1985
« on: January 02, 2015, 01:03:38 PM »
agrotech
Hopefully I can clear things up a bit.
Things like THC, Lathe Threading and Probing require very fast I/O and so they do not get executed directly in Mach itself. Art wrote them as part of the parallel port driver which can process things at the required speed.
Now if you use an external controller then these functions need to be supported in the plugin for that device. The reason is as above, they were in the driver and because you are using an external controller you are no longer using the driver.
So even if you were to install a 32bit OS so that you could install the driver, you would not be using the driver if you continued to use an external controller, the only way to use the driver would be to use the parallel port for your motion controller.
As mentioned the SS/ESS supports THC, the CSMIO products also support it, how well they work I have no idea as I have never needed or used THC.
Most of the other reputable controllers will also likely support THC, the lesser Chinese type will almost certainly not.
Hood