Analog to Digital

I need to convert a 0-300 volt dc signal from my plasma torch to digital into my computers parallel port. I plan on using a voltage divider to scale the 0-300 to 0-10v. I know that I can use an analog card and a plc to make the conversion for about $250... Is there a better(cheaper) way to do this? I've looked at ADC chips and there is about a brizzilan of them so they kinda boggle the mind...

Any Ideas?

Thanks
John

Does it have to be your parallel port ? How about USB or serial?
See link below ( starter kits)

http://www.dataq.com/products/index.htm

Mickey,

The reason I want to use the parallel port is I have a direct link to it from the controlling software (EMC2) and the link is realtime so it is fast. I just have to use a $20 parallel port card to get plenty of input pins.

The Dataq starter kits look nice. I like the +- 64 volt one. At $100 I would use a plc I think... just to avoid the interface issues of learning a new software... Also this is a Linux box so windozs is out...

Thanks
John