Parallel PCMCIA Card to provide additional Mach 3 I/O's

[hpdrifter]

Has anyone had any tried using Parallel PCMCIA Card (ie additional printer port) to provide additional Inputs and Outputs to Mach 3?

Will this work and can Mach 3 be configured to see it?

I am using a laptop and all my I/O's are being used to control my ORAC lathe.
I have just designed and interface board to an 8 station tool changer and require additional inputs.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Best Regards

[Triac whizz]

They don't work, they're not proper parallel ports, you're rather lucky that a laptop works. Usually all their built in power management stuff trips up mach.

[hpdrifter]

I am getting a little confused now!

I use mach 3 on laptops on several NC machines and have never had any problems.

Secondly, feedback from the mach 3 forum is telling me that Parallel PCMCIA Cards should work fine.

I need to go back to my first question has anyone actually tried this method of providing addional inputs.

Any other comments would be welcome.

[hpdrifter]

The answer appears to be yes if you look here

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index. ... 657.0.html