Re: Windows and black boxes

Hi,

I'm learning the ropes of my new super-dooper development system for
the "black box" system.

Ron makes some good points that I agree with, (that's what makes them
good :-). My intention is to make the "black box" completely open;
that means hardware and software. Anyone who wishes to can modify it
to suit their own tastes. The core MCU board has a flash ROM, so that
will be easy to do.

The core motion routines have to be in assemby language and are
interrupt driven. At this point I have the "velocity manager" already
written and am testing it. The first goal is concancatable 2D
circular and linear interpolation.

The "box" will have a D9 serial input, D25 output and be powered by a
5V wall wart. Obviously it will have unlimited speeds and be cheap
too.

Mariss

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., ron ginger <ronginger@r...> wrote:
> Since the subject of Windows, Dos and black boxes is back I will
again
> add my support to the black box. It seems clear to me that to use a
> dedicated piece of hardware to implement the real time functions is
an
> almost 'no brainer' Its done througout the computer world- you
prototype
> something in software, then when the volume gets there you embed it
into
> chips to make it cheap and reliable. Why should step and direction
pulse
> generation be different?
>
> BUT, I dislike the closed nature of Flashcut- why are they
unwilling to
> open their communication protocol? Would you buy a CNC machine that
used
> a properitary code, that they wouldnt tell you?
>
> I have some differnet ideas on programming, for a different user
than
> the normal big CNC machine, and Id like to play with interfaces.
Windows
> is great for human interface, GUI stuff. I use it, and let the
hardware
> do the fast timing stuff.
>
> ron ginger
> beating an old drum!