> ...lets face it, no windows based PC likes to toggle its printer port
bits.
>
> Even if all it is say a 16 (hell 32) bit IO port on the end of a USB
> cable, that could handle most of whats being done now and be more 'up
> to date', say a 18f4550, it has PWM, IO, memory to remember where it
> was last etc, store options and calibrations, and the rest of the
> hardware, IE motor drive and motors, stays the same
Can't argue with that. Actually I'm working on something like what you
suggest already, and others have done it as well. On the other hand,
real-time control on a cheap microcontroller is not as easy as it seems.
Everything has its limitations, and what is just right for one application
is overkill for another, or inadequate for something else. The
CNC/motion-control market is big but by no means homogenous.
--
Phil Mattison
http://www.ohmikron.com/Motors::Drivers::Controllers::Software