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upgrade to Mach 4
开云体育If you have a SmoothStepper in your system you should have no problems using a laptop and/or Windows 10.
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Sorry for not being clear, I have an old system computer running win xp on it and before it die's on me I was thinking would this be the right time to change over to Mach 4 and I understand 4 needs to be?registered on one computer,the controller box only has a?parallel port bob what would be the best way forward.
I did not know you could run Mach 3 on a laptop with win 10. Phill?? |
开云体育I don’t know anything about Mach 4. ?I ran Mach 3 on a Chinese CNC router for a couple of years with an old Windows desktop running Windows 7 and using the parallel port. ?I experienced lost steps and max feedrate problems. ?Last year I upgraded my system with a SmoothStepper connected to the Ethernet port on the same old desktop computer bypassing the parallel port. ?Fantastic results. ?Recently I took an older laptop running Windows 10 and loaded Mach 3 and the SmoothStepper software and started using it to run and check programs I create in V Carve Pro before running them on the CNC machine to weed out problems before cutting material. ?I have also used the laptop to run the CNC machine. ?Everything works fine.The SmoothStepper solved all of my problems and my cheap Chinese machine is running great. ?The SmoothStepper comes in either an Ethernet config or USB and doesn’t care what Windows version, XP, 7 or 10 you are running nor what type of computer,
desktop or laptop.?
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开云体育I've been working on exactly that problem. ? Essentially the cost to migrate, if your WIN-XP system fails, is find another PC that runs WIN-XP and is old enough so there are still drivers for the parallel port(s).? ?If not there will be problems. ? So I started with an experiment talking to a PMDX-126 BoB 1.????? I installed WIN-XP on a newer surplus Lenovo ($75) plus hard drive had to be purchased. a.?????? Very painful since not all the drivers are there including Ethernet for the 1GB interface.? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? i.????? Eventually I found a driver for it. b.????? Internet Explorer that runs on WIN-7 isn't supported by Microsoft so it's really hard to get updates etc. c.?????? Firefox does but there are issues. d.????? Chrome keeps loading on start-up and I can't figure out how to prevent that. e.?????? Second parallel port card needs driver.? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? i.????? There are issues with that.? Doesn't work well with the port card I bought off Ebay. 2.????? With the on board parallel port I can get 65K step rates but move a window or do anything that takes up processor time and the interruption in step rates results in the DC servos faulting or the stepper motor possibly locking. 3.????? With my USB Smooth Stepper it runs flawlessly. 4.????? I also installed (using the dual boot feature) LinuxCNC. a.?????? Very simple install but as always there is a learning curve with a different OS and CAD software 5.????? With the parallel port LinuxCNC warns that my step rates might be compromised (I have high rates for the 4th axis) 6.????? One can move windows around and edit things etc. without disruption to CNC motion.? Much better than MACH3 on XP. 7.????? With the MESA 7i92H Ethernet board the step rate issue is gone.? A bit more difficult to assign pins to match the MACH3 setup to the BoB.? More on that once my 0V-10V PWM modules arrives for spindle speed control. ? So which way to go? ? If you have a licensed WIN-7 PC then even though Microsoft will discontinue support you will likely find drivers for the hardware for at least the next 5 to 10 years and you can run with the parallel port as I understand it. ? However if you have to upgrade and buy WIN-10 not only do you have the cost of WIN-10 OS from Microsoft but you must buy some sort of Ethernet or USB based controller. WIN-10 up to $180US for Pro And the smooth stepper $180 ? So you are looking at $360. ? The other side:? (Some say the dark side) LinuxCNC.? Free. ? MESA 7i92H about $89. ? ? So for half the amount of a Smooth Stepper you get an Ethernet controlled parallel port interface but there is a steep learning curve just setting it up with LinuxCNC. ? So far I've still been able to maintain the dual boot and just swap a few cables to run either MACH3 or LinuxCNC.? I think I will try and install WIN-7 on the Microsoft partition to remove the constraints of WIN-XP.? More on that when I do this. ? Now if you score a WIN-10 laptop or workstation for next to nothing then the real cost is the Smooth Stepper verses MESA 7i92H and the learning curve.? If you add MACH4 into the bundle the Linux approach wins hands down cost wise. ?But there is that pesky learning curve.? Although maybe there is one with MACH4 too? ? That's it so far. John Dammeyer ? ? From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Barry Albin
Sent: November-18-19 7:23 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MachCNC] upgrade to Mach 4 ? I don’t know anything about Mach 4. ?I ran Mach 3 on a Chinese CNC router for a couple of years with an old Windows desktop running Windows 7 and using the parallel port. ?I experienced lost steps and max feedrate problems. ?Last year I upgraded my system with a SmoothStepper connected to the Ethernet port on the same old desktop computer bypassing the parallel port. ?Fantastic results. ?Recently I took an older laptop running Windows 10 and loaded Mach 3 and the SmoothStepper software and started using it to run and check programs I create in V Carve Pro before running them on the CNC machine to weed out problems before cutting material. ?I have also used the laptop to run the CNC machine. ?Everything works fine. ? The SmoothStepper solved all of my problems and my cheap Chinese machine is running great. ?The SmoothStepper comes in either an Ethernet config or USB and doesn’t care what Windows version, XP, 7 or 10 you are running nor what type of computer, desktop or laptop.? ? On Nov 18, 2019, at 6:39 AM, phill005 <phill05@...> wrote: ? Sorry for not being clear, I have an old system computer running win xp on it and before it die's on me I was thinking would this be the right time to change over to Mach 4 and I understand 4 needs to be?registered on one computer,the controller box only has a?parallel port bob what would be the best way forward. ? |
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John thank you so very much for the very detailed reply to my question it covers everything I need to know.
I was wrong in the understanding Mach 3 could only use Win XP, I have a freebe laptop with Win 10 that my sister cannot get on with, I have a Win 7 desktop that I use for designing in Vectic Aspire so I could swap to laptop for designing and still use Mach 3 on the Win 7? only the controller card to buy and learn now I have some reading to do which one to choose. Many thanks to all? Phill |
开云体育I meant to say IE for WIN-XP isn't supported and Microsoft will not upload to it.? Sent from John's iPhone 4S On 2019-11-18, at 9:49 AM, "John Dammeyer" <johnd@...> wrote:
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