sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post any questions about our parallel port products
PeterF
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Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by PeterF »

Hi,
The converter should work with the DrDaq under Windows 7 but only the 32 bit version, not 64 bit Windows 7.
Regards,
PeterF.

RichardB
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Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by RichardB »

I can report solving this problem as well. Like a twit I mislaid the genuine pall to usb unit, and needed to make my ADC200/100 work again with the laptop. I bought a parallel "cardbus" adaptor model CB1PECP made by StarTech, (from Amazon, £38 plus postage and VAT). I discovered that it needs the latest version of the Pico software, (r15_16_2) to work, the disc version was no good, but after that, away it went! Thanks to all for pointing me in this direction.

Fitzgerald
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Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by Fitzgerald »

PeterF wrote:Hi,
We cannot offer any real solution. We used to have a USB to parallel converter but are sold out (PP196):-
http://www.etech.com/laptops-laptop-bat ... c1146_1162
I am afraid that no other USB to parallel converter will work, the interface is non-standard. We have stopped making our own converter because we cannot obtain the necessary integrated circuit any more. You can only use an old PC with a parallel port or buy a new USB scope, sorry.
Regards,
PeterF.
When you purchase Hp compact presario C700 notebook with that laptop you can get Driver CD. Through that driver cd you can easily install all driver. and if you not able to do this then download all drivers in internet.
Last edited by Fitzgerald on Fri Jan 14, 2011 3:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
First come, first served.

PeterF
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Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by PeterF »

Hi,
Updated current situation:-
We have had to stop manufacturing our own brand USB to parallel converter because an essential integrated circuit is no longer available. NO other USB to parallel adapter from another manufacturer will work with our devices. So far, we have only been able to get our parallel products working using plug-in PCI or PCI-Express cards in desktop PCs and Cardbus or Expresscard adapters in laptops.
You will need to use Windows XP or later & you should be using the latest version of PicoScope5/PicoLog, available here on our website:-
http://www.picotech.com/software.html

This latest version of PicoScope5/PicoLog should, work with most PCI, PCI express & Cardbus (PCMCIA) parallel port cards that provide an LPT port in the devices list. A card which just provides USB printing support only will not work. One way of checking this is that the correct type of adapter card requires a driver provided by the manufacturer whereas the wrong type does not and installs using a generic Windows driver. Examples below from one manufacturer we have tested.

For desktops with PCI card slots:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 89015.html

For desktops with PCI Express card slots:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 89219.html

For laptops with an Express card slot:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 66220.html

For laptops with a PCMCIA card slot:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 61612.html

Feed-back from a customer wanting an adapter for his laptop:-
"My experience of the StarTech device EC1UP was that it did not provide an LPT1 port in the devices list. It worked well if you had a parallel printer connected. This is the reply I got back from the states, as follows;

Thank you for your inquiry! The card that you have purchased offers USB printing support only. We do however carry a different model card that will detect and install in the system as a standard LPT port. The model that you would need is our EC1PECPS which can be found here:-
http://www.startech.com/item/EC1PECPS-1 ... sCard.aspx

I purchased a StarTech EC1PECPS ExpressCard IEEE 1284 parallel adapter and it works perfectly."

I hope the above helps!
Regards,
PeterF.

bhuk

Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by bhuk »

We have one (1) new old stock, unused Pico Paralel-USB adapter incl. both cables for sale. If somebody need it, please mail us.

aidangnw

Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by aidangnw »

Finally got my adc212/100 back into operation.
Sourced a Condor pci parallel port card using Oxford 952 chipset, and installed this in my windows 7 x64 machine.

Had a play in x64, and while I could solve a few dll search issues not luck with detecting the adc212, predictably.

I use xpmode and vmware for various other reasons, and did some tests. No luck at all so far with xpmode, but vmware w/s (after reinstalling since fitting the card - prior to reinstall it thought it could use it, but couldn't steal the port from the host o/s) can expose the port into a 32 bit guest OS that Picoscope can detect. I'm using win7 x86 at the moment.

That fixes desktops for me, but I face the same issues with laptops..no parallel and x64.

