> > What that would be is a client-server type of system, with LCNC running > on a micro-system in the role of the server, with the GUI running on the > Windows or OS X or other system as the client. > > The trick is to achieve transparency of operation so that GCODE and > commands for start, stop, E-stop etc sent to the LCNC server and > feedback returned to the client operates seamlessly and without > interference with the micro-system actually operating the CNC machine. > > It would (should) also be simpler to adapt the client to different > versions of its host OS since the data going both ways from the server > wouldn't change. >
Quite right but it does come down to the definition of LCNC. What it is and what it does. I'd suggest, like on the Windows side the control of the hardware part of the device driver and can be handled with some sort of external controller. Like on the windows side the Smooth Stepper family, on the Linux side the Mesa cards and other specialty hardware. And that's where the Beagle Bone would fit in - as the mechanical interface to the motion planning and display which is the core of Linux. Given my experience with USB on Windows I'd suggest that it isn't the way to go. A dedicated Ethernet connection with 100Mbps data rates is more than fast enough to provide any sort of timely feedback. That means a WizNet Ethernet Module at 9600 baud to an Arduino is _not_ the way to go. I'm not sure a tablet running windows with a wifi connection to a beagle is the right way either. Reliability is a bit suspect. But Ethernet is becoming the new industrial control bus so it's not an unreasonable assumption that splitting the system wouldn't work quite well. John ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
