Contact closure utility (parallel or game port)

kam · 20th January 2002, 07:24

Has anyone come across a utility or software that can translate contact closures on a parallel or game port to pre-programmed key strokes?

I want to be able to take a contact closure from a radio console and have be able to fire a function in a program that would normally go on a keystroke.

TO be specific, in radio we use the buttons on the console to start/stop CD players, hard disk audio plays etc. I thought it would be cool if Winamp could be set up in that same way. Connect the standard contact closure to the PC, program the closure on the port to fire the space bar and away it goes.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Kam.

henry3k56 · 20th January 2002, 07:39

So what you're meaning is making a thing that has the play, pause, stop, eject, next, back, fast forward, fast backward, etc? That would be a cool idea. I programmed my game pad (Microsoft gamepad + program) to press certain keys when I pressed the fire button, a button, axis button, etc. Like Start menu would be the start button, and etc.

KelseyB · 20th January 2002, 07:44

that would require making hardware for ur contacts. (ie. you would have to attach all of your contact ends to a board w/ a chip on it that'll send the data to the computer in a format that a plugin can understand) as far as i know, they dont make anything like that comercially. there isnt a big market for it. (sp?)

although...

they (some company) makes this one thing (keypad) that plugs into a usb or serial port that has a program that comes with it that'll let you customize the keystrokes u wanna do.- & u can label the key w/the approprate action (that little triangle for play, etc)

last time i saw 'em they were at www.tigerdirect.com for about 60-80 bucks.

OOOOoooo lookey what i found...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...p?sku=P55-2000

thats proally the best thing that's comercially available for what u wanna do...

rm' · 20th January 2002, 08:27

You could probably adapt THIS plug-in to take the input from the game port, and send it to Winamp. There is obviously some way to do it, because a keyboard and a console work on the exact same principle.

20th January 2002, 07:24	#1
kam Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 3	Contact closure utility (parallel or game port) Has anyone come across a utility or software that can translate contact closures on a parallel or game port to pre-programmed key strokes? I want to be able to take a contact closure from a radio console and have be able to fire a function in a program that would normally go on a keystroke. TO be specific, in radio we use the buttons on the console to start/stop CD players, hard disk audio plays etc. I thought it would be cool if Winamp could be set up in that same way. Connect the standard contact closure to the PC, program the closure on the port to fire the space bar and away it goes. Anyone have any thoughts? Kam.

20th January 2002, 07:39	#2
henry3k56 Forum King Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: The Internet Posts: 3 Trillion Posts: 4,241	So what you're meaning is making a thing that has the play, pause, stop, eject, next, back, fast forward, fast backward, etc? That would be a cool idea. I programmed my game pad (Microsoft gamepad + program) to press certain keys when I pressed the fire button, a button, axis button, etc. Like Start menu would be the start button, and etc. henry3k56 \| Summer is here. My Flickr Page & Frontierra \| Posting Since September 2001.

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20th January 2002, 07:44	#3
KelseyB Major Dude Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 1,054	that would require making hardware for ur contacts. (ie. you would have to attach all of your contact ends to a board w/ a chip on it that'll send the data to the computer in a format that a plugin can understand) as far as i know, they dont make anything like that comercially. there isnt a big market for it. (sp?) although... they (some company) makes this one thing (keypad) that plugs into a usb or serial port that has a program that comes with it that'll let you customize the keystrokes u wanna do.- & u can label the key w/the approprate action (that little triangle for play, etc) last time i saw 'em they were at www.tigerdirect.com for about 60-80 bucks. OOOOoooo lookey what i found... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...p?sku=P55-2000 thats proally the best thing that's comercially available for what u wanna do...

20th January 2002, 08:27	#4
rm' Banned Join Date: Jul 2000 Posts: 11,361	You could probably adapt THIS plug-in to take the input from the game port, and send it to Winamp. There is obviously some way to do it, because a keyboard and a console work on the exact same principle.