diff --git a/light8/io.py b/light8/io.py
--- a/light8/io.py
+++ b/light8/io.py
@@ -1,15 +1,96 @@
-from parport import *
+
+class BaseIO:
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.dummy=1
+        self.__name__ = 'BaseIO'
+        # please override and set __name__ to your class name
 
-class ParportDMX:
-    def __init__(self, dummy=1, dimmers=68):
+    def golive(self):
+        """call this if you want to promote the dummy object becomes a live object"""
+        print "IO: %s is going live" % self.__name__
+        self.dummy=0
+        # you'd override with additional startup stuff here,
+        # perhaps even loading a module and saving it to a class
+        # attr so the subclass-specific functions can use it
+        
+    def isdummy(self):
+        return self.dummy
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        if self.dummy:
+            return "<dummy %s instance>" % self.__name__
+        else:
+            return "<live %s instance>" % self.__name__
+
+    # the derived class will have more methods to do whatever it does,
+    # and they should return dummy values if self.dummy==1.
+
+class ParportDMX(BaseIO):
+    def __init__(self, dimmers=68):
+        BaseIO.__init__(self)
+        self.__name__='ParportDMX'
         self.dimmers = dimmers
-        self.dummy = dummy
-        if not dummy:
-            getparport()
+
+    def golive(self):
+        BaseIO.golive(self)
+        import parport
+        self.parport = parport
+        self.parport.getparport()
+        
     def sendlevels(self, levels):
-        if self.dummy: return
+        if self.dummy:
+            return
+        
         levels = list(levels) + [0]
         # if levels[14] > 0: levels[14] = 100 # non-dim
-        outstart()
+        self.parport.outstart()
         for p in range(1, self.dimmers + 2):
-            outbyte(levels[p-1]*255 / 100)
+            self.parport.outbyte(levels[p-1]*255 / 100)
+
+class SerialPots(BaseIO):
+    """
+    this is a dummy object (that returns zeros forever) until you call startup()
+    which makes it bind to the port, etc
+    
+    """
+    def __init__(self):
+        # no init here- call getport() to actually initialize
+        self.dummy=1
+        self.__name__='SerialPots' # i thought this was automatic!
+
+    def startup(self):
+        """
+        ls -l /dev/i2c-0
+        crw-rw-rw-    1 root     root      89,   0 Jul 11 12:27 /dev/i2c-0
+        """
+        import serport
+        self.serport = serport
+        
+        self.f = open("/dev/i2c-0","rw")
+
+        # this is for a chip with A0,A1,A2 lines all low:
+        port = 72
+
+        ioctl(self.f,I2C_SLAVE,port)
+        self.dummy=0
+
+    def getlevels(self):
+        if self.dummy:
+            return (0,0,0,0)
+        else:
+            return self.serport.read_all_adc(self.f.fileno())
+
+
+if __name__=='__main__':
+    
+    """ tester program that just dumps levels for a while """
+    from time import sleep
+    from serport import *
+
+    i=0
+    while i<100:
+        sleep(.033)
+        i=i+1
+
+        print read_all_adc(f.fileno())
+