Switch out from a computer

[Simon Judge]

Hi all.

 

Does anyone know if there is a 'standard' way of sending a switch _output_ from a computer? I can't actually think of software that does this, but some must (e.g. RollTalk)... I assume joystick ports are input only, so serial port (or parallel?!)would be the only option?

 

Don't actually need this yet, but might do, and want to see if someone has a quick answer to save me effort!

Cheers,

Simon

Senior Clinical Scientist
Assistive Technology Team

simon.judge@...
01226 432159

www.barnsleyrd.nhs.uk

Dept of Medical Physics
Block 14
Barnsley District General Hospital Foundation Trust Gawber Road Barnsley
S75 2EP
 

 

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[Steve Lee-3]

That's a good question, I've only seem specialist devices that connect
via USB or MIDI (oh and X10 of course)

Steve Lee


2009/7/14 Judge Simon (Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
<simon.judge@...>:

> Hi all.
>
> Does anyone know if there is a 'standard' way of sending a switch _output_
> from a computer? I can't actually think of software that does this, but some
> must (e.g. RollTalk)... I assume joystick ports are input only, so serial
> port (or parallel?!)would be the only option?
>
> Don't actually need this yet, but might do, and want to see if someone has a
> quick answer to save me effort!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Simon
>
> Senior Clinical Scientist
> Assistive Technology Team
>
> simon.judge@...
> 01226 432159
>
> www.barnsleyrd.nhs.uk
>
> Dept of Medical Physics
> Block 14
> Barnsley District General Hospital Foundation Trust Gawber Road Barnsley
> S75 2EP
>
>
>
> ********************************************************************************************************************
>
> This message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
> intended recipient please inform the
> sender that you have received the message in error before deleting it.
> Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or
> take any action in reliance on its contents:
> to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
>
> Thank you for your co-operation.

[will wade]

I reckon what your trying to do Simon is not very standard..(!)

This may be going a bit off the topic.. but bear with me..
The closest I can think Simon to what *may* be useful is mapping the
joybutton using standard bits of software and then reading that
conversion (e.g a key stroke). To do more interesting things than
mapping joybuttons to other things I have in the past used OSC (Open
Sound Control) and/or GlovePIE on windows to map the Joy buttons to
something more meaningful i.e. port it out to a serial command). (NB:
I did my OSC stuff using OSCulator on the mac. OSC if your not aware
is awesome).. Dare say though that is not the answer you are looking
for.. (!)


W


2009/7/14 Judge Simon (Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
<simon.judge@...>:

> Hi all.
>
> Does anyone know if there is a 'standard' way of sending a switch _output_
> from a computer? I can't actually think of software that does this, but some
> must (e.g. RollTalk)... I assume joystick ports are input only, so serial
> port (or parallel?!)would be the only option?
>
> Don't actually need this yet, but might do, and want to see if someone has a
> quick answer to save me effort!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Simon
>
> Senior Clinical Scientist
> Assistive Technology Team
>
> simon.judge@...
> 01226 432159
>
> www.barnsleyrd.nhs.uk
>
> Dept of Medical Physics
> Block 14
> Barnsley District General Hospital Foundation Trust Gawber Road Barnsley
> S75 2EP
>
>
>
> ********************************************************************************************************************
>
> This message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
> intended recipient please inform the
> sender that you have received the message in error before deleting it.
> Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or
> take any action in reliance on its contents:
> to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
>
> Thank you for your co-operation.
>
> NHSmail is the secure email and directory service available for all NHS
> staff in England and Scotland
> NHSmail is approved for exchanging patient data and other sensitive
> information with NHSmail and GSI recipients
> NHSmail provides an email address for your career in the NHS and can be
> accessed anywhere
> For more information and to find out how you can switch, visit
> www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail
>
> ********************************************************************************************************************
>

[Simon Judge]

Hmm, OK, well if you 2 haven't a handy solution,  Steve and Will, I'm guessing there isn't one, so I'll dig!  Thanks for the help, I'll explain why if it works!

Cheers.

S

-----Original Message-----
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals. [mailto:ASSISTECH@...] On Behalf Of will wade
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:43 PM
To: ASSISTECH@...
Subject: Re: Switch out from a computer

I reckon what your trying to do Simon is not very standard..(!)