I would be interested if anyone Has/can anyone out there test a Expresscard solution with vmware?

ziko
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Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by ziko »

Hi from the post Peter sent these are the ones that work with our parallel products, now the DrDaq (parallel) is not compatible with 64 bit OS. With a 32 bit OS it will probably work, however I would seriously recommend the new USB DrDaq, it has just been released recently:

http://www.drdaq.com/products.html

Kind regards
Ziko

Technical Specialist

spiderdijon
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Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by spiderdijon »

I don't know if this will be of use to anyone but I also have an ADC-200 and ADC-212. I use them on Windows 7 x64 using a VMware virtual machine virtualising Windows 7 x86. One uses a Pico USB adapter and the other a PCI parallel / serial combo card. The chipset for the card is made by MOSCHIP you can get them on ebay for very cheap. Doing a search for "PCI to 2 ports serial +1 port parallel LPT card adapter" on google brings up the current ebay auctions (I got mine years ago). Currently they are £8.08 from HK. Getting VMware to play nice with the parallel port was tricky but eventually it starting working and hasnt been a problem since. The USB passthough was no trouble at all. The best thing about this set up is that you can use VMwares unity to display the picoscope windows as if they were native apps on the host system. This coupled with sandboxie (or another VM if you have the resources) allows you to have multiple picoscope softwares running at the same time. Using both the ADC-200 and 212 simulatenously gives me 4 channels and hooking the external triggers together gives you a quad input scope for the fraction of the price of new usb ones. There are obvious and clear downsides compared to a full function quad input scope but still if you have the time it's certainly worth it.

One thing I have noticed is the update rate on the scope attached to the Pico USB is much faster than the PCI parallel, so I'm still looking for a USB one. The one thing I have always wondered was if a USB to parallel adapter claims to support EPP and ECP and conforms to the IEEE 1284 spec is there a reason why it wouldn't work with the scope? I know the response will be almost certainly "no it can't work" but still I would like to know exactly why...

Hitesh

Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by Hitesh »

Hi J.J.

If you have Windows 7 32-bit then tthe DrDAQ should work with a PCMCIA card.

The text below has been provided by PeterF:

We have had to stop manufacturing our own brand USB to parallel converter because an essential integrated circuit is no longer available. NO other USB to parallel adapter from another manufacturer will work with our devices. So far, we have only been able to get our parallel products working using plug-in PCI or PCI-Express cards in desktop PCs and Cardbus or Expresscard adapters in laptops.

You will need to use Windows XP or later & you should be using the latest version of PicoScope6/PicoLog, available here on our website:-
http://www.picotech.com/software.html

Please be aware that NONE of our parallel port devices will work under a 64-bit operating system under any circumstances (XP, Vista or Win 7).

This latest version of PicoScope6/PicoLog should work with most PCI, PCI express & Cardbus (PCMCIA) parallel port cards that provide an LPT port in the devices list. A card which just provides USB printing support only will NOT work. One way of checking this is that the correct type of adapter card requires a driver provided by the manufacturer whereas the wrong type does not and installs using a generic Windows driver. Examples below from one manufacturer we have tested.

For desktops with PCI card slots:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 89015.html

For desktops with PCI Express card slots:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 89219.html

For laptops with an Express card slot:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 66220.html

For laptops with a PCMCIA card slot:-
http://www.delock.com/produkte/gruppen/ ... 61612.html

Feed-back from a customer wanting an adapter for his laptop:-
"My experience of the StarTech device EC1UP was that it did not provide an LPT1 port in the devices list. It worked well if you had a parallel printer connected. This is the reply I got back from the states, as follows;

"Thank you for your inquiry! The card that you have purchased offers USB printing support only. We do however carry a different model card that will detect and install in the system as a standard LPT port. The model that you would need is our EC1PECPS which can be found here:-
http://www.startech.com/item/EC1PECPS-1 ... sCard.aspx"

"I purchased a StarTech EC1PECPS ExpressCard IEEE 1284 parallel adapter and it works perfectly."

Regards,

toneyal
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Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by toneyal »

Could you publish the timing and the signal lines to allow some users to design their own interface implementation for USB to Parallel port conversion using low cost microprocessors?

TI has a EZ 430 - F2013 development stick that might have enough horsepower to serve as an interface. (Just a suggestion).

spiderdijon
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Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:53 pm

Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by spiderdijon »

It would be brilliant to get the interface timing and signal details. The scopes are discontinued what would the harm be? :D

I'm sure I could get a PIC32 to interface with the scope!

FrancisL
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Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:32 pm
Location: England

Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by FrancisL »

I got my old parallel DRDaq working via a Syba 1 Port DB25 Parallel Printer Port PCI-Express x1 Card
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003 ... 00_details

John86045
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Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:54 am

Re: sourcing a Pico USB parallel adapter

Post by John86045 »

thanks

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