Re: Arrrrrrrgggg!

[Tom Droege <tdroege@veriomail.com>]

Chris and all,

I think there is little chance of using a standard interface.  The way the 
Mark IV was designed, there is no way to stop the scan once it has 
started.   Everyone seems to be ignoring this.

THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THE SCAN ONCE IT HAS STARTED
THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THE SCAN ONCE IT HAS STARTED
THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THE SCAN ONCE IT HAS STARTED
THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THE SCAN ONCE IT HAS STARTED
THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THE SCAN ONCE IT HAS STARTED

All the standard interfaces use handshaking.  This has to be ingored and 
the software written in a way that the 16 MByte block is captured at the 
rate it arrives.  The ECP contains a FIFO so this may be possible.

Tom Droege

At 12:25 AM 8/15/01 -0700, you wrote:

>Tom,
>
>What a difference a decimal point makes!
>
>0.4 is not fast at all.
>As you say, well within what a printer port can handle.
>
>It would be best to make the Make IV "look" exactly like a
>"standard" parallel device.  Drivers exist and there are
>endless parallel to whatever converter boxes, Ethernet connected
>parallel ports and so on.  That's why I suggested using some
>common interface.
>
>Yes, I know of examples of long, fast parallel cables.  SCSI is the
>best example.  They can push 160 MBps (160 million bytes per second)
>across a room using a differential cable.
>
>Fraser Farrell's idea of using a termial and print server box at
>the camera is a good one.  One of these little boxes would connect
>to the STAMP's serial line and the scanner's parallel line.  The
>server then puts these on the building's Ethernet and you'v got a
>network accessable Mark IV for cheap.
>
>
>Tom Droege wrote:
> >
> > Chris and all,
> >
> > That is 0.4 MHz.  And we have already done it at NOFS down 100' of cable,
> > so there is an existence proof that it can be done.
><SNIP>
>
>--
>    Chris Albertson
>    chrisalbertson90278@yahoo.com
>    Redondo Beach, California
>    home: 310-376-1029
>    cell: 310-990-7550