Controlling lights with parallel port?

Hi im Justin Hulbert,

I need alot of help i want to somehow make a program that I can use to control lights from my computer. I know how to build the circut and optical relays (alredy built a few). Just simple where i can click a button to turn a chanel on or of. Probaly build a circut for all 8 chanels so i would need a total of 16 buttons.

I have downloaded VB 05 Ed and have never programed befor. Maybe you could sugest a site or book. Im geting realy into electronics lattly and feal i could build cooler things if i learn to program. I just thought this would be a relitivly essay project to start with. In our enginering calss at school we use a drag and drop program, whitch has its limitations. I hope someone can stear me in the right directon.

New Member:
Justin Hulbert