Quoting Kirk Wallace <[email protected]>:

> I would consider using the drives you have and set up RAID.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Funny enough, my existing EPIA800 mobo started life ~8yrs ago as a car  
MP3 player, hence the custom power supply.  But the drive crashed on  
hard bumps, so I got pulled into duty as a mini RAID file server with  
2 60GB PATA drives.

I was looking to upgrade about 4 yrs ago so got the 2 120GB drives,  
but never did the conversion.  Hence those two drives floating around.


> In my opinion, for motherboards, try to use what you can get cheap or
> free. I like older complete PC's such as a full or small form Dell's or
> similar.
> http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=SYS
> or eBay
>
> To me, trying to get a tiny PC (or notebook, laptop, etcetera) to work
> with an EMC2 machine just adds more needless work, unless you happen to
> carry your CNC around in your pocket. Any motherboard I would consider
> would need at least three PCI slots of some variety, so that cheap
> add-on parallel port cards could be used (despite rumors, parallel ports
> are not going away anytime soon).
> http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?EMC2_Supported_Hardware
> (see parallel port card section)

Laptops are generally not good for any type of real-time control, but  
my small mobo requirement comes from us trying to make everything as  
compact as possible with the on-board PC.  Would've done a larger mobo  
if that was the only answer, but with a workable Mini-ITX option,  
everything will be nice and compact and will fit in the existing  
enclosure (with only small mods to the back panel cutouts).


> I avoid using the motherboard parallel port, so when I blow up the port,
> I don't have to replace the whole motherboard or PC. ...

Agreed.  For this though, I always use a buffered/isolated breakout  
board.  And also because many parallel ports don't provide a full 5V,  
or very low current.


> ... Another pet peeve, the EMC2 PC should stay with the machine it is
> intended to run. If you need a PC for another application, get another
> PC.

Correct.  This will be dedicated, and installed on the machine.  My  
CNC mill for example runs Mach 3 on a dedicated mobo, all integrated  
nicely into an enclosure with the stepper drivers, etc.

I should stop talking about Mach3 here on this list, especially since  
I'm not going to need that anymore. :)


Cheers,
-Neil.



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