This may be going a bit off the topic.. but bear with me..
The closest I can think Simon to what *may* be useful is mapping the joybutton using standard bits of software and then reading that conversion (e.g a key stroke). To do more interesting things than mapping joybuttons to other things I have in the past used OSC (Open Sound Control) and/or GlovePIE on windows to map the Joy buttons to something more meaningful i.e. port it out to a serial command). (NB:
I did my OSC stuff using OSCulator on the mac. OSC if your not aware is awesome).. Dare say though that is not the answer you are looking for.. (!)


W


2009/7/14 Judge Simon (Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
<simon.judge@...>:

> Hi all.
>
> Does anyone know if there is a 'standard' way of sending a switch
> _output_ from a computer? I can't actually think of software that does
> this, but some must (e.g. RollTalk)... I assume joystick ports are
> input only, so serial port (or parallel?!)would be the only option?
>
> Don't actually need this yet, but might do, and want to see if someone
> has a quick answer to save me effort!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Simon
>
> Senior Clinical Scientist
> Assistive Technology Team
>
> simon.judge@...
> 01226 432159
>
> www.barnsleyrd.nhs.uk
>
> Dept of Medical Physics
> Block 14
> Barnsley District General Hospital Foundation Trust Gawber Road
> Barnsley
> S75 2EP
>
>
>
> **********************************************************************
> **********************************************
>
> This message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
> intended recipient please inform the sender that you have received the
> message in error before deleting it.
> Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail
> or take any action in reliance on its contents:
> to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
>
> Thank you for your co-operation.
>
> NHSmail is the secure email and directory service available for all
> NHS staff in England and Scotland NHSmail is approved for exchanging
> patient data and other sensitive information with NHSmail and GSI
> recipients NHSmail provides an email address for your career in the
> NHS and can be accessed anywhere For more information and to find out
> how you can switch, visit www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail
>
> **********************************************************************
> **********************************************
>

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sender that you have received the message in error before deleting it.
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to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.

Thank you for your co-operation.

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NHSmail is approved for exchanging patient data and other sensitive information with NHSmail and GSI recipients
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********************************************************************************************************************

[Barney Hawes (Sensory Software)]

*** Commercial interest ***

Hi Simon,

I have an (unpublished) program for converting joystick input to MIDI output
which could help if you're thinking along Steve/Will's lines.  I could also
help convert joystick/keyboard/mouse to joystick/keyboard/mouse/MIDI if that
is what you need.
However, I understood that you want to generate switch presses
programmatically rather than based on direct user input (perhaps for testing
other switched devices?  Could do some interesting automated research...).

There is a computer-controlled relay array that we have used before.
Essentially, this is a bank of switches that can be turned on or off
programmatically.

I can't remember the specifics at the moment, but I think we get them from
Germany and they aren't (too) pricey.  There are 4 (or maybe 8) relays that
can be controlled independently.  As I recall, the response time is quite
good.

You can control it from The Grid 2* or I'm sure we could rig it up to work
with input from keyboard, mouse, joystick, GUI, other software, etc if
required.

Let me know if you are interested and I'll dig out more info.

All the best,

Barney


* Apologies for the quick plug, I couldn't resist.


-----Original Message-----
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
[mailto:ASSISTECH@...] On Behalf Of Judge Simon (Barnsley
Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
Sent: 14 July 2009 22:25
To: ASSISTECH@...
Subject: Re: Switch out from a computer

Hmm, OK, well if you 2 haven't a handy solution,  Steve and Will, I'm
guessing there isn't one, so I'll dig!  Thanks for the help, I'll explain
why if it works!

Cheers.

S

-----Original Message-----
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
[mailto:ASSISTECH@...] On Behalf Of will wade
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:43 PM
To: ASSISTECH@...
Subject: Re: Switch out from a computer

I reckon what your trying to do Simon is not very standard..(!)

This may be going a bit off the topic.. but bear with me..
The closest I can think Simon to what *may* be useful is mapping the
joybutton using standard bits of software and then reading that conversion
(e.g a key stroke). To do more interesting things than mapping joybuttons to
other things I have in the past used OSC (Open Sound Control) and/or
GlovePIE on windows to map the Joy buttons to something more meaningful i.e.
port it out to a serial command). (NB:
I did my OSC stuff using OSCulator on the mac. OSC if your not aware is
awesome).. Dare say though that is not the answer you are looking for.. (!)


