NNNOOOOOO 0 Report post Posted April 10, 2011 Let me throw this out first. Whenever I spend $20.00+ at Radioshack, I end up destroying it before figuring it out. I said that so you'll know the outcome of one device I'll soon mention ($35.00[?]). Back to the story. Just before school started this (technically last) year, I went to Radioshack and bought an accelerometer (35 bucks) and I saw a RFID card reader (originally $50.00[?]) on sale for $8.??. I got it on impulse. Lucky me could only buy the one that has serial communication, not USB. That's OK because I can program a PICAXE with the "Yenka" program's PIC section. PIC and PICAXE is flexible in that they're re-programmable, thus can be used in many applications. Here is the problem. I don't have a PICAXE. I can wait until the 23rd of next month and get a "Rush Card" and have maybe $30.00 on it. I would still need a way to program it. Until then, I would like to use my laptop to communicate with it. However, my laptop only has USB and parallel port(s). Is it at all possible to use the parallel port to communicate with the reader? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maggot 1 Report post Posted April 16, 2011 (edited) Let me throw this out first. Whenever I spend $20.00+ at Radioshack, I end up destroying it before figuring it out. I said that so you'll know the outcome of one device I'll soon mention ($35.00[?]). Back to the story. Just before school started this (technically last) year, I went to Radioshack and bought an accelerometer (35 bucks) and I saw a RFID card reader (originally $50.00[?]) on sale for $8.??. I got it on impulse. Lucky me could only buy the one that has serial communication, not USB. That's OK because I can program a PICAXE with the "Yenka" program's PIC section. PIC and PICAXE is flexible in that they're re-programmable, thus can be used in many applications. Here is the problem. I don't have a PICAXE. I can wait until the 23rd of next month and get a "Rush Card" and have maybe $30.00 on it. I would still need a way to program it. Until then, I would like to use my laptop to communicate with it. However, my laptop only has USB and parallel port(s). Is it at all possible to use the parallel port to communicate with the reader? As you said your card reader has a serial port... you will have to buy a usb to serial converter cable.... It is called also known as USB 2 RS232 converter..... Edited April 16, 2011 by Maggot (see edit history) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NNNOOOOOO 0 Report post Posted April 16, 2011 As you said your card reader has a serial port... you will have to buy a usb to serial converter cable.... It is called also known as USB 2 RS232 converter..... The card reader doesn't have that type of serial port. It has the following pins:Vcc, /enable, data out, Gnd. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rvalkass 5 Report post Posted April 16, 2011 The datasheet for that device explains how it expects to receive and transmit data. You would need to create a circuit to transmit that data over a serial port. I remember a friend of mine made a serial port digital thermometer very simply, and then used a serial-port-to-USB converter to actually connect it to a PC. If you're comfortable programming communications over USB, I would use that approach if you could, as the hardware is much easier to create for a serial port than a parallel port or USB connection. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
