The PCI-3 I/O
Card is a very high speed
replacement for our DS-12 input/output card. It contains one, 8 bit,
parallel port and plugs into any PCI slot in the motherboard of a
computer. All California Software System 7 products will work
with either the PCI-3 or the DS-12. The difference is the PCI-3 will
run in today's ultra high speed computers such as a 2Ghz Pentium 4
system.
The PCI-3 is manufactured for us by Axxom
Computer Corporation in Canada. They are good people who design and
build excellent products. Check them out at www.softio.com.
The DS-12
I/O Card is a proprietary printed circuit board designed and
manufactured by California Software Systems.The card contains two, 8 bit, parallel ports and plugs into any
standard ISA slot in the mother board of a computer.It’s
basic purpose is to make the computer act like a paper tape reader when
transferring programs to and from a printed circuit board drill or router.In addition to 8 data lines there are 4
control lines often referred to as “hand shake” lines.
The
data and control lines for both the DS-12 and PCI-3 can be configured by
software which makes it possible to communicate with any machine having a paper
tape reader with a parallel interface.We use the same card for Excellon,
TruDrill, PDA, ATI, Hitachi,Sieb
and Meyers, and all others controllers when communicating through the paper tape
reader connector.
This ability to program the I/O card to
match the machine is one of the advantages offered by California Software
Systems. You only need to stock one spare card for all of your machines.
The timing between the receipt of pulses from the machine
and the output of each byte of data is critical.If the timing is not exactly right the machine will make
mistakes and scrap panels!This is where most
people run into serious problems in trying to connect a computer to a drill or
router.Regardless of what else
the computer may be doing, the correct data must always be
available to the machine at precisely the right instant.
California
Software Systems uses software, not hardware, to generate the precise
delays required by the different machines used in our industry. Unlike our competition, our products will work in any modern computer
regardless of how fast it may be or the type of microprocessor it uses.The computer CPU can be
anything from a 486 to the latest Pentium IV.
Most of our competitors require a “hardware key”
to be
plugged into the printer port on the back of the computer.In fact, it is common to see two
more keys, plugged into each other, sticking out the rear.In a production environment this
not only looks bad, it makes the computer much more susceptible of damage.
California Software Systems does not require
any external key nor do we copy protect our software.Our products are distributed on floppy disks, CD-ROMS,
and over the internet and may be easily copied from one medium to another.However, most will not run unless PCI-3
or
DS-12 I/O card
is installed in the motherboard.
The
RS-7 Key Card
RS-7 Key Card performs the same logical functions
as the DS-12 I/O card except it does not have external ports.Therefore, if a parallel port is not
required, a key card may be substituted for the PCI-3 or DS-12.
