hookin up stuff

halcyon1

i want to hook up my computer to things around the house. i just wanna start out simple, but i don't know enough about i/o in c++. an example of what i want to do is have my computer hooked up to a little motor that will open or close my blinds in my bedroom using a little program i design with c++. with the program i could have my blinds rolled up at a certain time in the morning and rolled down at night. maybe later hooking up other things like power to things like tv or speakers or something. does anybody know how i could hook up a simple motor to my computer? where would i hook it up? i can't even search for this because i don't even know what it would be called. any help would be so much appreciated just cause i think that this is a really cool idea if i could somehow manage to do it

MT2002

: i want to hook up my computer to things around the house. i just
: wanna start out simple, but i don't know enough about i/o in c++. an
: example of what i want to do is have my computer hooked up to a
: little motor that will open or close my blinds in my bedroom using a
: little program i design with c++. with the program i could have my
: blinds rolled up at a certain time in the morning and rolled down at
: night. maybe later hooking up other things like power to things like
: tv or speakers or something. does anybody know how i could hook up a
: simple motor to my computer? where would i hook it up? i can't even
: search for this because i don't even know what it would be called.
: any help would be so much appreciated just cause i think that this
: is a really cool idea if i could somehow manage to do it
:

Hello,

I apologize for the late reply. I don't visit this section very often :-)

As long as the device has a way of physically connecting with the computer
(Through a hardware port), and has a compatible microcontroller, it is
possible to control it through software.

Keep in mind, however, that you may need to use assembly language to
program certain microcontrollers directly--and to interface it with
your C++ code. This is very dependent on the microcontroller that
is controlling the hardware device.

Also, out of interest, why did you post this in a game programming
forum? Programming game consoles are different in that they do have
an interface to PC's (Useually through USB), where specialized compilier
IDE's can copy data through that USB.

[hr][size=1][leftbr].:EvolutionEngine[rightbr][leftbr].:MicroOS Operating System[rightbr][leftbr][link=http://www.mt2002.sitesled.com]Website :: OS Development Series[rightbr][/link][/size]