For a different approach... Open source controller hardware with attached display.
Getting a stable real time environment are why ShopBotTools and FlashCutCNC both use USB attached controllers. This is where the sensors and motors are all attached. Control happens in the USB attached computer, typically Windows running some client software that gives a display similar to Axis. Even the open source robotic LeafProject.org does something similar, using a PIC or similar board to control wheels and sensors, and the 'main computer' is a Windows laptop, in this case running a LISP interpreter. The CarveWright.com machine does something similar but has a dedicated controller and a SD card interface for loading programs. We could consider a small 'off board controller'. Hopefully opensource like the Seguino control computer (A AMT micro processor that has a C like development kit available for free). This particular controller has quite a few both digital and analog controls. This might allow running EMC2 in a non-real-time environment. I would still like to keep it unix/Linux compatible even if someone wants to do a Mac or Windows compatible port. Historically I remember even IBM made boxes with high-speed (for the day) floating point array processors where 'array programs and data' were loaded into these I/O attached units then they processed independently, and send the data back when done, and even 'attached CPUs' that had none of their own I/O but added raw processor cycles. Even the venerable Intel 286 and 386 chips had floating point co-processors that were basically good calcularort chips attached. I am not suggesting a g-code interpreter, but that might be OK on a larger unit, but possibly a very simplified pseudo-g-code that could be used to implement a full g-code in conjunction with the control/display computer. Another option might be to get one of the 'single board' Linux machines, use it to run EMC, and do AXIS on a 'display computer'. This might make it easier to do the 'port' and still keep the 'real EMC2' on hardware without display (or sound). It could use either USB or Ethernet attachment. I could even see running Axis (or equivalent) on one of the little palm top computers, and EMC on an 'attached controller box'. Yes, there is some hand waving and daydreaming in this, but one day we need to start thinking this way. Gene Heskett wrote: > On Friday 21 November 2008, Roberto Caminiti wrote: > >> Hi everybody, >> I see that the newest hardware with frequency tuning and with many >> advanced features not always give the best performances in terms of >> latency, used with an RTOS. >> So now I will ask you... >> Are there on the market a special hardware designed to be used in >> Real Time environment? Where? >> So I think that this hardware is minimal, so I need only: >> - VGA >> - one or two PCI slot (for mesa cards) >> - Serial ports and/or parallel ports >> - One or two USB >> - LAN >> And so without advanced features like bluetooth, wi-fi, HDMI, audio, etc... >> > > The observations I can make are 1. onboard video is generally a bad thing for > realtime, particularly if it shares the mainboard memory. It doesn't want to > give access back to the cpu unless threatened. > > And 2. having a storage device, like a usb key or similar, plugged into a usb > port, also mungs the realtime stuff because of the device scans being > performed to see if its still there at frequent intervals. > > There may be others, one of which could be a mainboard std voltage of 3.3 > volts rather than 5. The 3.3 volt parport setups seem to be pretty picky > about who they talk to. > > >> Thank you! >> Roberto >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge >> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great >> prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in >> the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ >> _______________________________________________ >> Emc-users mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users >> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
