Grumpy_Mike:
That is not a good chip to use with an arduino.
It has four outputs, do you need four?
It has a parallel input, that means that it will take 12 output pins plus one or two others for control lines. A much better interface would be SPI.
The D/A can only output a voltage, if you want to control a current then you have to have a constant load impedance or some sort of current monitoring.
You need to know what current range you need, what voltage range you need and what accuracy you need.
Do you want the supply to be a constant current that you set with the arduino or what?
I only need one output. This is the first DAC that I saw, so I decided to use it. In other words, I do not need 4 outputs. I do however have another DAC, this one http://www.ti.com.cn/cn/lit/ds/symlink/dac0808.pdf, and I am able to purchase a different one that you believe is much better. Please recommend one or let me know if the DAC0808 will be sufficient.
I actually am using a DAC, so I can maintain a constant voltage over the lens of an optical drive. So I believe I only need to and want to control current. I plan to use a manual DC power supply to determine the maximum voltage needed to raise the lens to the top.
I want to be able to vary the voltage across the the lens to be able to move it up and down by creating a program on the arduino or adjusting it on matlab while connecting the arduino to the computer through the serial cable.
I also understand that raschemmel and DVDdoug recommend studying the timing diagram. I don't know how to reading a timing diagram yet but I hope to understand it with some googling tonight.
To show you how much I understand and what my limit knowledge is, I just finished my first year of engineering and have not started op amps, DACs, or any microelectronics. I am currently learning 