Super position on LPT and the potential NT family security issue.
----- Original Message -----
From: "W. Wright, W5XD" <w5xd@writelog.com>
To: <writelog@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 00:13
Subject: RE: [WriteLog] USB support yes LPT and Com support no
> > The other thing that is being repeated by MS is they want to move
> > EVERYTHING to USB and get away from not only LPT support but also from
> > Com ports. We need to plan on only having USB in most every hardware
> > manufacturers PC's in the future and adapt our software to this.
> >
> > 73 Dave K4JRB
> > _______________________________________________
>
> I would like to add that there is a subtle difference important to
> contesters between the future of LPT ports and the future of COM ports
> in Windows. You can buy USB to LPT port adapters and you can buy
> USB to COM port adapters, and it is likely they will continue to be
> available for the foreseeable future.
>
> The difference between these that is important to contesters is
> that all the usual functions contesters expect through COM ports--
> rig control and CW output--are close enough to the main stream use
> of COM ports that the drivers supplied by the manufacturers of
> the adapters work just fine for ham use. The same cannot be said
> of LPT ports--antenna relay outputs, L/R radio selection, and
> even the way CW is output on LPT ports by ham software
> require driver functions that are just not close enough to the
> main stream use of LPT ports (printers just don't look like
> antenna relays!) for the manufacturer's driver to do any good
> for us. And don't overlook the fact that if you wanted to solve
> this problem of the missing drivers, that the problem is
> plural--adding the desired functionality to the USB to LPT
> adapter is a different software exercise for each and every
> manufacturer. I speculate that it is possible for such drivers
> to be written--the hardware design of the adapters probably does
> not prevent ham use of LPT ports on USB, but device driver
> writing is a very specialized skill, and it also requires
> extremely detailed documentation of the behavior of the device.
> Its just not a good bet that these prerequisites will be met
> for LPT devices.
>
> It is true that the built-in LPT ports on most current machines
> all behave to the old PC/AT standards from IBM of the 1980's and
> there are some widely used methods for getting ham software to
> work under current Windows operating systems for those LPT ports.
> My decision to not participate in those methods is because they
> have to defeat the security built into the operating system in
> order to work. But XP has that security built into for a very
> good reason--Microsoft is trying to make their products more
> stable and reliable. If a user of WriteLog wants to make that
> choice, WriteLog will notice the LPT ports are accessible and
> use them like in the old Windows 95/98 days. But WriteLog simply
> is not going to be shipped with such functionality built in.
> I hate saying "no" to customers, but this is a point on which
> I will choose to live with the flak and carry on.
>
> Wayne, W5XD
>
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