serial port wiring, switch?

[Carl]

Hello,

Can anyone offer any experiences on wiring a switch to a serial port?
What I intend to do is wire a switch to a serial port, and have a daemon
program periodically test the status (open/closed) of the switch.

Any advice on wiring appreciated.
Carl.

 

[Gerard Bok]

Can anyone offer any experiences on wiring a switch to a serial port?
What I intend to do is wire a switch to a serial port, and have a daemon
program periodically test the status (open/closed) of the switch.

It is quite possible.
But why not use the gameport ?
Has it's own switch detectors

You can read the status of any of the switches in Basic or any
other language.

If you use the serial port you may run into several pitfalls:
- power management switching of the port all together
- you need some software to read the switch status
- you may need to debounce your reading
- Windows doesn't easily accomodate direct manipulation of
hardware
etc,

 

[Carl]

It is quite possible.
But why not use the gameport ?
Has it's own switch detectors

You can read the status of any of the switches in Basic or any
other language.

If you use the serial port you may run into several pitfalls:
- power management switching of the port all together
- you need some software to read the switch status
- you may need to debounce your reading
- Windows doesn't easily accomodate direct manipulation of
hardware
etc,

Thanks for the tip.
In my reading, I did just discover the game port, and do believe that is
what I will be using.

Thanks again.
Carl.