Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Interface options, headless boxen, and remote control ...

> There has gotta be some company out there that alreads has
> everything needed in a PCI card (again, check out Sea Level Systems'
> products and get back to me).

Not everything I want. There are PCI CNC controls that cost $5K or
so but they don't have everything I want even at that price range.

The Sea Level Systems cards are good cards. But again, they are
general purpose I/O cards not designed for CNC use. So now you are
back to programmed I/O or DMA transfers with your host PC
handling the timing. The timing seems to be the single biggest problem.
With Windows doing the timing, it can only go so fast. With logic
out on the card doing the timing after being handed a table of step
data, you can go as fast as your external hardware can take the data
and not burdon the PC host. That's the reason for the large memory
buffer on the card. The host processor can then ask the card for
status reports and go about the business of updating graphical
elements to let you see what it's doing. Instead of having to
sacrifice the visual updates for cranking out the data.

> I keep hearing DSP mentioned as viable. I really need to learn more
> about the end devices. My experience has been limited to little
> more than async I/O and relay toggles.

I know DSP is good for some motor control uses. I just see it as
more useable in the stepper or servo driver than the I/O controller.
But, I still need to do a little more research on that.

I also have a lot to learn about servo drives.

later,
Larry E.