Well, using an Arduino seems like a good solution to me. You can program it from any computer with a USB port, the official board costs $33 with other variants approaching the single digits. Brookshire VSA communicates fine over the onboard USB-serial converter. The code to control ShiftBrites is very easy, and the code to understand the MiniSSC protocol is easier. I could make it understand some of the other protocols, which allow more than 256 levels.
I think it works great...and parallel ports are getting really hard to find these days. The Arduino could also do motion control and activate other parts of your project, too.
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Well, using an Arduino seems
Well, using an Arduino seems like a good solution to me. You can program it from any computer with a USB port, the official board costs $33 with other variants approaching the single digits. Brookshire VSA communicates fine over the onboard USB-serial converter. The code to control ShiftBrites is very easy, and the code to understand the MiniSSC protocol is easier. I could make it understand some of the other protocols, which allow more than 256 levels.
I think it works great...and parallel ports are getting really hard to find these days. The Arduino could also do motion control and activate other parts of your project, too.