RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] parallel port finally obsolete?

There are several choices of external motion control cards available now.
Some of them have a USB interface and some have an Ethernet interface. Their
advantage is that they relieve the PC of the really time critical tasks,
like generating accurate step pluses, and can respond much more quickly to
inputs. The disadvantage is adding another piece of hardware to the system.



I started using the SmoothStepper when it first came out about three years
ago and have not looked back (at the parallel port.) I use them in all of my
controllers now. There are also other products available such as DSPMC,
KFlop, etc.



I have also been selling the SmoothSteppers since opening my web shop a
couple of years ago. They are available as a bare board and 'plug-and-play'
in a heavy duty aluminum enclosure with power supply.



http://www.soigeneris.com/Motion_Control_and_I_O_Boards-list.aspx



Jeff Birt

Soigeneris.com





From: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of scyvt
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 8:57 AM
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] parallel port finally obsolete?





Forgive me if this topic has been already thoroughly covered - I did a
search and didn't find the answer I was looking for, but I may have given up
too quickly.

Being a Macintosh person, I didn't have older PC's with parallel ports
around, and wasn't comfortable evaluating used machines. Just recently an
unused 2-3 year old Lenovo desktop came into my hands, but of course it has
only USB ports.

Has the longstanding need for parallel ports now been abolished? If so, what
hardware is now available to interface between USB and stepper drivers? Is
there a choice, and if so, pros & cons of each?

TIA

Steve





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