I feel uneasy answering you question. At one point, you were reluctant to go from a G30 to a G80 module because of cost, which is only about $4. Now you are looking at a GPIB to Ethernet solution, with a cost which has to far exceed $4. I have to wonder why you are using the Micro Framework. I have no idea what your product is, what is the development budget,
I can think of other platforms which might be a better fit, given the questions you have asked. But that would only be an uneducated guess.
So, only you can properly answer your question. Or, ask the person who is helping you with the parallel port to answer the question.
@ Mike - I am simply trying to keep the cost as low as possible. Saving $4 here and there gives me leeway for additional components such as the ethernet conversion if need be. I do not think the conversion would be that expensive if we reverse engineer a converter and make it ourselves, we have all the required equipment.
The reason I selected this platform is due to the fact that it is extremely easy to debug and C# is my strong point. I am very inexperienced with C and too short on time to brush up on it enough to write clean code.
I did a little research, and was unable to find a GPIB to Ethernet chip. I was able to find a GPIB chip. So, an GPIB to Ethernet converter mostly likely would have a GPIB chip, an Ethernet interface, and the glue to mate them.
I suspect the glue would be a processor or an ASIC. In either case, the glue would be proprietary to the manufacturer of the converter you intend to reverse engineer. I am not sure how you can unethically/legally reverse a converter.
Naive or unethical, I am done with this discussion.
@ Mike - I never said anything about stealing someones design the internet has many resources. I was not asking you where to find designs I simply asked how difficult it would be to program the interface. Please refrain from further assumptions, I am frankly quite tired of the chasitising remarks I am receiving from this âcommunity.â I was already told to âwalk away from this industry,â and now you are saying I am naive/unethical, ect. You have no right to judge me nor do you know me so please keep comments like that to yourself. Letâs keep things professional and not get personal. Thank you.
Does anyone have expience with these bidirectional data port expanders? These ones should be compatible with 7210 and I think the G30 as well. They are made by microchip for PICs but I donât see why they wouldnât work for GHI chips too. Need validation from somebody. These SPI to parallel port chips appear to interface much easier with the 7210 than directly to the G30.
You do realise that the validation is going to need to be you, right? Chances of anyone here having done what youâre looking at is negligible. Those devices are simple to use, but whether you can strobe them like a parallel device, and whether you can push data to them fast enough for your use case, is totally going to be your problem to unravel
[quote=âhwalker_MIWVâ]These SPI to parallel port chips appear to interface much easier with the 7210 than directly to the G30.[/quote] Well thatâs a matter of conjecture. SPI is simple (trivial) to use on a netmf device, as the hardware takes care of everything for you. Parallel array of output pins also isnât that hard, itâs just that you need to be deliberate in your coding approach. But substantively different, Iâm not sure. Perhaps itâs more predictable, thatâs allâŚ
@ Brett - Well I figured I would ask just in case someone has tested one. Closed mouths donât get fed. I am thinking SPI will be significantly easier and less likely for me to screw up.
Can someone explain to me how the LRD0 and LRD1 pins work on the G30 and what they do? It doesnât give much detail in the data sheet. Can I connect them to other things or are they reserved for start up? These two pins along with reset (also need to know how this one is used) are my only free pins left. My schematic laid out perfectly I just was thinking of using some optional IC pins.
LDR0 and LDR1 are the bootloader mode pins. Iâd keep them free if you can for just the bootloader. See the bottom right of the reference design for the detail. https://www.ghielectronics.com/downloads/schematic/G30_Dev_Board_SCH.pdf If you check out the manual section 6, https://www.ghielectronics.com/downloads/man/G30_Datasheet.pdf, youâll see that LDR0 is pulled high at startup, but if itâs connected low the device will remain in the GHI bootloader, but can be used in an application that runs post-bootloader should you wish. Potentially if your connected digital output pin needs to start in a low state, thereâs a challenge because of the pullup at startup - hence my suggestion to leave it alone if you can. LDR1 is the same, but is reserved for future use rather than having an active use. Either way you should make sure you have jumpers on your board so you can pull to GND when you need to enter bootloader.
@ Brett - Thank you. One thing that is not clear to me is how they can be used for GPIO pins after startup. How would one set this up to pull them high or low on start up and still be connected to another IC?
[quote=âhwalker_MIWVâ]@ Brett - Thank you. One thing that is not clear to me is how they can be used for GPIO pins after startup. How would one set this up to pull them high or low on start up and still be connected to another IC?[/quote] internal pullups.