Paralel
Experienced Member
I ran across two things I thought would be of interest from the same professor while looking for more information on an external 5 1/4 Floppy drive that would be compatible with modern Windows/DOS systems. I figure these might be known already, but I thought I'd make this thread anyway just in case they weren't.
The first is USB2LPT. It uses various interesting tricks to virtualize a parallel port through USB and expose it directly at a low-level for various devices. It can even be utilized with DosBox (preferably DosBox-X or some such derivative) It is known to work with "Programming devices (AVR, JTAG…), Data loggers, data acquisition, slow controls, such as for a model railway or sprinkler system, Synchronous bus connections, such as I²C, SPI…, Laboratory automation, simple robots, etc..." as well as printers (although he specifically notes that this is overkill for 99%+ of printers unless its an unusual case). He strenuously indicates that it is not intended for CNC machines or stepper motors that need input faster than 100 Hz (although it could theoretically work up to 1 KHz), and it is absolutely not for time-critical or time-sensitive equipment. He also makes it very, very clear that it absolutely does not work with dongles that are used for software protection. The reason for some of the limitations is that the method it uses makes any input command take at least 125 µs, so, according to him, it is 100x slower than a real, true parallel port. It comes in two versions, low-speed (USB 1.x) and high-speed (2.0), as well as an experimental higher-speed version that is an attempt to make it compatible with CNC machinery. The "Low Speed" version has "1.5 Mbit/s signaling; 1 kByte/s for input/output instructions", the "High Speed" version has "480 Mbit/s signaling; 8 kByte/s at input/output instructions".
Fortunately, the professor believes in open source and permissive licensing, so he has generously uploaded the files for the PCB designs, as well as the compiled firmwares. utilities, & sources, as well as Windows drivers (compiled & source).
He has not provided a driver for Linux, but looking at the Windows source I have no doubt it could be adapted based on the information provided:
All the pertinent information can be found here:
& here:
The professors native language is German, and there are a few differences between the German and English pages, being that the German page contains significantly more information. The files for drivers, firmware, and PCB designs are spread across a few different pages. They are all there, you just have to sorta look around.
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He also has a very interesting project regarding the creation of a MCU based external 5 1/4 Floppy to USB interface. It would allow for a much less expensive and much less complex ability to use a standard 5 1/4 drive on a modern system through USB for common IBM PC formats (SSDD, DSDD & DSHD, possibly ED [but apparently not tested]) compared to those currently available, such as KryoFlux.
Again, the professor has kindly provided the PCB designs, as well as the firmware source. No drivers are needed for Windows as it uses the same method for recognition and access as a generic 3 1/2 inch floppy drive.
All the pertinent information can be found here:
The first is USB2LPT. It uses various interesting tricks to virtualize a parallel port through USB and expose it directly at a low-level for various devices. It can even be utilized with DosBox (preferably DosBox-X or some such derivative) It is known to work with "Programming devices (AVR, JTAG…), Data loggers, data acquisition, slow controls, such as for a model railway or sprinkler system, Synchronous bus connections, such as I²C, SPI…, Laboratory automation, simple robots, etc..." as well as printers (although he specifically notes that this is overkill for 99%+ of printers unless its an unusual case). He strenuously indicates that it is not intended for CNC machines or stepper motors that need input faster than 100 Hz (although it could theoretically work up to 1 KHz), and it is absolutely not for time-critical or time-sensitive equipment. He also makes it very, very clear that it absolutely does not work with dongles that are used for software protection. The reason for some of the limitations is that the method it uses makes any input command take at least 125 µs, so, according to him, it is 100x slower than a real, true parallel port. It comes in two versions, low-speed (USB 1.x) and high-speed (2.0), as well as an experimental higher-speed version that is an attempt to make it compatible with CNC machinery. The "Low Speed" version has "1.5 Mbit/s signaling; 1 kByte/s for input/output instructions", the "High Speed" version has "480 Mbit/s signaling; 8 kByte/s at input/output instructions".
Fortunately, the professor believes in open source and permissive licensing, so he has generously uploaded the files for the PCB designs, as well as the compiled firmwares. utilities, & sources, as well as Windows drivers (compiled & source).
He has not provided a driver for Linux, but looking at the Windows source I have no doubt it could be adapted based on the information provided:
All the pertinent information can be found here:
& here:
The professors native language is German, and there are a few differences between the German and English pages, being that the German page contains significantly more information. The files for drivers, firmware, and PCB designs are spread across a few different pages. They are all there, you just have to sorta look around.
==========================================================================================================================
He also has a very interesting project regarding the creation of a MCU based external 5 1/4 Floppy to USB interface. It would allow for a much less expensive and much less complex ability to use a standard 5 1/4 drive on a modern system through USB for common IBM PC formats (SSDD, DSDD & DSHD, possibly ED [but apparently not tested]) compared to those currently available, such as KryoFlux.
Again, the professor has kindly provided the PCB designs, as well as the firmware source. No drivers are needed for Windows as it uses the same method for recognition and access as a generic 3 1/2 inch floppy drive.
All the pertinent information can be found here:
