[bill south]

Wow, was I surprised at my local Best Buy Today!!!!
My old control computer running Mach 3 finally expired yesterday (RIP) and I was going to bite the dust today and replace it with a new (low cost) Gateway, HP or Compaq. Anyway, I selected the system all and noticed on the specificaiton sheet "parallel port = 0". Shore enuf, I flipped it around and nutten but USB. My friendly clerk almost convinced me to purchas it and a $35 USP to parallel converter but the connector was the old centronics type which would have been yet another converter.
Anyway, I got to thinking about it and said the magic words to the clerk helping me!! "I'll be Back".
Has anyone used a USB to parallel converter with mach 3???? And, is anyone using a gateway notebook for a control system.
Thanks in advance.
Bill

[monte55]

I'm ready to get my drivers and a new computer. I would really like to use a laptop for my cnc table. I hear you need a parallel port and can't use adapters.
I hope we can get some good answers here:wave:

[abasir]

As mentioned in previous threads... normal USB-to-parallel port converter cannot be used. It won't work. Search the site for more info.

For notebooks, the option is to get PCMCIA-based parallel port.
For desktops, use add-on card for the parallel port.

[Torchhead]

1. Because the pulse stream from the parallel port is time dependant and USB is a serial protocol that is not, the USB to parallel port adapters DO NOT WORK for use with MACH.

2. Laptops are poor choices for CNC and shop environments. If you could get around the no parallel port problem you will find that you can't just replace the keyboard on a laptop for 9 bucks when it gets grunge under the keys. The chances of getting it splashed, damaged, or worse are much greater. In my shop with plasma dust and pieces of steel flaoting around I doubt a laptop would last a week.

3. Laptops have different buss structures that desktops and ususally the video RAM is shared (Bad for MACH use) and you can't disable the video and pop in a cheap discrete video card


4. I JUST bought a BoStar 2.4G Motherboard from Newegg and 256M or DDR RAM for a combined total of less than 100.00. It had a parallel port, a real serial port, built in ethernet (LAN) and USB to boot. Since you don't need honkin' big harddrives or CD burners or stereo speakers, 400W power supplies or anything els

3. Since the PC that drives the CNC should be considered a dedicated machine (It's only job is to run the machine and maybe talk with something via ethernet) a standard workstation squirrled away and protected makes more sense. Unless your machine is portable then I don't think your computer needs to be.

While it's easy to add a real parallel port card (you can even get dual parallel port cards) you need at least one PCI slot. We buy dozens of PCI port cards monthly (retail less than $20.00) because we sell a Dual Port Interface product that uses the second port as a pendant input with a real MPG.

Hope this answers the questions.

Tom Caudle
www.CandCNC.com

[Torchhead]

I just posted a nice long answer and all the reasons for not using USB with MACH and why laptops are bad choices for a CNC controller but the post just hung and never went through. If this one makes it then I'll give it another shot. (grrrrr....)

[bill south]

Thanks Tom;
The information you shared is just what I thought. We mach users are going to be in a bit of a pickle when our equipment needs upgrading. The laptop vs. desktop argument was top notch and convinced me. Guess I'll visit newegg and purchase a mother board and memory stick as you did. Makes more sense for what we need.
Thanks again. You were quite helpful.
Bill

[ger21]

Even though most off the shelf PC's don't have parallel ports, there are a LOT of good quality motherboards available with parallel ports. And PCI slots which allow you to add more parallel ports if needed.

However, Art is supposed to be recieving the new DeskCNC USB pulse generator very soon, and will be writing a plugin for Mach3 to use it to generate step pulses. I'm guessing it should be around $150, and will eliminate the need for the parallel port, and at a reasonable price, too. Provided all goes asplanned, of course.

