted it here. Anyway, they don't even put their prices on the site; people would have to write them emails to get price inquiries, so I don't think it's that bad.

 

[kainjow]

Aren't there Parallel to USB adapters? Wouldn't these work better and be more compatible (not requiring PCI)? Or am I missing something...

 

[WeeZer51402]

I dont think anyone is really talking about practicality so much here, I think boing is just trying to make the information available. As he said he spent two years searching and hoped he could save someone else sometime. I didn't think cards were available for OS X but its good to know that this company is developing them and that boing was able to get confirmation of that. so thanks for the info!

 

[boing]

Aren't there Parallel to USB adapters? Wouldn't these work better and be more compatible (not requiring PCI)? Or am I missing something...

You mean USB to parallel ?
Yes, they exist, but I cannot use these, as I need to program electronic devices on a hardware level, which they do not support.

But also, if you need for instance 16 serial ports, you can't get that from the USB (yet). Besides, if you have PCI already, I think it's cheaper getting a PCI card rather than the USB (where I lived before, the USB to 1 serial port was more expensive, it cost around $35)

 

[boing]

WeeZer51402: Exactly why I posted it. =)
-I picked MacOSX.com, because that's the only public technical forum I've come across so far.

 

[epooch]

I do not see how it could be plug-and-play because Darwin does not seem to have any parallel port support. I have certainly looked. Virtual PC would probably work though.

You mean USB to parallel ?
Yes, they exist, but I cannot use these, as I need to program electronic devices on a hardware level, which they do not support.

This is not true. Some of the USB to parallel adapters have registers exactly like a parallel port. I am currently running one to display iTunes data to a character LCD. However, I had to code all of the parallel port functionality, because there is no Darwin/Mac OS X system support for them from what I can tell.

Good luck with this. I actually hope you are successful!

 

[lurk]

Also most if not all of the microcontrollers I have come across lately have serial interfaces for programming and not parallel ones. Maybe we are just traveling in different microcontroller circles.