Re: Homebrew STG card - KISS

[Paul Corner <Paul.Corner-at-tesco.net>]

> The problem is to plan for some sort of an overall architecture.  This creates
> so much trouble - that I guess the best thing would be to just keep things
> stupid simple.  Any homebrew card that would have what STG boards have, will
> not be cheap and simple,  no matter what you do.  (IMO, cheaper Yes, simple No) 

When I initiated this thread, I made the assumption that EMC users would
dedicate a PC to machine control. Therefor, using firewire, USB, or what ever,
would not be part of the design brief. I agree with Arne (hi Arne,nice to see
you back). Keep thins simple and the cost will be much reduced. The basic
design currently has a minimum chip count of six. Five of these are low cost
TTL beffers and address decoders and one LS7266R1.
This gives a basic two axis DRO and/or feed back for steppers - cost, around
$20, plus board. By adding some more encoder inputs, a couple of 8255's, DAC
and buffers, the toal cost shouldn't be much more than $160 to $200. To add PCI
would just escalate the cost and complexity.
I should have some preliminary files ready by the end of the week if anyone is
interested ( HPGL plots only, at present. GERBER to follow later) - Subject to
spare time at work.

Regards, Paul.

BTW How many people are interested in this project - enough to justify a small
run of PCB's ? - And is there any takers to write the software module ?