Blue Sky

Linux, EMC, and other dreamers

There has been some blue-sky motor control systems talked about recently so
here's mine.

I'd like to see a PC104 or similar format computer with onboard ethernet
running embedded (hard hat) linux with a rt patch. This would remove most
of the linux install problem because the kernel, the rt patch, and a
current release of EMC would be burned in to a memory chip. It's a motion
control system that runs right out of the box.

New releases of linux, rt, or EMC could be burned in and distributed as a
chip. The emc.ini file could be downloaded whenever the PC104 powered up
so that changes could be made in EMC for each machine without a new chip
being required.

Stacked on the PC104 would be a four axis servo motor control board. It
would have socketed quadrature chips and socketed pwm out chips (so we can
replace them when we burn them up) and would allow us to close position and
velocity loops in rt software. Such a motor drive card might simplify the
design of motor amps some.

We might even make these motor cards stackable with assignable addresses if
we need more than four servos.

On top of the motor card would be a 32 or 64 bit digital I/O card. It
would also have socketed chips to allow replacement when they smoke.

We would also need an interface card for each of the stacking boards.
These should have some intermediate prototype areas so that we can
experiment with isolation and such.

The PC104 would not be designed to handle any gui although there might be
some kind of debugger. Human and other machine interface would be done by
other computers using NML over ethernet. These interface units could be
programmed using any os or interface that can read and spit out NML. This
way we could run a linux box, play with pic's, tigers, or other micro
computers, or our own chipsets. Or maybe I could find a new use for those
old Tandy model 4's in the shed.

A machine control computer like I imagine could be stuffed into a small rf
isolation box, might even be NEMA4/12 with external cooling, and just a
bunch of Molex, Amphenol or similar connectors and screw terminals on one
side.

How's that for dreaming.

Ray - From Michigan's U.P. (where the colorful dregs of fall are littering
my lawn)