[PD] comport and servos

[Martin Peach]

Martin Peach wrote:
> Piotr Majdak wrote:
>> Hi Martin,
>>
>> Martin Peach wrote:
>>> I suppose a [comport~] object could use a signal inlet for some kind 
>>> of trigger to send a message that was set up on another inlet...any 
>>> suggestions?
>>
>> A stupid question: why don't you use the printer port? You can 
>> control 8 digitial inputs/outputs there...
>>
> Well for one, most laptops don't have parallel ports. Two, accessing 
> the parallel port is problematic on recent versions of Windows. For 
> some reason Microsoft thinks parallel ports are dangerous potential 
> hazards and only those who can afford drivers should be allowed to 
> access them. I don't know if a free-in-every-sense driver exists that 
> could be incorporated into a pd external without issues, and I don't 
> feel like writing one, it just seems like way too much work for nothing.
> Three, the parallel port will have the same timing problems as the 
> serial port from pd: messages are handled between audio blocks so 
> sub-millisecond timing is  not really feasible.

...but possibly a [parapin~]  for linux only could be implemented that 
had much better timing. I'll look into it.
Martin