Detect light through serial or parallel ports

crchisholm said:

I have a need to detect light through the serial or parallel port of a computer. Here is the situation.

We have a server room that houses all of our servers, laptops and other expensive equipment. We want to know if anyone is in that room after hours. I would like to create a device that would use ether photoresisters or something like the tsl230 to change a value at the serial or parrallel port of a computer. We can write the app to monitor the ports and fire off an email if a signal is received, but I am not sure what I need to interface with the port. Does anyone feel like helping me with this. I am a software developer who is an electo-wanna-be and know only the most fundimental aspects of electronics.

Charlie

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crchisholm said:

That sounds great. I have played with the basic stamp and the oopic, but never completed a project of any value.

Have you seen some example circuits that would help me put this together? I am extreemly green and doing this completely by trial and error would take a long time without any clues.

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