What laptop do you run Mach 3 on?

[Involute]

I'm looking for a laptop on which to run Mach 3, but I gather I can't just assume any 1 GHz+ Windows laptop with a printer port will work with no problems. It would be helpful to know what systems others are using successfully. Can you provide:

1. Make & model #

2. OS, version, service packs

3. RAM

4. HDD capacity

5. Other apps running simultaneously with Mach 3

6. Indicate if the system is dedicated to machine control.

7. Any issues you encountered while getting Mach 3 to work.

Thanks.

[maquiza]

I believe that you can not use a laptop with Mach

[jjclear]

I'm just about ready to make chips with my setup. I'm using an older Dell Inspiron 8200. I'm able to jog the axis and run the table to home position. By the weekend I hope to have something programmed. I did have to disable the "ACPI" settings, but Mach seems to run pretty well.

J. Clear

[Involute]

jjclear:

How did you discover you had to disable the ACPI settings to get Mach to run?

K

[jjclear]

When I ran the driver test, the "Pulse per Second" only read around 6K, not the required 25Khz. After turning off the ACPI it now runs at the right speed.

J. Clear

[Torchhead]

It's hard for me to understand why people think using a laptop in the shop around CNC equipment is a good idea. The last one that was destroyed from being accidently knocked off the shelf when the parallel port cord got snagged, made me a believer in using my replacement as a computer and not as a machine controller. The computer that runs your CNC should be considered a dedicated controller. Even small shops and garages are hostile environments for any electronics. It's hard to keep debris out of keyboards. If you plasma cut the smoke and dust is conductive. So is aluminum scarf and dust. A 14.00 keyboard is cheaper to replace than a laptop keyboard.

How well a PC will run MACH is finally determined by loading a complex program and cutting. It will uncover any limitations. Simple jogging tells you little about how the MACH engine will push the hardware.

If you want something that you can tote around with you and play with MACH or use with a drawing or CAM program a laptop is great. Use it for those purposes and then use the miracle of ethernet (even wireless) to move your G-code to the machine to cut.

Tom Caudle
www.CandCNC.com

[Halfnutz]

I have a Dell Latitude 1GHZ, 512MB, Win 2K, 20GB HDD, running Mach3 at 25KHz. No problems except at first while running Driver Test I had some issues, I forget exactly what. It runs fine now as far as I can tell.