Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Black box again

ballendo@... wrote:

> Jon,
>
> The P-port is "dead" on new motherboards coming from "retail" stores!

What do you mean, dead? Do you mean there is one, but it is disabled
somehow? Or, do you mean there is no parallel port at all?

As long as the PCI bus exists, you can still plug in a cheap parallel port
board.

>
> 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?!?"

To make Linux work, you MUST carefully match EVERY single part in the
computer to their hardware compatibility list. So, at least for EMC,
you can't buy a computer at the local store and expect it to work.

I'm sure suitable motherboards with parallel ports will be available
for quite a while. There are plenty of people who have valid needs
for them. Also, putting an 800+ MHz CPU and 64 MB of memory on
a CNC machine is a waste of $1500+.

Jon