P
Paul E. Schoen
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
I have software (PADS Layout) that requires a parallel port dongle, and it
works fine on my present (fairly old) computer, which has a native parallel
port. But newer computers, particularly laptops, do not have these legacy
ports and instead use USB to Parallel (or USB to Serial) converters. They
generally work well for printers, but I have heard that they do not work
for dongles. The usual solution is to obtain a USB dongle from the software
vendor (www.mentor.com), but they require the user to be on "maintenance"
in order to get a USB dongle, and they impose outrageous penalties and
payment of back (unused) support in order to be reinstated.
I have some experience with USB using the Microchip PIC18F2450 series, and
I have a demo board that works nicely as a USB to Serial converter. But I
want to see if it is possible to emulate a parallel port via USB that will
be transparent to the software that interfaces with the dongle. I think the
problem with the commercially available USB-Parallel adapters is that they
work only for printer functions, and not for individual bit-banging, which
is what I understand is done with the dongle.
The PADS dongle I have is a Globetrotter FLEXid (www.macrovision.com). This
is a newer dongle than the one used for another software package that
interfaces to software (TCC) sold by my associate to work with my product,
the Ortmaster. When I researched that dongle, the Rainbow Technologies
Sentinel Pro, it described its operation as using only one or two lines of
the parallel port to send and receive streams of data. If the new dongle
works the same way, it seems that it should be possible to emulate this via
USB.
Info on this device:
http://www.macrovision.com/webdocuments/PDF/FLEXidDongle_faq.pdf. But it
does not give details on the hardware.
Some information I found is http://www.woodmann.com/crackz/Dongles.htm, but
this is a hacking site, and that is not what I want (although I'm tempted).
I'll probably check the parallel port signals with a storage scope to see
what pins are active when I'm running the software with the dongle, and
then I'll have a little more information. But if anyone has done any work
in this area, I'd appreciate a jump start.
TIA,
Paul
works fine on my present (fairly old) computer, which has a native parallel
port. But newer computers, particularly laptops, do not have these legacy
ports and instead use USB to Parallel (or USB to Serial) converters. They
generally work well for printers, but I have heard that they do not work
for dongles. The usual solution is to obtain a USB dongle from the software
vendor (www.mentor.com), but they require the user to be on "maintenance"
in order to get a USB dongle, and they impose outrageous penalties and
payment of back (unused) support in order to be reinstated.
I have some experience with USB using the Microchip PIC18F2450 series, and
I have a demo board that works nicely as a USB to Serial converter. But I
want to see if it is possible to emulate a parallel port via USB that will
be transparent to the software that interfaces with the dongle. I think the
problem with the commercially available USB-Parallel adapters is that they
work only for printer functions, and not for individual bit-banging, which
is what I understand is done with the dongle.
The PADS dongle I have is a Globetrotter FLEXid (www.macrovision.com). This
is a newer dongle than the one used for another software package that
interfaces to software (TCC) sold by my associate to work with my product,
the Ortmaster. When I researched that dongle, the Rainbow Technologies
Sentinel Pro, it described its operation as using only one or two lines of
the parallel port to send and receive streams of data. If the new dongle
works the same way, it seems that it should be possible to emulate this via
USB.
Info on this device:
http://www.macrovision.com/webdocuments/PDF/FLEXidDongle_faq.pdf. But it
does not give details on the hardware.
Some information I found is http://www.woodmann.com/crackz/Dongles.htm, but
this is a hacking site, and that is not what I want (although I'm tempted).
I'll probably check the parallel port signals with a storage scope to see
what pins are active when I'm running the software with the dongle, and
then I'll have a little more information. But if anyone has done any work
in this area, I'd appreciate a jump start.
TIA,
Paul