These were Solid State Relays (SSRs), by the way. These contain an
optoisolator(LED +phototransistor) and some big beefy FETs (for DC) and
SCRs or TRIACs(for AC). The standard PC parallel port can drive LEDs
easily, and can sink up to 15 mA for the 8 data pins and Strobe outputs.
Your mileage may vary.
Radio Shack sells smaller ones 275-0310, and Opto22 and others make big
ones.
Big list (too big) http://www.73.com/a/0100.shtml
Cheers, Lex
On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 17:36:15 -0400, Hans-Christoph Steiner hans@eds.org
wrote:
I did this using using relays hooked directly to the parallel port. I
was controlling some pretty hefty motors, well over 1 amp, for example.
You can see my code where:http://cvs.at.or.at/viewcvs.cgi/arw/
I can dig up more info if you are interested...
.hc
On Sep 25, 2004, at 9:33 AM, Samuel B Burt wrote:
Hi group! Â I am sure some of you have experimented with using PD to control
motors. My friend Joel Grip is planning to build a giant marionette
puppet in his wood working class at the Maryland Institute of
Contemporary Art that we will use in our multi-media improvisations.Â
The goal would be to perform live with acoustic instruments and/or
computer generated/manipulated sound and have the marionette move in
reaction to our playing. What I would like to know is where to find
information on what types of motors to buy and how to interact them
with PD. Â I checked out makingthings.com because I had heard about their
Max-motor interaction products. They sent me the following response to
my inquiry:         Hi Samuel. While we have intermittently run into interest        in having Teleo interact with PD, this interest has not,        unfortunately, been enough to warrant the time and effort        it would take us to develop it. So, as of now the answer is        sadly no. This is not set in stone, however, and it is
possible        that at some point in the future, we'll move ahead with
development        for PD, either based on a general growing interest or in
response to a        particular job that we're doing. But for the moment, it's not
very        high on our list of priorities.Also, I am told that their products are really designed to move smaller
objects. Our life-size wooden marionette would probably be too heavy
and wear the parts out too quickly. If anyone has any suggestions,
they would be very appreciated. Â Samuel Burt