Build Your Own Low-Cost Data Acquisition and Display Devices [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Jeffrey Hirst Johnson (Author) "A computer isn't much use without data to work on..." (more)
Key Phrases: serial toolkit, converter circuit block, parallel interface circuits, Turbo Pascal, Microsoft Windows (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Simplicity, flexibility, and affordability are what most PC users look for in computer interfacing equipment, and that's just what this money-saving guide offers.

Jeffrey Hirst Johnson shows how to turn any IBM PC or compatible computer into a high-performance data communications system-not by installing expensive, special-purpose boards and peripherals, but by taking advantage of the serial and parallel ports that come with the computer. This book features circuit designs and instructions for building a wide variety of portable plug-in devices that allow fast, effective data communications whereever and whenever needed... and at a fraction of the cost of installing sophisticated networking systems. Johnson includes all of the ready-to-use software routines necessary to implement the hardware, along with information on data formats and reates, cabling and connectors, and troubleshooting.

Product Details

• Paperback: 305 pages
• Publisher: Tab Books; illustrated edition edition (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830643486
• ISBN-13: 978-0830643486
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #248,993 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better books out there, February 9, 2000

By	Jonathan Swaby (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are much better books out there. I bought this book because it discusses both the parallel port and the serial port. Many of the other books give you several projects to use for experiments. This book only has one project. I wish more pages had been used to cover interfacing the PC with other ADC/DAC chips. Ciruits that are easy for the novice understand and assemble. The source code is not include on disk or CD, and all of the source is in Pascal. Perhaps using Basic or C would be better. Ideally, source and executables would be great. In general, I did not learn much from this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, informative and very practical for applicators., August 18, 1999

By A Customer

Although robotic sensors do not interest as many people as they probably should - this book explains their importance (and how to create them at low cost) with a finese rarely seen within the electrical engineering library canon. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic at all. A real cornerstone in basic sensor construction!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hot diggity, August 29, 1999

By A Customer

I'm not an Electronics Engineer, but I feel very comfortable with this book. I learned my electronics over 30 years ago. So my knowledge is weak, dated, to say the least. However, I've tried to keep an interest in electronics. I come from an industrial background. I'm accustomed to building power plants, refineries, etc. Then came PC's. Well I waited until the 486 came out. Anything less was a joke. Now I want to connect everything to my PC. This book is just right for me. I took refresher courses at the local college to "bone_up" a bit on my antiquated electronics. I'm not a PROGRAMMER either, but the programming in this book is done already. I think it could be scanned....Whoops!