[nicanor76]

The laptop I want to use doesn't have a parallel port, as most new PCs neither. Has anyone here tried a USB to 1284 cable to connect to their controller box?

[ger21]

Won't work with software that sends step and direction signals to the parallel port. You're best bet , if using Mach3, is the Smoothstepper, which will give you two parallel ports from a USB connection. www.warp9td.com

[nicanor76]

So the software itself can't change the output source, always goes to LTP1? Interesting. How about using a PCMCIA card?

[Dennis Bohlke]

I tried to use them and found them impossible to get more than a few hundred steps per second out with any fidelity.

The problem stems from a one(1) millisecond latency on the USB data channel. That is it can take up to .001 second for the data to be presented to the pins of the parallel port after the processor command to do so is executed.

Dennis
http://www.super-tech.com

[nicanor76]

How about the PCMCIA cards for laptops, anyone uses them with success? They're a lot more reliable than USB adapters

[ger21]

Some have used them, and some have had trouble. They should work, but there's no guarantee.