W


2009/7/14 Judge Simon (Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
<simon.judge@...>:

> Hi all.
>
> Does anyone know if there is a 'standard' way of sending a switch
> _output_ from a computer? I can't actually think of software that does
> this, but some must (e.g. RollTalk)... I assume joystick ports are
> input only, so serial port (or parallel?!)would be the only option?
>
> Don't actually need this yet, but might do, and want to see if someone
> has a quick answer to save me effort!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Simon
>
> Senior Clinical Scientist
> Assistive Technology Team
>
> simon.judge@...
> 01226 432159
>
> www.barnsleyrd.nhs.uk
>
> Dept of Medical Physics
> Block 14
> Barnsley District General Hospital Foundation Trust Gawber Road
> Barnsley
> S75 2EP
>
>
>
> **********************************************************************
> **********************************************
>
> This message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
> intended recipient please inform the sender that you have received the
> message in error before deleting it.
> Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail
> or take any action in reliance on its contents:
> to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
>
> Thank you for your co-operation.
>
> NHSmail is the secure email and directory service available for all
> NHS staff in England and Scotland NHSmail is approved for exchanging
> patient data and other sensitive information with NHSmail and GSI
> recipients NHSmail provides an email address for your career in the
> NHS and can be accessed anywhere For more information and to find out
> how you can switch, visit www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail
>
> **********************************************************************
> **********************************************
>

****************************************************************************
****************************************

This message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
intended recipient please inform the
sender that you have received the message in error before deleting it.
Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or
take any action in reliance on its contents:
to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.

Thank you for your co-operation.

NHSmail is the secure email and directory service available for all NHS
staff in England and Scotland
NHSmail is approved for exchanging patient data and other sensitive
information with NHSmail and GSI recipients
NHSmail provides an email address for your career in the NHS and can be
accessed anywhere
For more information and to find out how you can switch, visit
www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail

****************************************************************************
****************************************

[David Colven]

There used to be a toy controller on the good old BBC computer that did
just that - but things have advanced a bit since then:-/

One thought is to use an IR Gewa controller but I'm not sure wwhat they
are like with momentary presses. There are also Lego controllers and
various data loggers used in schools that can give switch out controls -
have a look at Philip Harris are general suppliers of schools equipment
or RM who do sensors for science.  One manufacturer is "Data Harvest"

Barney at Smartbox may have some ideas.

All the best

David

David Colven
Technical Advisor
01865 759813
077121 68901
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
> [mailto:ASSISTECH@...] On Behalf Of Judge Simon (Barnsley
> Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
> Sent: 14 July 2009 22:25
> To: ASSISTECH@...
> Subject: Re: Switch out from a computer
>
> Hmm, OK, well if you 2 haven't a handy solution,  Steve and Will, I'm
> guessing there isn't one, so I'll dig!  Thanks for the help, I'll

explain

> why if it works!
>
> Cheers.
>
> S
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
> [mailto:ASSISTECH@...] On Behalf Of will wade
> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:43 PM
> To: ASSISTECH@...
> Subject: Re: Switch out from a computer
>
> I reckon what your trying to do Simon is not very standard..(!)
>
> This may be going a bit off the topic.. but bear with me..
> The closest I can think Simon to what *may* be useful is mapping the
> joybutton using standard bits of software and then reading that

conversion
> (e.g a key stroke). To do more interesting things than mapping
joybuttons
> to other things I have in the past used OSC (Open Sound Control)
and/or
> GlovePIE on windows to map the Joy buttons to something more
meaningful
> i.e. port it out to a serial command). (NB:
> I did my OSC stuff using OSCulator on the mac. OSC if your not aware
is
> awesome).. Dare say though that is not the answer you are looking
for..

> (!)
>
>
> W
>
>
> 2009/7/14 Judge Simon (Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
> <simon.judge@...>:
> > Hi all.
> >
> > Does anyone know if there is a 'standard' way of sending a switch
> > _output_ from a computer? I can't actually think of software that

does
> > this, but some must (e.g. RollTalk)... I assume joystick ports are
> > input only, so serial port (or parallel?!)would be the only option?
> >
> > Don't actually need this yet, but might do, and want to see if
someone

> > has a quick answer to save me effort!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Simon
> >
> > Senior Clinical Scientist
> > Assistive Technology Team
> >
> > simon.judge@...
> > 01226 432159
> >
> > www.barnsleyrd.nhs.uk
> >
> > Dept of Medical Physics
> > Block 14
> > Barnsley District General Hospital Foundation Trust Gawber Road
> > Barnsley
> > S75 2EP
> >
> >
> >
> >

**********************************************************************
> > **********************************************
> >
> > This message may contain confidential information. If you are not
the
> > intended recipient please inform the sender that you have received
the
> > message in error before deleting it.
> > Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this
e-mail

