thank you for the offer but the big requirement for this is it must have a parallel port.
USB/Parallel uses the print services of the OS rather than using the interrupts, which this needs.
We have a good PC. We just need to get the OS compatible with with the MACH4 system needs.
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What about a new parallel card, that would go in one of the PCI slots, rather than a USB-parallel adapter? That should give you access to legacy IRQs I would think- although I havenât messed with IRQs since Windows 95/98. Or are you saying that this PC has a parallel port and thatâs why swapping out is a bad idea. I am unsure what you mean. I am a fan of the GRBL idea from @wandrson , I hear good things about it, but I havenât used it myself.
Also, saw this and thought of this thread. This could be cool. Repurposing X-box controller to make a manual CNC. Itâs just a 10 sec snippet.
They are running Mach 4.
I think Mach4 will be a good choice for us. It have some very good features, and because it is an industry standard will give the users some real-world (think resume) experience.
cheers!
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OK, I see the problem now. Mach4 itself is listed as compatible with Win 10 x64. Its the Darwin Parallel Port software plugin, which wants to use Visual C++ Runtime 2008. I tried installing both the x86 and x64 Visual C++ Runtimes from MSFT and I still got an error saying that C++ 2008 is out of date. Which is strange, because you CAN install Visual C++ 2008 x86 on a Windows 10 64bit machine. Still got the error though. I tried some compatibility settings as well.
I suspect the version packaged in the installer is incompatible though. You might be able to get away with a registry hack- running the installer inside Sandboxie to grab it etc., but even with that, it still wouldnât guarantee it working.
I also found notes in a forum that it still wouldnât work in 32bit (x86) Windows 10. I did find some people who have had success with a virtual machine, but it was not consistent. Too many workarounds.
On a forum I see your option is downgrading or using Windows 10 with a different motion controller:
I think you are right that downgrading to 7 is probably the easiest solution. I think youâll lose access to any ram you have over 4Gb though.
The other option is here:
I found this designed for Mach 4- but I donât know anything beyond what the website says for this.
USB to Parallel adapter- but is actually a whole motion control chip inside the adapter. http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-411
Or this, which takes the parallel port out of the equation. Also designed for Mach 4.
http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-416
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thatâs the plan. Itâs not intended to be a global workstation (although F360 will be loaded on it to make changes). for the most part, It will simply make the servos go left/right/up/down and provide DRO functions. So any âfeaturesâ W10 offers are moot anyway. Ye Gods, I miss the simplicity of Window 95.
Unless you go 32-bit and/or Home Basic, you can address more than 4GB of RAM in Windows 7.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7
(if anyone cares, this was true starting with Windows XP - 64-bit)
You can run process monitor and figure out what components its trying to load. It will give you a GUID of a missing registry key that contains the GUID of the DLL and figure out which version of the 2008 runtime you need, could be a specific patch or service pack. I can help you if you want, this is my forte.
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thank you. Iâve got it running Mach 3 running under W7 32- bit.
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So are we definitely going down the Mach 3/4 path? Wondering how I might help at this point getting it going and creating a class.
It has not been able to connect. I was waiting to talk to Rich and then all the Open house stuff has taken over. Weâll try again and then weâll punt and go the other route.
OK. Happy to help and planning to be around some this Friday/Weekend. Willing to give it a go if we have a PC w/Parallel handy. I have an Ardunio around but not a spare g-shield. @wandrson, donât suppose you have one lying around? Thinking it might be a pretty short effort to give the GRBL Parallel port option a try, for kicks of nothing else.
Yes, I believe I do have a spare GRBL. It might take a day or two to find.
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