Should Mach Support SPI?

[JFettig]

Hey guys,
I don't know what Art thinks, because he realy doesnt post in the threads that ask, but maybe this will intice him if he gets a turnout.

Tom from Rutex only realy has this to say:
"I don't really know what Art will do with the "spi" but Vladimir believes that Art will have reasons to impliment it once it is available through an easy to use DLL."

I think it will be a great addition and may even increase sales of Mach software.

So what do you all think? Should he support SPI?


Jon

[miljnor]

That would be awsome if he supported it. I personaly own some rutex boards.

It would make his product more flexable and probably get more sales.

personaly I think its a mistake to team up with one servo driver manufacturer no matter how good they are.

Some people will want different packaging (personaly not a fan of little black box technology) and go elsewhere for no other reason. And then there is the specific work envelope of the driver (ie you might want or need a higher current or voltage ).


And Of course the money issue, you might want an ebay find.

[ger21]

Art's not supporting any certain drives. Mach3 sends step and direction signals, Mach4 does the same thing, it just uses the G-rex for much better performance. You can still use any step and direction drives with the G-Rex. You can't expect a one man operation to support every option out there.

Now if I buy 5 R2030's for my motors, and Art supporting SPI means I won't need a G-Rex, then I'm all for it.

I'm curious how many Rutex users there are vs Gecko users? Probably a much smaller market.

[miljnor]

its probably a smaller market on the zone for sure. But then the DIY'ers on the Zone are almost exclusively price driven.

I think rutex definitely has a following out on the comericial end of things.

But I think gecko is a larger Company and probably has many distributers. I know I have seen gecko look alikes that are probably geckos repackaged by gecko for an Machine manufacturer.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by miljnor I know I have seen gecko look alikes that are probably geckos repackaged by gecko for an Machine manufacturer.

I think Mariss said that something like 90% of their business is to OEM's, and only 10% to hobbiests.

[Halfnutz]

I was told that Marrise designed his drivers while working for a company called Centent, and at some point went off on his own with a similar looking line of products. Ive bought a bunch of Centents off ebay for nothing, they look exactly like geckos and have nearly identicle specs. New England Affiliated Tech. also has the same package. Whats a trip is that a Centent costs 500.00, last I checked. I have 6 or 7 of the Centent stepper drives, but I have yet to start using them, other than verifying operation.

[jbtoby]

SPI and it's sibling I2C was designed for inter board communications
as in multifunctional chips in a TV or video which need to exchange setup data.
At my work I have designed and implemented I2C on a large system where we go of-board trough ribbon cables in a A very noisy environment. Although we have made it work reliably it takes a lot of effort especially of the cabling is not defined.

In noisy environments (heavy motor currents) I would opt for CAN bus (and have done so on our last project) or USB (also used in a noisy environment)and or Ethernet, all are differential transmission layers which are
a lot more robust when it comes to electrical noise.

The last thing you want is a run-away controller as it miss-read a byte of data

my 2 p worth

[miljnor]

well if you can use spi for the setup and tune with all the prep that we put into it I would assume you could get it to work with the Mach control.

But I am not an expert (or even a novice for that matter )

[Chris D]

I fail to see why he should. It's Art's software and he is the most accomodating software developer I have ever worked with. If he wants to he will add it in, if he doesn't, then he probably has a really good reason for it.

Perhaps if you explain WHY it should be added and what it's advantages are, then I might understand why the request is even being made. Right now, I don't see any reason to have such a capability.

[miljnor]

Well golly gee maybe I will explain for the impaired.

why should he? because there are people asking.

And Yes he is accomodating. But He also got his start from DIY'ers Which (i know) is a very small market. Now he is hooked up with a commerical vendor for drives(gecko) and we are hoping he is still helping the little guys.

If he wants to he will add it in, if he doesn't, then he probably has a really good reason for it.

Boy I am realy glad your here to state the obvious man! With my mental impairement (and obvious lack of typing skills) I would never have figured this out.

As far as what advantages: maybe none but also maybe a fast growing market share. Its hard to tell the future, you just make your stuff to do the best with the most and hope it takes off.

I appoligize for my rant but you set me off man!

[Chris D]

Originally Posted by miljnor Well golly gee maybe I will explain for the impaired. why should he? because there are people asking. And Yes he is accomodating. But He also got his start from DIY'ers Which (i know) is a very small market. Now he is hooked up with a commerical vendor for drives(gecko) and we are hoping he is still helping the little guys. Boy I am realy glad your here to state the obvious man! With my mental impairement (and obvious lack of typing skills) I would never have figured this out. As far as what advantages: maybe none but also maybe a fast growing market share. Its hard to tell the future, you just make your stuff to do the best with the most and hope it takes off. I appoligize for my rant but you set me off man!

Ah yes, I can now see why Art should be so accomodating to people like you. Just because someone wants something is reason enough for someone else to do work. Well, I still don't understand, but then again I don't have to, I am not the guy that is being requested to do work for nothing in return. Although I guess I am just too "imparied" to understand these sorts of things. Ah heck, who am I kidding, I am too impaired to even walk and chew gum at the same time

Good luck with that!

Chris

[ger21]

Originally Posted by Chris D I fail to see why he should.................................. Perhaps if you explain WHY it should be added and what it's advantages are, then I might understand why the request is even being made. Right now, I don't see any reason to have such a capability.

So that Rutex owners can get G-Rex like performance without having to buy a G-Rex.