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Author Topic: Mini ITX Motherboard for Mach4  (Read 8129 times)

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Re: Mini ITX Motherboard for Mach4
« Reply #20 on: December 09, 2016, 10:34:03 PM »
Hi TOTALLYRC,
saw this with the latest gen Ethernet chip;
https://youtu.be/XNFl7HpKRyU

Fully configured with 8G RAM and 60G mSATA SSHD less OS for about 300 GBpound. Quite a step up in grunt than the Atom. If it wont
run M4 and controllers I'm giving up CNC and taking up knitting!

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline Bx3mE

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Re: Mini ITX Motherboard for Mach4
« Reply #21 on: December 22, 2016, 03:51:14 PM »
Cause i read this yesterday i had to try to set everything up on an intel NUC. Works like a charm! Upside is being able to fit the pc inside the controller but since i have a lot of space under my machine I wont stick with it but instead use the old bigtower machine i have been using...
Re: Mini ITX Motherboard for Mach4
« Reply #22 on: December 22, 2016, 10:55:55 PM »
Hi Bx3mE,
glad you've had some success. I am coming to the opinion and only restating what Jeff Birt wrote that Mach4 like Mach3 are not processor
hungry applications but they are time sensitive, you can't just stop midstream because of some other application, device or service.

The only time I've found the Atom to be wanting is when I run a software utility which processes G code files, for a 5Meg file it can take several
minutes whereas my laptop (Intel i7,2ghz, hardly a world beater) takes 15-30 sec to do the same job. As a straight machine controller I think
the Atom is going to give tons more service yet.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline smurph

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Re: Mini ITX Motherboard for Mach4
« Reply #23 on: January 03, 2017, 11:21:52 PM »
For those that may be interested, the Atom board that I am using is the D2700MUD.  Affectionately called the "mud" board.  Windows 7/32bit.  Mach 4 runs fine on it and it does have the Intel NIC on-board.  Even so, the default setup for the NIC was tiny transmit buffers.  At least the Intel Ethernet driver would let you bump them up though (and I had to). 

So the little Atom board is well...  diminutive as compared to modern day (this week LOL) desktop boards.  But it is light years faster than the 4MHz 68020 processor in the original YASNAC control my machine had on it.  It was a 1980s tape reader.  The Atom board will run FAR larger programs than that tape real could ever hold.  But...  it might not be a good choice for a board to run huge 3D files like router guy do with plaques and the like.  So pick your system boards carefully with the desired use of the machine kept in mind.  I would NEVER suggest an Atom board for a router where the user wishes to run HUGE 3D files on it.  Loading G code files is definitely a function of the processor and disk I/O speeds.

But for metal milling jobs (relatively small G code files as compared to 3D router files), the Atom is plenty powerful.  Just make sure the NIC is a good one.

Steve