[pminmo]

Hey, look at the upside. Lots of old used free/cheap PC's with LPT ports nobody wants that can be used! At least for awhile...:violin:

[Halfnutz]

I finally got my 1GHZ Dell laptop to run Mach3 and I am so happy. I bought it specifically for running Mach3. Not at the machine all the time but for occasional use. I love it. It's great for debugging, but I would not use it as a dedicated controller. I am just glad I got one of the last ones with a parallel port. Desktop machines are too inexpensive to not use one as a dedicated controller, but its great being able to use the laptop as a development tool.

[pp-TG]

Wow, was I surprised at my local Best Buy Today!!!!
My old control computer running Mach 3 finally expired yesterday (RIP) and I was going to bite the dust today and replace it with a new (low cost) Gateway, HP or Compaq. Anyway, I selected the system all and noticed on the specificaiton sheet "parallel port = 0". Shore enuf, I flipped it around and nutten but USB. My friendly clerk almost convinced me to purchas it and a $35 USP to parallel converter but the connector was the old centronics type which would have been yet another converter.
Anyway, I got to thinking about it and said the magic words to the clerk helping me!! "I'll be Back".
Has anyone used a USB to parallel converter with mach 3???? And, is anyone using a gateway notebook for a control system.
Thanks in advance.
Bill

At the last place I worked at we had the same problem the cheapest fix i found was a PDA, you can get one with all the software and cables for prety cheap...check out www.shopfloorautomations.com (they work great!).

[BCwanderer]

Try http://www.tigerdirect.com
They have refurbished E-machines (tower) with parallel ports for $239
with Win Xp and Sempron 3300

They have periodic sales with rebates of up to $100
I was able to buy one for less than $200 CAN in September

Their sales change regularly.

[unterhaus]

I think all of the bare motherboards I have looked at recently have had parallel ports. It suprised me a little because it's very hard to buy a parallel printer nowadays. You are just going to have to build a system. The Siig PCI parallel port boards are pretty cheap, and they are also a good option. PCI will outlast the parallel port, I believe. Although I suspect that PCI-X cards will become pretty cheap as well.

[NC Cams]

Want to bet that 3-4 weeks from now that SOMEONE will write in asking what laptop to use with Mach AND what USB they can use in place of a parallel port?????

When I get home and have access to my cheat sheet, this thread will be added so as to answer the question that will inevitably be asked over and over again......

[Greolt]

I suspect this landscape is about to change.

DeskCNC are releasing soon their 3rd generation controller that runs from USB and creates the timing and pulses on board.

It will simply sit where the break out board now sits in the chain.

Art is writing a plug in or module that will talk to this controller.

Now I know you will say we already have the Grex but it is much more expensive. And more capable than a lot of people need.

I see this as a very good step forward in the world of hobby CNC. I hope it lives up to my expectation

[monte55]

Want to bet that 3-4 weeks from now that SOMEONE will write in asking what laptop to use with Mach AND what USB they can use in place of a parallel port?????

When I get home and have access to my cheat sheet, this thread will be added so as to answer the question that will inevitably be asked over and over again......

I'm in the HVAC business and every fall I have people that ask me how to light their pilot on their furnace. I have explained this many times to them including to tell them the lighting instructions are on a label on the unit. I still answer the same questions time after time. I still do it because I want to help them and I still care. ..........Does this mean you are not willing to help because you have heard the question too many times? I just built my plasma
table and am ready to get drivers, new computer, (not sure which one) do I need to optically isolate the port and many more questions. I hope that when
I ask my questions I will get help. As long as I am able to share my knowledge and help another, I will never tire of that. We all have to start somewhere. Also when questions are answered they should be understood by
the novice.

[unterhaus]

..........Does this mean you are not willing to help because you have heard the question too many times? I just built my plasma
table and am ready to get drivers, new computer, (not sure which one) do I need to optically isolate the port and many more questions. I hope that when
I ask my questions I will get help.

Ok, here's some help, don't buy a laptop. More seriously, people come on here, ask a lot of questions when they don't even know enough to understand the answers. So they can either read before and ask questions when they don't understand things, or try to get people to teach them everything that's already on this site in one post. So the people that are going to be successful then go off and read like they should have in the first place. That being said, very few questions go un-answered around here.

