Interface for dummies 101

[steve-o]

Hi,
I'm looking for a piece of equipment that may or may not exist. I'm one of those people who like to build lasers from the ground-up but don't really know or want to know the intricacies of ILDA cabling/ breakout boxes, pass-thrus, DMX etc.. I would really like to find a single "black-box" solution that I can hookup one cable to my pc ( I think I can load the laser softare :] and the the other end to the galvo amps x y inputs and the 3 laser modulation inputs. In other words, the box would have a usb cable on one end and 5 wires plus a ground on the other. Any such apparatus exists?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

[LaNeK779]

i could think of a number of reasons why this does not exist but i don't think i (or you) would want me to start writing

if you water down your requirements a bit and you can tolerate a pair of db25 jacks in between the pc end and the projector end, maybe DZ's breakout board plus the dac of your choice would do the trick nicely steve.

oh, and i think you will need 7 cables and a ground instead of 5 (or are your g120s single ended?)

[steve-o]

Thanks for the response Lanek So DZ's board, a DAC and a db25 cable is what I need? What plugs in to the PC? My new PC has no 25 pin connector that I recall. And yes, I'm running open loop G120s at the moment. :/

-edit- 'Grats on yur 1000th post!

[WookieBoy]

HI Steve.

The DAC would plug in the PC. Usually on a USB port as far as I'm aware.

The DB25 cable will link the DAC to the breakout board which you mount in your projector.

The Breakout board will have the outputs for your galvos and lasers.

Hope that helps

[steve-o]

Thanks Wook. I'm glad they're usb now instead of that stupid old parallel printer port thing. I may have to get with the program now and get me some of this new-fangled stuff.
'ppreciate it !
-S

[LaNeK779]

depending on the dac, you might have an rj45 jack instead of usb. i think this is even better

[steve-o]

Any recommendations for a good dac Lanek?

Uh, congrats (again) on your 1000th post .. ? again ..

[Jem]

Any recommendations for a good dac...

Steve, save up and get yourself an FB3 with Quickshow, you won't be disappointed

Oh, and it's got a nice USB interface

Jem

[Solonar]

You can also just connect the DAC directly to the breakout board. My FB3 is connected directly to DZ's breakout board, no cable is needed if your projector is close enough for the USB cable to reach.

[steve-o]

Sounds good, Jem. I like writing my own waveforms for the galvos though. The main thing is I'd like to experience is the million different colors with the RGB that I'm putting together. Can FB3/ QS do liquid sky (that I write the rate of pan and size myself) and can it handle static beams? I guess I could go to pangolin and look up the details myself and quit being lazy .. heh.

-edit- oops we posted at the same time Solonar. Thanks for that info.