Win XP question

[Tino]

I'm kind of a newb to the latest version of FMS.I downloaded an older version years ago and was able to get it working with my Futaba radio.Now, years later I tried to install the latest version of FMS using Windows XP.My confusion is this.Can I get my transmitter (Old AM Futaba) to work with the parallel port interface cable (470 ohms with zener) if I install PPJoy driver only.Do I need to build the more complex interface?

[jbalat]

Looks like PPJOy 'com' only supports the PIC type of interfaces and the Zenshua controller (that comes with the dragonfly heli)

[Tino]

I decided to try my parallel port cable with a pc running Windows 98 and still my transmitter is not working.Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Ken Hewitt]

Check out

[brettbear]

the zener/resistor method has no right to go in nearly all cases. (Discovered this @ 4am Monday morning) Always use a transistor instead. Can't post a pic anywhere on the forum that I can work out... I have one available...

The basic circuit is this...
Choose a NPN transistor with gain of 100-500. (e.g. BC548 or 2n2222 as shown elsewhere in the forum...)

The emitter of the transistor connects to GND of the TX and also PIN 18 on the para port.

The collector of the transistor connects to PIN 10 of the parra port.

Connect a 4k7 resistor to the base of the transistor.
The other end of the 4k7 resistor connects to the PPM pin of the TX.

This will result in the transistor pulling the parra port interrupt line low, registering a PPM pulse.

In my limited tests, polarity of the PPM signals seems not to matter. I also tried a PNP transistor (swapping the collector and emmiter of course) with identical results.