[NC Cams]

Not willing to help? Not hardly.

Then again, however, how many times can you creatively re-explain how to boil that same 3 minute egg???

Torchead's explanation is clear, concise and outlines why, AT THIS TIME, laptops and USB are not necessarily synonymous with successful integration of Mach with CNC controlled whatevers.

Yes, Halfnutz DID successfully FINALLY integrate a laptop but he clearly pointed out the limitations in using the device in a machine shop environment. Admitted computer klutzes are NOT going to have similar results possibilities.

EDIT: Yes, you should optically isolate your PC from your whatever. I didn't and it cost me THOUSANDS due to a ground link between my PC and the NC computer controller it was hooked to. CAN you run w/o an isolator? Yes, people do and do so all the time. I did and it cost me a fortune in readily avoidable repairs and have explained why it chapter and verse in other posts.

YET, the question re: optoisolation gets posed over and over and over. After you've been a member a while, it is simply easier to paste in a link to essentially the same reply than to reiterate it over and over....

Post #16 says volumes as does the following post about folks doing prior research on this site via the use of the free search engine that is available for all to use:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...9&page=1&pp=15
specifically post #15

Regarding the person who answers a question providing and understandable reply, that goes without saying. HOWEVER, when a person who is admittedly clueless with respect to electronics and/or computers asks a question involving these technologies, they need to be ready to become familiar with the technologies associated therewith.

I'd contend that some research into a basic understanding of the underlying technologies IS a DEFINITE requirement if one is going to play around with the computers and electronics associated with CNC. An elementary school enducation is a clearly insufficient foundation for post graduate college courses in essentially anything.

How many others will integrate a laptop only because it is "cool" or because thats all they have??? And then they wonder why it won't work and then ask for help over and over as has been done many times previously on the 'Zone.

Besides, what better help can a person offer in a clear, concise exchange of words, offered by a person who's clearly got expertise in solving the problem???? Then there is post #16.

[MrWild]

There is one problem with doing searches. The information is scattered to the four winds. A newbee doesn't know enough to articulate a question and learning enough (which also ends up answering most questions) isn't a "Go here and read" proposition. It's search here and there, wander off on an irrelevant (but interesting) string, get back on track, and weeks can be spent just learning that it will take months to learn enough.

Wasn't there talk at one time of putting together a FAQ page(s)? A lot of times I've come across stuff and thought that it needed to be in one central location just because it was golden knowledge. I think all of us build our own cheat sheets, but it'd be glorious if they were all right there handy from day one.

Sometimes the attitude towards the really ignorant questions is shades of W.C. Fields, "Go away kid, yer bothering me." It isn't always laziness, many just don't know where to start or what questions to ask, or even how to use the search engine. Maybe that right there could be at the top of the list of FAQs. How to use Bolian logic and word search criteria.

[Fish]

Just another suggestion......go to a used computer place and pick up a couple (few) desktops with parallel ports. Since the first time I had a pc breakdown, I went out and bought 4 CHEAP!!!! A good idea is to load all your software in each, and just put them away until you need em. Plug them in for a few hours every couple of months to make sure the motherboard's batteries don't lose power. I've had one pc pack it in since, and within ten minutes, was up and running again. Just my two cents worth.

[rc-cellar]

I must be the lucky one!

My mill controller is a Dell laptop, pentiumII, 388Mhz, with parallel port, running XP.
Bought used for $150, 3 years ago, had 1 sticky key... replaced keyboard for 12 bucks and 20 minutes repair time.
Runs Mach2/autocad like a champ... thousands of hours on it, never a glitch.
Sits about 2 feet from spindle, stray chips and dust hit it all the time. I just blow 'em off... no big whoop.
If it dies I'll buy the same again.

"experts" begin flaming now... (flame2)