http://diylilcnc.org/forum/tags/parallel-port Free, open-source plans for a low-cost 3-axis CNC mill by Taylor Hokanson and Chris Reilly. Sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. en-US Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:40:45 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://diylilcnc.org/forum/search.php http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-608 Sat, 02 Oct 2010 12:37:39 +0000 JCMorales 608@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Believe last parallel port card for Mac's was used in NuBus Mac's. There may have been a PCI to parallel port card made for PC's that custom drivers were created to use in Mac's, but can't say for sure....only ran across vague references to it years ago. JC, <a href="">Jumpline</a> </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-ninjas-needed#post-526 Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:43:08 +0000 Taylor 526@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>All,</p> <p>We're trying to expand the DIYLILCNC design to include a scratch-built linux box with the hobbyCNC driver integrated into one PC tower. <strike>Having a bear of a time with Linux/parallel PCI cards. See the long post here, and post comments in either location if you have any ideas.</strike></p> <p>SOLVED! - See <a href="http://www.linuxcnc.org/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,20/func,view/catid,27/id,3169/lang,english/#3169">this link</a> for details. It's getting harder to find old computers with on-board serial, and newer parts should be more reliable. I think the EMC documentation is a little opaque when it comes to PCI parallel, so hopefully this will help. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/laptop-pci-parallel-adapter#post-410 Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:45:49 +0000 MrPaul 410@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Personally I've always wondered about using a Parallel Port Adapter in an Express Card slot on a laptop. As some of the adapters connect directly to the PCI Express bus I believe that latency wouldn't be an issue. Having said that I haven't looked at the Mach 3 software site, and therefore did not realize that power saving features could pose a problem. I am curious if disabling the power management features from within the OS would solve that problem. Just because Mach3 does not officially support it doesn't mean that it's impossible. When I get my machine up and running I'll have to give it a shot. </p> <p>Interestingly enough I used to own an IT firm and we built (or rather integrated bare-bone laptop enclosures) very powerful laptops for medical imaging applications. I still have a couple of them sitting around. The thing that made these laptops so interesting is that they used a desktop processor, and a motherboard with a desktop chipset and architecture. They were huge 12 lb monsters. I wonder if power saving features would be an issue here as they weren't using chips designed to be run off a battery. Hell they only lasted 20 minutes on a huge battery. I guess I'll have to give that a shot too. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/laptop-pci-parallel-adapter#post-391 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:53:04 +0000 JRdezigns 391@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Great thanks for the info. I have been talking to my brother (IT guy). He said hes got enough spare parts to build a desktop that can run everything. It would be great though in the future if using a laptop could be possible.<br /> -James- </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/laptop-pci-parallel-adapter#post-390 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:52:57 +0000 Chris 390@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Here's <a href="http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2">Bill's earlier post regarding the same issue</a>.</p> <p>Generally you are stuck with on-board parallel ports in towers (as opposed to laptops) with both EMC and Mach3. This is frustrating for sure; we would love to have a less restrictive alternative. But due to the restrictions of open-loop stepper motors, you need to have really reliable timing between the controller and the driver board. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/laptop-pci-parallel-adapter#post-389 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:31:36 +0000 Bill 389@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>The following is from the Mach 3 <a href="http://www.machsupport.com/downloads.php">Downloads</a> page:</p> <p>*You must use a Desktop PC running a 32-bit version of Windows if you are using the Mach3 Parallel Port Driver. Laptops are not supported because the power saving features of the chipsets disrupt the pulse stream. Mach3 will only be supported on laptops running an external motion controller, such as one of those found on the Plugins page.* </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/laptop-pci-parallel-adapter#post-388 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:23:05 +0000 DIYengineer 388@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Buy it and you can use the Mach3 program which is a free download (limited to 1000 lines of Gcode) and use there port tester to test the latency of the connection. The problem isn't the mill itself its more or less a stepper/controller problem. I have seen people online though use the parallel port on there laptop just fine with mach 3 etc. It really just depends on the laptop in the end. I would give it a go "Return for refund within: 30 days". </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/laptop-pci-parallel-adapter#post-387 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:10:14 +0000 Bill 387@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I believe an earlier thread mentioned that laptops may not be suitable because their power management systems may interfere with the critical timings necessary to run the DIYLILCNC. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/laptop-pci-parallel-adapter#post-386 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:40:20 +0000 JRdezigns 386@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>So I have been thinking about how I was going to run this thing. I could use the parallel port on my desktop but I don't want to have to keep my Desktop near the cnc and I don't want to buy a cheap desktop just to run this. There are no USB options, but what about a laptop parallel port. Would this be an option to use if you wanted to use a laptop? Has anyone had experience with these. Its a bit pricey considering one for a desktop is around $20. Thoughts?</p> <p><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158026&#038;cm_re=laptop_pci_parallel_card-_-39-158-026-_-Product" rel="nofollow">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158026&#038;cm_re=laptop_pci_parallel_card-_-39-158-026-_-Product</a></p> <p>-James- </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-249 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:20:08 +0000 DIYengineer 249@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I have heard good things about Mach 3. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-194 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:22:29 +0000 Chris 194@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>You definitely want a machine with an on-board parallel port. We've tried several other adapter options ourselves, with no success. </p> <p>While there are usb-paralell adapters that can work for things like printers, the real-time control needed for EMC requires a real live parallel port. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-193 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:21:59 +0000 Schweppes 193@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Tuxcnc is an option and if you have some patience you can compile emc2 from source to your mac.</p> <p>At the moment, there doesn't seem to be a darwin port made up already.</p> <p>Bill, there are thousands of usb to parallel adapters...However, I'm not entirely sure if it's fast enough though. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-191 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:31:40 +0000 Bill 191@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>You're never going to find a usable Mac with a built-in parallel port. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-189 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:59:24 +0000 Taylor 189@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>@hecsedli,</p> <p>We never found any options for the Mac, but we didn't look that hard either. My guess is that CAM is obscure enough that no one has bothered to port one of the many Linux/PC options that are out there. We'd be happy to be proved wrong, as we're working off of MacBook Pro's on a day to day basis.</p> <p>If the G4 will take Linux and has a parallel port, I don't see why it wouldn't work. You can get a build from linuxcnc.org that comes with EMC preinstalled. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-187 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:19:40 +0000 hecsedli 187@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Hi,</p> <p>What do you think — I have an old Power Mac G4, which has an Nvidia graphic card, and has all the parameters you've mentioned — can I use this for controlling diylil? I can install Ubuntu on it (not the latest one, but a very new release of it is supporting PPC). Or do you have any ideas of a free and good native Mac app for this? Thanks! </p>