I have many ideas for electronic projects that are controlled by a Personal computer. my question is where can i get Input sensors (light, speed, proximity, temperature, current etc...) and output deviecs (Relays, motordrives etc...) that can be connected to my computer, and can be controlled and processed directly by a program I write (I program in C/C++) not by a program that comes with the product...

Thank you very much!

 

Here's a few good sources.
http://www.digikey.com/
http://www.mouser.com/
http://www.mpja.com/
You will also have to decide how you want to interface the devices serial port, parallel port, USB.
There are prebuilt breakouts you can purchase or build your own .

 

You're generally going to want to operate off the RS232 serial port. To get programmable outputs and sensor inputs, generally you will use a PIC microcontroller with a simple MAX232 interface chip to turn RS232 into 0-5V logic. There are many, many PIC projects documented on the web which have done such things. A good PIC programmer costs under $100 and individual chips run $2-$6.

There are several C compilers for the PIC.

Since you're going to be putting code on a microcontroller, consider if you can just put everything you want to do on the microcontroller and free it from the PC.

 

I started a thread about good places. It's a nice source. http://www.electro-tech-online.com/v...615&highlight=

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i have a suggestion. for a speed/drection/distance, you could use an old mouse. i thik that it will not be very complicated to use one.