PoPendant 1

[stirling]

I'm considering one of these fellas http://www.poscope.com/product.php?pid=21.

Would I be better using it with a PoKeys55T or a second parallel port - can anyone give me a brief run down on the state of play with these and Mach3? i.e. are things stable/reliable (plugins etc.) or are there "issues". Any advice most welcome.

Thanks

Ian

[borisz]

Hi!

As we know there are no open issues with Mach and PoKeys. They works stable and reliable. Second serial port may be option, but with PoKeys you will get much more. E.g. a lot of aditional keys, LCD, lot of outputs etc. If you need aditional relays consider also PoExtBusRe. You can add up to 80 relays using only 3 pins on PoKeys.

[stirling]

Hi borisz

Bit confused with your reply. All I need to know is if I buy a PoPendant (see attached), am I better off connecting it via a PoKeys55T or via a second parallel port and are there any issues I should be aware of with either method.

Thanks

Ian

[borisz]

What is better is hard to answer. You can connect it in both ways and both ways will work reliable.
PoKeys will give you a lot of aditional options as I writed before.

[stirling]

Thanks borisz.

However, I'd be interested to hear views from anyone who's using the above pendant with a second parallel port before I buy. I don't have time to mess, so I'd just like a solution that works out of the box. Clearly just looking at the threads in this sub-forum there are at least some issues using the pendant with a poKeys, but I don't see a lot of mention about using the pendant via a second parallel port. Any views/experiences/opinions welcome.

Thanks

Ian

[borisz]

Please check datums of issues. They are all removed.

[stirling]

Noted. I'll go ahead and get the pendant and try it with a second parallel port.

Thanks

Ian

[stirling]

After a bit of reading it seems (if I'm correct) that wiring a popendant to a second parallel port isn't trivial. Firstly there arn't enough input pins on a PP port and secondly the pendant requires it's own 5V power source. Are these assumptions correct or am I missing something.

Ian

[borisz]

You are correct. I did not counted avaiable pins however, but PP is very limited with IOs.