Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] configuring Dell to output on parallel port

I have to say that I sleep better at night knowing that the computer out in
the garage driving the CNC machine is an old AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (equivalent
to an older P4) 1.15Ghz and not anything more valuable (like my IBM Thinkpad
or my dual Xeon Dell Precision 690 CAD workstation). You can pick up older
computers that'd work just fine at surplus stores, auctions, and garage
sales. That way you know they'll work with your legacy devices, all sorts
of older software, and will tend to have lower overhead which is good for
realtime devices like running CNC machines. Also, you won't mind as much if
for some reason it craps out on you. I like my CNC computer because it runs
very cool and needs hardly any ventilation, which allows me to fit the
entire workstation inside a sealed (whenever the machine is making chips)
cabinet. For a monitor, I found a surplus daylight-readable completely
sealed 10.5" LCD screen out of a police car. It's actually a touch sceen,
but that bit doesn't work (they probably wouldn't have been throwing it out
if it still worked).
Michael

On Dec 17, 2007 11:20 AM, turbulatordude <dave_mucha@...> wrote:

> I bought a Dell Dimention sans parallel port.
> Dell sent me a port card , pci bus.
>
> Tech support told me they have 3 basic lines of computers.
>
> one is mostly legacy and supports all the older stuff. this is teh
> one recomended for work environmnets that need to support older stuff.
>
> they have the dimension line that is all newer tech that supports the
> newesst technology and does not do real well with the older stuff.
>
> and they have something in the middle.
>
> I cannot get my HP LJ4 printer to see the parallel port.
> and it does not see the Rainbow dongle for my software
>
> Dave
>
> >
> >
> > Did you order a parallel port on the new Dell? Of course, if you
> got Vista
> > on it, well that is another whole matter. Vista doesn't seem to
> work with
> > much of anything more than a couple of years old plus everyone that
> I know
> > using it has a PC lockup at least once or twice a day and in some
> cases they
> > have to actually unplug the PC to get it to unlock. I think MS has
> another ME
> > system on their hands and didn't intend for the system to be retro
> active but
> > that people would need to purchase new hardware as well as software.
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]