[rescue] Parallel ports [was Re: Slightly OT: ?Bad Cap Saga]

[der Mouse]

>> Because that's output-only, not "the output one byte, input one
>> byte, repeat" paradigm I'm actually using.
> But you're controlling *relays*... (??)

Oh, two different projects.  The relay controller, yes, is open-loop.

I've done two others, each of which uses the send/read/send/read
paradigm.  One is the ROM reader I alluded to briefly upthread; the
other is a cable pinout sensor (plug a cable in and the host driving it
can sense which pins are connected to which other pins).

>>> and more *portable* and future-safe on the "host" (PC) side.
>> As for the latter, there is no such thing.
> Note that I didn't use the superlative in my description.  Just MORE
> future-safe.

My misreading, then; I read "(more portable) and (future-safe)", rather
than "more (portable and future-safe)".

> Thinking this out can be a real win.  E.g., like UN*X opting to treat
> everything as files.

...except things that aren't.  Network interfaces.  Shared memory
segments.  ioctl().  sysctl().

Also, a paradigm like that can be as constraining as any other.  I once
was hired to build glue code between an experimental encrypted
distributed storage paradigm and the Unix filesystem paradigm.  It took
me six months.

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