Actually, I have an idea that would be REALLY cheap, but it's a software
effort on the M100 side. It would be a device that connects the M100
directly to a USB port on any PC / Linux / Pi, etc. I would use the
device below (STM32 which has 5V tolerant I/O) with some tight ISR code
to interface with the parallel port. Using this board, it would only
take a couple of small, simple, dirt cheap interface boards from OSH
Park (only needs routing and a 26-pin connector to connect to M100 LPT
port).
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-STM32F103C8T6-Minimum-Development-Arduino/dp/B00OOKAFM0
Then with the right software (on M100, ARM and PC / Pi), when you "plug"
the Model T into the PC, it simply appears as a Mass Storage Device.
Simply drag and drop files to / from your M100.
Ken
On 11/28/15 6:40 PM, Stephen Adolph wrote:
I believe it would be a great project to take some mass produced
hardware and software and find a way to solve M100 specific problems.
That's true open source.
I saw that Uber cheap pi. They don't quote power but I believe it is
vastly more than the M100 itself.
It is all tradeoffs!
On Saturday, November 28, 2015, John Martin <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> I would like to have a NADSBox and REX card. But these items are
expensive.
>
> I am sure there are cheaper alternatives. If you can buy a Raspberry
Pi ranging from $5 to $35. That is very CHEAP for what it can do.
>
> https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/
>
> John M
>
>
> > If it made financial sense, I might consider making another run of
> > NADSBoxes, but it just doesn't. With all the setup costs with
> > machining the enclosures, PCB fab NRE, etc., plus component costs, my
> > up-front cash expenditure the last time was $12,000, and that was
> > before selling a single NADSBox. Sadly, while there is demand for
> > additional NADSBoxes, there doesn't seem to be *enough* demand to
> > even cover the expense of building them.
>
> That's a real shame, Ken. The NADSBox is amazing, and I use it all the
> time.
>
> I recently got a REX card from Stephen Adolph and that, in combination
> with the NADSbox, make my T102 a truly useful everyday tool.
>
> I think a REX card in combination with the DeskLink TPDD emulator
> running on your Window
