hi....

i was just thinking....

what if i could run a motor (small dc one for now) from a computer ...
i would prefer to use the usb port ....

where should i begin...
would the device drivers howto at tldp be a good place

what safety precautions should i take care off?

i guess i would be needing the folllowing things

1)breadboard
2)AND IC
3)dc motor

won't these be enough

the aim is to just run the motor at the press of a key in the keyboard

help anyone....


thnks

tuxfood

hi,

i don't know where you're located, but here in the UK, Maplin electronics (http://www.maplin.co.uk )
used to market a number of computer interface kits, which might be suitable.

i personally would anticipate that using the parallel port might be easier - you could write a program to assert any of the data or control lines easily, and with some simple buffering electronics, control your motor that way.. it wouldn't be expensive (unless you blow the parallel port up on your computer - shouldn't happen if you design the external electronics correctly)

You could even add extra refinements, such as direction or speed control....

have fun

Hi,

inspired by your question, i found this link which would appear to contain lots of useful information -

http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/parallel_output.html

cheers

hi...

thnks for the links...
the second one was esp good...

will surely mention the results...

the link mentions abt an inexpensive i/o card for experimenting..

u know any such cards ?

by the way my location is kerala,india ... u been to india?

thnks

tuxfood

hi tuxfood,

i had another quick look at maplin's website, and it looks like they have discontinued their cheap interface cards - they still do one, but it's £99 - ridiculously expensive.

i think you'll probably have to do some googling, or perhaps have a go at making a suitable device yourself - i don't know how familiar you are with electronics or electonics construction techniques.

i've not been to india, but it's always seemed a very interesting country - the managing director at my last job was indian and he used to make fairly regular visits back to see family. perhaps some day i'll make a visit too.

good luck with an interesting project!

It is very easy to do this project through relay drivers(a kind of IC).
You Just need to control the digital signal input to this relay driver chip through parallel port of PC

SHenoy