Product Overview; Intended Use; System Requirements - Scanlab RTC 4 Installation And Operation Manual

2

Product Overview

2.1 Intended Use

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The RTC 4 PC Interface Board from SCANLAB is
designed for real-time control of scan heads and
lasers via an IBM-compatible PC with a PCI bus
interface.
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The RTC 4 is based on a fast digital signal processor
(DSP) system providing full real-time control for
a wide range of applications, including enhanced
double scan head control and runtime image
transformations.
The included software driver provides an extensive
set of control commands. The RTC
processes these commands completely indepen-
dently of the host PC. This makes it possible to meet
the stringent demands of real-time scan head and
laser control even if the PC must simultaneously
respond to other tasks such as machine control and
network communication.
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The RTC 4 offers various laser control signals for all
commonly used laser types. The user can select from
four different laser control modes. In addition, the
output signals can be customized to meet special
requirements.
The standard version of the RTC
digital input port, a 16-bit digital output port, an
8-bit digital output port and two general purpose
analog output ports with 10-bit resolution.
The following options are available from SCANLAB:
• control signals for simultaneous control of two
scan heads, with individual image field correction
(on-board) for each scan head
• control signals for Processing-on-the-fly
applications (on-board)
• control signals for a third axis, e.g. a varioSCAN
(on-board)
• I/O Extension Board
• Optical Data Interface
Only hardware extensions from SCANLAB should be
used in combination with the RTC
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RTC 4 PC Interface Board
Rev. 1.3 e
2 Product Overview

2.2 System Requirements

Hardware
The RTC
computer with a PCI bus interface and at least one
free PCI slot. The dimensions of the RTC
shown in
A second PCI slot is required if the optional I/O
Extension Board is to be used.
SCANLAB offers additional PCI slot covers with D-SUB
connectors for the following options:
• second scan head
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4 stores and
• Processing-on-the-fly
• laser extension connector with
Software
Software drivers for the Microsoft operating systems
WINDOWS XP and WINDOWS 2000 are included in
the package. They support the RTC
facility and simultaneously drive up to eight RTC
boards.
The RTC
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4 includes a 16-bit
tinued software drivers for the Microsoft operating
systems WINDOWS XP SP1 / 2000 / NT 4 and
WINDOWS ME / 98 / 95. However, please note this
driver and DLL version is no longer supported by
SCANLAB. Functionality upgrades will be imple-
mented in the new driver version only.
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4.
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4 requires an IBM-compatible personal
figure 1 on page 8.
8-bit digital output port
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4 software package also includes discon-
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4 board are
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4's plug and play
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4
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