ORDINATOR parallel I/O board
The parallel I/O board of the ORDINATOR contains a standard Centronics printer port and a custom I/O connector supporting 24 general purpose I/O signals. Under TS, the Centronics port is known as the PRINTER port.
This board was originally slated to also contain the keyboard controller,
but that was ultimately delegated to a separate keyboard controller board.
 |
| parallel connectors |
The general purpose I/O signals were seldom used in practice,
but a notable exception was the remote control of MOT (mote),
a small robot (a project of Maurits). At the time,
MOT was controlled via cables hanging from the ceiling.
 |
 |
| MOT back, 2004 | MOT front, 2004 |
MOT was later upgraded to contain its own processor and camera,
controllable via a wireless LAN; the only things remaining of the
ORDINATOR-controlled version are the wheels and the front sensors.
The ORDINATOR parallel I/O board is also described on page 18 of the book "THE ORDINATOR PROJECT".