Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: mike542 on March 18, 2007, 02:37:51 PM

Title: Other interface?
Post by: mike542 on March 18, 2007, 02:37:51 PM

  Hi. I finished my homebuilt cnc machine awhile back and have been using Mach 3 on a regular desktop PC with a parallel port, but  I would like to hook it up to my new Dell Laptop i'm buying. The only problem is it doesn't have a parallel port. I'm also using the 3 axis cnc pro driver board from Hobby CNC. Is there any way to use a usb port or would a expansion docking port work ( This uses the laptop's usb port and then has a parallel port, serial,etc.) Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Title: Re: Other interface?
Post by: Ron Ginger on March 18, 2007, 08:32:46 PM

You cannot use any form of USB to parallel adapter. Mach demands total control over the timing of pulses on the parallel port and will not work through a USB interface. If you could find a PCMCIA card to parallel port that might work, but Im not sure they are available.

The only way to use a laptop without a parallel port is to use a device like the ncPod or G100