gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user

Re: Pluto-P

Len Shelton wrote:
> What exactly is the purpose of the Pluto-P interface? Does it just give more
> I/O than the parallel port, or is it somehow faster (I am guessing not)?
> 
>  

The Pluto generates step pulses in hardware, which means that it can 
deliver higher step rates than the simple "software generated steps out 
the parallel port" approach.

It is probably the cheapest hardware step generation option, but that 
shows.  The quality of the board is marginal, connections are to tiny 
headers, etc.

There are other hardware step generation products that are much nicer, 
but have higher pricetags.  For example, the USC from Jon Elson or the 
AnythingI/O boards from Mesa Electronics.  Everybody has different 
priorities, so we try to support a number of different ways to run a 
machine.

Regards,

John Kasunich

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Jeff Epler | 3 Dec 16:30

Re: Pluto-P

On Wed, Dec 03, 2008 at 10:06:28AM -0500, John Kasunich wrote:
> It is probably the cheapest hardware step generation option, but that 
> shows.  The quality of the board is marginal, connections are to tiny 
> headers, etc.

The price difference between knjn.com's pluto-p ($60) and mesanet.com's
7I43-P ($80 qty1) is pretty small.  The mesanet.com board is clearly
superior in terms of board design and build, probably is more robust in
communicating with the PC, and more versatile when it comes to the
combinations of signals it can generate (for instance, the pluto-p can't
generate step pulses for axis motors and read quadrature from a spindle
encoder at the same time; the mesanet.com cards all can).

Jeff

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