I need to generate a simple system in which host computer interrupts lead out to a non-standard RJ-45 connection (6 pins in binary on/off state) that can be triggered with little latency. The only outputs available on the host is an ethernet controller and USB. All that the pins on the RJ-45 need to do is slew 2.5V with +-0.5 hysteresis. Some research has indicated to me that the one option in this case would be to get a dev board that can handle a USB stack (ex: TI MSP430 5xxx series) and solder the GPIO pins to an RJ-45 cable to achieve this effect, but I'm wondering if there is an easier solution. One possibility I could think of was using a PCI-express parallel port card instead and simply construct a 6-wire parallel to RJ-45 cable, and use LPT to control which RJ-45 pins are active. If anyone has any experience with coding, which is the simpler solution to implement? Are there any other methods to do trigger the activation of 6 pins in parallel with a computer with the stated outputs? Thank you.
Addendum - I should add that the goal isn't to parallelize packetized data from USB. They can be simple character string triggers, I just need a way to identify which pin on the RJ-45 needs to be "active" from the host. More an more I'm thinking just buying a parallel port card is the answer but I'm still interested in what opinions people might have.
