Looking for cheap laser software

[laser777]

[laser777]

Yes one is going to the board and one is going to the laser. When I pull either the blanking is disabled. Here is a pic of the one on the board. So keep this one on pin 25?



btw thanks for the help!

[JohnYayas]

I can't tell looking at the picture. What does the red wire that is attached to it go to?

[laser777]

To the auto/music - ILDA. Switch.

[laser777]

Well I tried that and it does the same thing. It works with the software, but no x y scanning.

[JohnYayas]

Not sure how that works but definitely leave that black one to pin 25.

[JohnYayas]

If it still doesn't work then that wasn't the problem. I'd put the black wires back to pin 25. I just realized that they are probably there because your scanners probably take +-5v input.

Try connecting a 1.5v battery between pin 25 and pins 1 & 2 while the scanner is on. You should get a little deflection. If not, then your ILDA connector isn't connected to your scanners for some reason. If there is deflection, start looking at the DAC or software for problems. Are you sure you have the software set up with a non zero scan angle?

[mixedgas]

To the auto/music - ILDA. Switch.

Ah, find the signal wires to the scan amp. Bypass the auto music switch and wire them from the scan amp direct to the ilda connector, and you will find bliss. Mark down where they go first. I'd move the intensity signal over to the green channel. Not all dacs support intensity. We'll see if John Yayas agrees with me on that one.

USE a AA battery to make a signal source to test the amp deflection. 1.5V wont hurt anything.

You have single ended wiring. Pins 1 and 2 should be x and Y and pin 25 is ground for the galvo signals.

Steve

[laser777]

I thought about doing that. Sounds easy. So the red and black are x and y.... And the white is intensity?

[laser777]

No.... Wait. Red and white are x and y. Then black is intensity right?

Move the intensity to the green channel. K.

[JohnYayas]

What are these red, white, and black wires you are talking about??

Step back and figure out what is what. It isn't too difficult. Get a sheet of paper and draw the wires and colors and what is labeled on the connectors. Include the scanner amps, DMX, board, ILDA plug, etc. Include the wire colors. Post it. I am sure we can probably get it straight then. Right now we are shooting in the dark.

If you don't care about using the DMX board I'd bypass it as Steve suggested. Switching to use Green instead of Intensity may or may not be a good idea. Depends on the DAC and software. For now, just pick one or the other. What works best can be worked out later.

[norty303]

I've read back and can't seem to find where anyone suggested it, so I'm going to do it...

Before you get too far into stripping the projector wiring, have you confirmed that you are seeing signal on the XY outputs from the DAC?

If not, I would thoroughly recommend getting your volt meter and measuring across the pins for a voltage when projecting an image. Although it won't tell you the real size of the signal, it will tell you IF there is a signal. Try pins 1 and 14 and pins 1 and 25 for a start.

Then, once you've confirmed you have signal at the outputs of the DAC, attach the DB25 cable and measure again at the end of the cable to confirm all pins are connected in the right order.

Only then start looking for problems in the projector (imho)

[JohnYayas]

http://hingednewt.com/Spaghetti.aspx

It is only $50

EDIT: Oh wait. Missed the text part.. Spaghetti doesn't have a text feature yet, afaik.

Note: The version of Spaghetti that is currently under development has text output. It will be included in the next Beta release (probably with a few days).

[james1095]

http://hingednewt.com/Spaghetti.aspx

It is only $50

EDIT: Oh wait. Missed the text part.. Spaghetti doesn't have a text feature yet, afaik.

Looks like it's $119 now. Not bad still, in fact I almost bought it, then I realized that it locks to one single PC and is not transferable. I mess with hardware enough that it's not acceptable to have it locked to one specific machine. While I find copy protection and DRM a pain all around, if I at least had the ability to deactivate it on one box and install it on a different one I would, but for now the protection is costing them a sale rather than creating one.

[JohnYayas]

I'm sorry to hear that the license scheme kept you from buying Spaghetti. I have been looking into adding a dongle option for people who need to use it on more than one PC but I have not followed up on it, yet.

In the meantime, for those who need to run it on more than one computer I have always offered a 2nd license at a much reduced cost. And, although my public policy is that I don't allow transfering licenses, I have always worked with those who ended up upgrading to a new machine.

[james1095]

I'm sorry to hear that the license scheme kept you from buying Spaghetti. I have been looking into adding a dongle option for people who need to use it on more than one PC but I have not followed up on it, yet.

In the meantime, for those who need to run it on more than one computer I have always offered a 2nd license at a much reduced cost. And, although my public policy is that I don't allow transfering licenses, I have always worked with those who ended up upgrading to a new machine.

I don't need to run it on more than one computer at a time, but given the churn that occurs, upgrading/swapping computer hardware in the course of experimenting I don't want to get locked to one PC and then have that croak on me. I've been burned by copy protection in the past and it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. In some cases the protection was such a hassle that as a legitimate paid user I still had to go download a crack to bypass it. The fact that you're willing to work with a user to get it transferred to a new machine is nice, although I'm still a little paranoid about losing support a few years down the road when hardware fails and I have many hours invested in content.

It may be different with a niche product like this, but the usual observation is that a software product gets cracked within a very short time of being on the market, at which point the protection is a hassle for legitimate users and the pirated version is more convenient. I'm an honest user, I pay for my software (and music) but I'm bothered in principal by DRM and protection schemes and avoid them when possible.

[buffo]

I seriously doubt that anyone will crack Spaghetti. First, not many people use it, so it's not on the radar of the cracking groups that normally spend time figuring out how to beat various DRM schemes. Second, the people that do use it *really* like it, so why would they jeopardize further development by trying to crack it? Finally, Spaghetti has been on the market for quite some time already (coming up on 2 years, if I'm not mistaken), so if there was any effort to crack it you probably would have heard about it by now.

If you like what Spaghetti can do for you, and it's within your budget for laser show software, then there's no reason not to buy it. As Gary said, he will work with you if you have a hardware issue down the road. He is the only developer, so he is the one you'll be dealing with in the future. And if he tells you something, he means it. That's been good enough for lots of other Spaghetti users; maybe you should just trust the guy?

Adam

[JohnYayas]

I actually found a Russian website where someone was offering a couple hundred dollars to anyone who could provide a crack for Spaghetti. I was kind of flattered that it was getting attention way over there.