On Tue, Oct 12, 2004 at 03:45:30PM +0100, Alan B. Pearce wrote:
> >I'm just frustrated that it's going to take
> >upwards of $25 USD per board to get a simple
> >USB interface. There are many more USB to serial
> >cables then there are USB to parallel port cables.
> 
> is it really going to cost that much to use an FTDI FT245 chip and
> associated components?

Point me to a kit, cable, or equivalent that cost less. I really want
a cable that's USB on one side, DB25 on the other, and that I can treat
like a SPP parallel port in terms of setting and reading the bits.

I find that every one of the useful type of boards, with the DIP headers on
the edges, have run into the $35 USD range. That may be fine
for prototyping, but way too much to have to embed into multiple
projects.

Parallel and serial are cheap and simple. Real cheap and simple. USB isn't 
cheap or simple. It doesn't help me as a developer.

How many of you have PCs with no parallel port at this point? Considering
that parallel port printers are dead as a species, how much longer will it
be before the port disappears altogether?

BAJ
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