Re: Black box again

Jon,

The P-port is "dead" on new motherboards coming from "retail" stores!
The tinkerers will still be able to get them for some time, but let
me paint a scenario which may ring true for some on this list:

Customer: "I see you make cnc machines. What type of computer do I
need? I just bought an xfj-850mhz with 64 megs of RAM and I was
hoping to use it to drive the machine."

You: "Our controller uses the parallel port. I'm not sure if the xfj-
850 has one, but you can get an old motherboard at(insert local
location here)."

Customer: "So your thousands of dollars machine won't work with a NEW
computer?!?"

You: "But there are LOTS of old/used/surplus computers it WILL work
with..."

Point is, although this list is directed to the hobbiest cnc person,
we do have more than a few "commercial" people here. And they need to
be looking at where the computer market is going, and are preparing
now for the next "revision" of their control. And THAT is WHY some
want to "keep re-inventing the wheel".

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

P.S. I know there are "work-arounds" for this scenario. Selling
the "old" computer as part of the system is one (which increases
price and maintennance costs, since you now are the computer repair
guy as well as the cnc guy). The fact remains, the p-port is a "lame
duck", and although he's still walking and quacking, his days are
numbered.
Some people still have vinyl records too, but most of us are playing
cd's, I'd bet...

P.P.S. What is the cost of your 'black box'? Do you have details/
availability posted somewhere, or is this still "beta"?

Jon E wrote:
<snip>

>I just can't understand why you keep wanting to re-invent the wheel,
>when a really nice wheel is already working for so many people!
>My 'black box' uses the parallel port, a lot faster than serial. It
>gives you the choice of stepper or servo operation, and can do
>open-loop or closed-loop steppers. It can go to about 300,000
>steps/second if you really need that speed. I have several
>customers very happily using it now.
>
> Jon