Philippe Jadin wrote:

> Well, I put together some informations about servos (controlled by lpt
> port on a pc running win 95, but still interesting if you know nothin
> about servos) :

> goto http://users.swing.be/philippe.jadin/servoen.htm

  OK, firstly your webpage omits the ground connection to the printer
port connector.  I think you should have shown that clearly as some
people will otherwise complain of very peculiar behaviour.

  You mention obtaining 5V to operate the servos from the PC, and note
the risk involved.  The risk may be minimised by using a device called
a "fuse" appropriately.

  The most convenient source for this 5V is the joystick connector where
this is on a separate sound card - at worst you will torch the sound
card.

  You can use the keyboard socket with a "piggyback" connector but not
all motherboards have polyswitches (or fuses) fitted and I for one am
getting sick of repairing burn holes in motherboards.  (Recall my post
on the damage caused by the excremental USB adaptor?)

  Finally, and along the same lines, I do recommend the use of a printer
adaptor card for experimentation, best one of the old ones using 74LS
chips as they are actually repairable, modifiable (to bi-directional
use) and adaptable to non-standard printer addresses.
--
  Cheers,
        Paul B.