The LPT-tester: feedback for programmers.
If you are a novice programmer, you want to program applications that offer feedback and are quantifiable. You need to know that your software does what you expect it to do. For these people I have built (many moons ago) a circuit that will do just that. It's a toy, but it will learn you how to write software for the toy and learn about speed implications of your programming language and style.
If you are interested, download LPTester.Zip now. In the ZIP file are:
Printing the LPT-tester circuits.
If you want hardcopy on a laserjet enter this command:
What's the LPT-tester about?
The LPTESTER is a small circuit that encompasses:
The ADC is a Texas Instruments TLC 549 serial ADC. It is an 8 bit converter with 5 Volts full scale. The
converter is controlled with a ChipSelect input and a Serial CLock. On it's output it clocks out the
conversion results bit by bit. It's not very fast but if well programmed in a suitable language you can still
obtain 50 kSps (kilo-samples per second). Which is not bad at all.
The temperature sensor is an NTC with a resistor connected in series. The lightsensor is a BPW-40
phototransistor with a pull up resistor.
Build the LPT-tester.
You can build this device (including a TEKO cabinet) for less than EUR 25.
I won't explain how all the circuits work. It would spoil the fun for you. Just build it and try to get the
LED's blinking.
If that works, try to get the ADC working. For this to succeed, make sure you have obtained the right datasheets from the TI websites and take care to understand what's being explained. Still, you will run into many "trouble". Strange things will happen, but I promise that it's not the chip that is misbehaving.... It's all in the datasheet....
Some experiments with the LPTester.
If the ADC is working, attach the lightsensor to its input and measure the ligth intensity under the following conditions:
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