Newbie Help Controlling a laser via PC

[skip_logic]

Hi to all , newbie to the laser game , Djed for years , loved the wild laser shows , now i bought a 300mw RBG and am interested in more then what is available in just the stand alone built in shows as they are pretty basic..

My laser has ilda connection DB25 + 9 pin connection DB9 and of course DMX ..
It apperently boasts 20k pps ,

What hardware is required to connect the PC to the ILDA port? Is it simply a cable or does it require a special hardware interface?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.....
Thanx Paul

[gottaluvlasers]

hi paul.

Welcome to the wonderful world of lasers! and to the forum.

in order to connect your laser to a computer you need a standard software/hardware control. there are many great programs out there. (pangolin, full auto, moncha...) which can cost anywehre from free...to thousands of dollars.

there are a few guys on here who have actually made there own programs and are freely distributing them. i believe "Spaghetti" and the user here "carmangary" has a program also i think. there is also "laserboy" my apologies becasue i dont remember who has what. (sorry guys).

you need something to convert the software commands on your computer to the ILDA standard communication signals however. which is where the hardware comes in. alot of beginers and hobbyists are using the FB3 (by pangolin) kit. it is a VERY generous software package and a hardware interface. CLICK HERE

hope this info helps. i am sure you will get a ton of responses here for more in depth details on the software packages by our users that they developed. but hopefully this can get you going.

feel free to ask more questions if need be. all the guys and gals here are are generous with their help! (except buffo...watch out for that guy! lol...) (kidding!)

-Marc

[colouredmirrorball]

there is also "laserboy" my apologies becasue i dont remember who has what. (sorry guys).

Wasn't it James Lehman?

[buffo]

Hi Paul!

Welcome to PhotonLexicon! Hope you like it here. Do us a favor and fill out your profile information so we know where you're located. There are lots of helpful people here in the forums, and if one of our members is located near you then the two of you may be able to get together. We encourage people to help others!

In fact, the guys in the UK just had a very sucessful United Kingdom Laser Enthusiast's Meeting (UKLEM) yesterday, and for the folks here in the US we're having a South Eastern Laser Enthusiast's Meeting (SELEM) next weekend! These gatherings are a great way for newcomers to learn about lasers and controllers. They give you a chance to see many different hardware and software options all running side by side. They're also great fun!

If you can manage to attend one of these Laser Enthusiast's Meetings, you'll have a much better idea about where you want to go with your laser hobby, along with what will be involved in terms of time, effort, and expense.

As for your question about your projector, Marc nailed it. You're going to need a controller and some software to connect your PC to the ILDA port on that rgb projector. There are some free software solutions out there, and there are also several commercial packages.

James Lehman is the man behind the LaserBoy software, and Carmangary is the man behind the Spaghetti software. Both of these options are free, though you will need to build your own controller to work with them. (This can be as affordable as a $25 USB sound card and another $40 in parts, assuming you're handy with a soldering iron.) There are several threads here on PL that talk about these two options, and both James and Carmangary are members of PL.

If you're thinking about buying a commercial software package and controller, then the LA Freak kit (featuring the Flashback 3 controller from Pangolin) is just about the best deal you can get. It costs $500 for the controller and the entire software suite together, and it is widely considered to be *the* system for the new hobbyist.

Of course there are other solutions that cost more (Mamba Black & EasyLase USB, or Moncha software w/ Moncha controller, for example), but they don't offer any more features or functionality than the LA Freak kit does. Well, at least not until you get up to the level of the Pangolin LD-2000 system (which starts at $1500).

So let us know where you are, and maybe we can arrange to put you in touch with someone nearby that can show you what these software and controller packages can do.

And once again, welcome to PhotonLexicon!

Adam

[carmangary]

James Lehman is the man behind the LaserBoy software, and Carmangary is the man behind the Spaghetti software. Both of these options are free, though you will need to build your own controller to work with them. (This can be as affordable as a $25 USB sound card and another $40 in parts, assuming you're handy with a soldering iron.) There are several threads here on PL that talk about these two options, and both James and Carmangary are members of PL.

You don't need to build a controller to use Spaghetti. It supports the following DACS.

- EasyLase
- Moncha
- Lumax
- RIYA (USB and Ethernet)
- Modified Soundcard (LaserBoy)

Even without a DAC you can create shows and play them back on your computer.

[James Lehman]

Check out these two recent threads. There are many other posts here that also discuss this subject.

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ead.php?t=4920

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ead.php?t=4935

The short story is that my friend Dean and I were introduced to the art of laser projection a couple of months before the end of 2003 by Steve Roberts aka OSR aka PL member, mixedgas. I immediately took to programming in Linux to be able to generate the kinds of special effects that I could not figure out how to do with any of the software that I had barrowed from Steve. That was the beginning of LaserBoy. Since then it has developed into a system that can be compiled and run on just about any OS.

Get it here:
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/LaserBoy/

Possibly the most important aspect of LaserBoy is the fact that it is designed around the idea of converting laser vector information (in full 24 bit color) to multi-channel wave files. Those files can be played back on a sound card, and if that sound card is properly modified, the signals that it produces will control your laser projector, right through that ILDA port!

Another member of the PL, drlava, wrote a driver that leverages on the sound card, LaserBoy Correction Amp design, but takes it in another dirrection by making it look like an EasyLase device. So any software that makes calls to the EasyLase DLL in Windows will now work with a modified sound card (in near real time).

See it here:
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ead.php?t=4608

You need drlava's driver to use a modified sound card with carmangary 's Speghetti.

LaserBoy is an almost self contained application, but for now, you need a wave player that will play waves that have more than 2 tracks (Windows Media Player). The original, Linux only version, was a completely self contained system, capable of directly communicating with the sound card.

Here is a link to the old LaserBoy website. I plan on redoing the whole thing sometime after SELEM.
http://akrobiz.com/laserboy/


James.