Real-time USB -> TTL laser control conundrum

[Adrock]

Hello,
I am new to posting on this forum. Reading it I have gone from zero knowledge to where I am thanks to this forum, but now I am stuck. I am trying to establish a seemingly simple real-time test of a TTL laser. I want to figure out if there is a basic USB to TTL (+/- 5v) interface that will allow me to direct the on and off of the laser such as:
1. Enter 01001010011010 into a log file or other interface on the computer
2. The micro controller interface (I'm assuming) translates the 1s to on (+5v) and the 0s to off (0v) - I might be wrong, but this is what I envision
3. The TTL interface on the laser translates accordingly to turn on when a '1' is passed and off when a '0' is passed

I thought such a setup would be easy, but I have spent about 5 hours searching about for such a setup and I have found nothing satisfactory. The problems I see are the USB interface and the real-time nature of what I want. Basically I want to test 'playing' the laser in a basic digital on/off mechanism via the computer.

Thanks for any insight!
~A

[krazer]

The easiest route may be to use a sound card, there are plenty of threads here on pl about people who have modified them to work for laser show applications. Then you can get around needing to write USB drivers, and just use the windows API for making noises, or easier still use the drlava interface http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...brary-released. which takes care of the tricky windows stuff and just requires that you feed it an array of points.

Another option would be to get a usb->parallel port adapter, and send different values to the port (ie 0x00 for all off, 0x01 for pin 1 on, etc), may be a little simpler/cheaper for your application

[VJ AIWAZ]

this should do what you want


http://www.kemo-electronic.de/downlo...aisTimer20.exe

[mixedgas]

Options...

Arduino

Or FT232R board from Sparkfun

or

Dataq Instruments

Steve

[Adrock]

Yes - Great ideas!! I knew I posted my question in the right place. I'll check out these and see what works best. One other idea I had was this: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1350
Looks like it has TTL out. I wonder if a servo control would work too. Anyway, thanks for the ideas so far!.
~A