[PD] Marionette Control

[lex ein]

These were Solid State Relays (SSRs), by the way.  These contain an  
optoisolator(LED +phototransistor) and some big beefy FETs (for DC) and  
SCRs or TRIACs(for AC).  The standard PC parallel port can drive LEDs  
easily, and can sink up to 15 mA for the 8 data pins and Strobe outputs.   
Your mileage may vary.

Radio Shack sells smaller ones 275-0310, and Opto22 and others make big  
ones.
Big list (too big) http://www.73.com/a/0100.shtml

Cheers,
Lex

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 17:36:15 -0400, Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at eds.org>  
wrote:

> I did this using using relays hooked directly to the parallel port.  I  
> was controlling some pretty hefty motors, well over 1 amp, for example.  
>   You can see my code where:
>
> http://cvs.at.or.at/viewcvs.cgi/arw/
>
> I can dig up more info if you are interested...
>
> .hc
>
> On Sep 25, 2004, at 9:33 AM, Samuel B Burt wrote:
>
>> Hi group!
>>  
>> I am sure some of you have experimented with using PD to control  
>> motors.  My friend Joel Grip is planning to build a giant marionette  
>> puppet in his wood working class at the Maryland Institute of  
>> Contemporary Art that we will use in our multi-media improvisations.   
>> The goal would be to perform live with acoustic instruments and/or  
>> computer generated/manipulated sound and have the marionette move in  
>> reaction to our playing.  What I would like to know is where to find  
>> information on what types of motors to buy and how to interact them  
>> with PD.
>>  
>> I checked out makingthings.com because I had heard about their  
>> Max-motor interaction products.  They sent me the following response to  
>> my inquiry:
>>  
>>         Hi Samuel.  While we have intermittently run into interest
>>         in having Teleo interact with PD, this interest has not,
>>          unfortunately, been enough to warrant the time and effort
>>          it would take us to develop it.  So, as of now the answer is
>>          sadly no.  This is not set in stone, however, and it is  
>> possible
>>          that at some point in the future, we'll move ahead with  
>> development
>>         for PD, either based on a general growing interest or in  
>> response to a
>>         particular job that we're doing.  But for the moment, it's not  
>> very
>>          high on our list of priorities.
>>
>> Also, I am told that their products are really designed to move smaller  
>> objects.  Our life-size wooden marionette would probably be too heavy  
>> and wear the parts out too quickly.  If anyone has any suggestions,  
>> they would be very appreciated.
>>  
>> Samuel Burt