I'm looking for advice on an automation project I'm about to
undertake. Here is the general situation:
I have two computers - a Mac and a PC. I also have a specialized
piece of equipment that uses a standard parallel port to interface to
each of these computers. The parallel port is currently run through a
manual switch box that lets the user choose to hook it up to the Mac
or the PC. The Mac uses a USB-parallel port adapter to communicate
with the equipment through the switchbox.
Instead of having the user manually switch the equipment back and
forth, I'm trying to create software that will do this automatically.
So the user goes to the Mac, starts the job via my RB application,
which sends a command to the switchbox along the lines of, "Hey, it's
a Mac job - switch to the 'A' port!". And vice-verse on the PC as well.
I see two ways to accomplish this, but it seems that the necessary
hardware does not exist, or I'm just not thinking far enough out of
the box. Here are my thoughts, and I welcome any advice offered:
1) Parallel switchbox
This is the current situation, except that the switch box is
controllable via software.
2) USB switchbox
Both computers have a USB connection to a USB switchbox that is
controllable via software; the equipment is connected via the USB-
parallel cable.
I've been calling around to various electronics companies all
morning, but nobody really offers a software-controlled switch that
will meet these needs. Does anybody know of a source for such a
beast? Or, alternatively, if anybody has another idea on how to
structure this problem, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Eric Williams
Oxalyn Software
http://software.oxalyn.com/
AE Monitor
http://software.oxalyn.com/AEMonitor/
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