OK, despite my best efforts to avoid it, it looks like I'm going to have to stand up and catch this bullet.
For my laser harp project (read: obsession) I'm going to have build my own controller. Basically a PIC connected to a DAC. I have a programmer at home and a tub o' PICs but very little experience in programming them (However I have been a C/++/# programmer for a very *very* long time).
So I need a PIC, and a host board (some kind of power conditioning, or can I just plug in a wall wart at 5V?)
I do have a MIDIBOX (
www.midibox.org) host board and PIC, which I guess I could subvert...
MixedGas suggested that I connect a TLV5618A serial DAC to the chip. So I guess I would need a PIC that could send serial data, then every clock cycle just update the DAC with a new number, and set the blanking on another pin? This makes sense, but it's when people start adding resistors and capacitors that I get confused....
One guy kept talking about hysterisis damping, so I looked at him like this
So I could have a simple lookup table x for y cycles, x1 for y cycles, x2 for y cycles etc... for both the blanking and the D->A. Oh yes and some kind of on/off pin polling...
How does that sound?
Steve
P.S. How do I calculate the analog frequencies required to render a certain frame at a certain PPS? What would be a typical safe frequency for a galvo full cycle?