Dusted this off and I want to use it

[absolom7691]

Anyone remember the OLD Laser Illusions DAC and DOS based proggy? Well, I have both, but I need to run it on an old machine because the program doesn't have any emulation speed control e.g. the program and ouput run at the speed of the CPU. I have no problems because of my old PC that it runs from. If anyone remembers this old DAC, please tell me if Spaghetti will output with this. The Laser Illusions software isn't very good and it is very difficult to convert .ild files to it's proprietary format along with the fact that it wont convert .ild animations, only single frames. The input is a 25 pin parallel, but I don't believe it is an ILDA configuration. Does anyone know for sure??? Any help would be AWESOME!!!! I just don't want to break out the wallet for a new DAC and I don't think I am up to the task of modding a sound card.


Here is the DAC (with a few modifications).


Thanks for any help!!

[DrawSpeed]

That is the old Graphics Workstation card, which used dos based software. I ran into limitations with dos, mainly I just ran out of ram and room to add anything else to the software, there was a 640K limit on program ram with Dos, and I had to program in every button, line and curve :>) I'm currently working on a USB based version of the Alphalite system.
The output is ILDA format, but with only single ended TTL outputs (0 or 5 volts) for color, shutter, and blanking. It would need a 12VAC transformer, as does all the Illusion boards, I never use DC adapters.
So what is your problem? Write me at RickGebhardt@msn.com if you need to contact me personally. I can probably help. I'll post anything that might help the group here too. Maybe I can find a schematic if anyone is interested.
Rick

[Banthai]

Hi Rick ...

and welcome here to PL

i still have my old Graphic Workstation ISA card from the mid 90s .... and my alphalite DAC


it was your Hardware that got me from analogue control into digital

and i apreciate all the hard work and personal communication that you put into my experience

good to see you here buddy


all the best .... Karl Dawson

[absolom7691]

Hey Rick, Thanks for responding. I am just looking to see if there was any updated software that would work with the DAC. There are all these new tools to make .ild animations. I have found that the ild converter that originally came with PC Lite won't convert .ild animations into PC Lite animation files. I have found that it will only to single frames and convert them to .drw

I notice that you have a new DAC and new software. I am just trying to cut my costs and also see if I can find software that will work with the current DAC. Do you know if any of the free display programs like Spaghetti or Norms laser software will display with this DAC? Or, if your Alphalite software will work with this DAC, what would you charge me for the software? I understand that you are only asking $199 right now for the whole Alphalite package, but I am very limited. BTW, your new stuff looks great!

Thanks again for getting back to me Rick.

[DZ]

Whoa! It's PCLite! Thats the first DAC I ever owned, I thought it was fantastic! I bought it from Rick, who was an extremely helpful guy back when I got started with all this. I purchased it as a kit, the board with bags of parts to solder together. Stayed up all night putting it together to run my little G-124/HeNe projector. What fun!

[absolom7691]

Yeah, I loved this thing when I got it. I purchased this already assembled from MWK. I also ran this with G-124s and a 4mW Green-Ne. I was amazed that I could get a graphics system for so cheap. I think there was only a limited few at the time. LaserMax, Pangolin and X-29. I pulled this out a few days ago and am trying to get it working. XP does NOT like the DOS. I installed 98 on an older machine. We'll see how it goes.

[allthatwhichis]

...4mW Green-Ne...

Any chance you still have this beast lying around?

[absolom7691]

I still do. I have pulled it out a few times, when I want green but without a fat beam. I love the divergence on green-Ne's. I heard that they were good for holography too due to the polarization. I believe this one is linear 500:1. I have no idea what the output is now, but I am not sure if it is still 4mW.

[absolom7691]

So, after a little bit of work, and digging out an OLD laptop, I got my PC Lite to fire up. I am amazed! Here are some pics. Enjoy everyone. To those of you who had this, this should bring back some memories!





Here is my setup that I threw together for this:



Anyone remember this GUI????