> > or take any action in reliance on its contents:
> > to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
> >
> > Thank you for your co-operation.
> >
> > NHSmail is the secure email and directory service available for all
> > NHS staff in England and Scotland NHSmail is approved for exchanging
> > patient data and other sensitive information with NHSmail and GSI
> > recipients NHSmail provides an email address for your career in the
> > NHS and can be accessed anywhere For more information and to find

out
> > how you can switch, visit www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail
> >
> >
**********************************************************************
> > **********************************************
> >
>
>
>
************************************************************************
**
> ******************************************
>
> This message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
> intended recipient please inform the
> sender that you have received the message in error before deleting it.
> Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail
or
> take any action in reliance on its contents:
> to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
>
> Thank you for your co-operation.
>
> NHSmail is the secure email and directory service available for all
NHS
> staff in England and Scotland
> NHSmail is approved for exchanging patient data and other sensitive
> information with NHSmail and GSI recipients
> NHSmail provides an email address for your career in the NHS and can
be
> accessed anywhere
> For more information and to find out how you can switch, visit
> www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail
>
>
************************************************************************
**
> ******************************************

[Steve Lee-3]

2009/7/15 Barney Hawes (Sensory Software) <barney@...>:
> *** Commercial interest ***
> There is a computer-controlled relay array that we have used before.
> Essentially, this is a bank of switches that can be turned on or off
> programmatically.

Hi Barney. I would be interested in knowing how that connected to the PC.

--
Steve Lee

[Barney Hawes (Sensory Software)]

Hi,

A bit more info for you:

The device we used is a USBREL8 from Quancom.  It connects to the USB port
and provides 8 switched relays (hence the name).

http://www.quancom.com/qprod01/eng/pb/usb_relay.htm

The response time is very fast.

We might have a couple left over from when we were testing which we could
sell (or lend out for a trial), or you could buy directly if you wish.

We thought it could be a great for controlling toys such as a train set.  It
would be cheaper and react faster than doing it with environment control,
although it would not be a wireless solution.

It feels like there should be lots of other great things that you could do
with the power to turn lots of things on an off... but I can't think of any
off the top of my head.  Any suggestions anyone?

Barney

Barney Hawes
Sensory Software International Ltd



-----Original Message-----
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
[mailto:ASSISTECH@...] On Behalf Of Steve Lee
Sent: 15 July 2009 14:08
To: ASSISTECH@...
Subject: Re: Switch out from a computer

2009/7/15 Barney Hawes (Sensory Software) <barney@...>:
> *** Commercial interest ***
> There is a computer-controlled relay array that we have used before.
> Essentially, this is a bank of switches that can be turned on or off
> programmatically.

Hi Barney. I would be interested in knowing how that connected to the PC.

--
Steve Lee

[Steve Lee-3]

I'm at the Open Source Schools unconference and was just reminded of
Arduino which I reliably informed can be controlled by code running on
the PC. COst would be £20 + a box and some software dev tim

Someone also mentioned Picaxe

Steve

2009/7/15 Barney Hawes (Sensory Software) <barney@...>:

> Hi,
>
> A bit more info for you:
>
> The device we used is a USBREL8 from Quancom.  It connects to the USB port
> and provides 8 switched relays (hence the name).
>
> http://www.quancom.com/qprod01/eng/pb/usb_relay.htm
>
> The response time is very fast.
>
> We might have a couple left over from when we were testing which we could
> sell (or lend out for a trial), or you could buy directly if you wish.
>
> We thought it could be a great for controlling toys such as a train set.  It
> would be cheaper and react faster than doing it with environment control,
> although it would not be a wireless solution.
>
> It feels like there should be lots of other great things that you could do
> with the power to turn lots of things on an off... but I can't think of any
> off the top of my head.  Any suggestions anyone?
>
> Barney
>
> Barney Hawes
> Sensory Software International Ltd
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
> [mailto:ASSISTECH@...] On Behalf Of Steve Lee
> Sent: 15 July 2009 14:08
> To: ASSISTECH@...
> Subject: Re: Switch out from a computer
>
> 2009/7/15 Barney Hawes (Sensory Software) <barney@...>:
>> *** Commercial interest ***
>> There is a computer-controlled relay array that we have used before.
>> Essentially, this is a bank of switches that can be turned on or off
>> programmatically.
>
> Hi Barney. I would be interested in knowing how that connected to the PC.
>
> --
> Steve Lee
>