2 Trotecs off of 1 computer?

[Mark Langston]

I recently just purchased a used Speedy 400 120 watt to go along with my Speedy 400 80 watt and was wondering if you can run both lasers off of one computer?

[Scott Shepherd]

I don't think I've seen but one person doing that, and I'm not sure how he ever figured out how to do it, since it's not something I've ever seen done, since the computer is running the laser.

[Trey Tull]

Could you do it with virtual machines?

[Bruce Volden]

When I had my LMI's I used 1 computer to run them both. That was back when one had a parallel port and the other was serial. 'Course I was also running Win 3.1.
Got my TT running off ethernet.

Bruce

[Andrew Holloway]

Did you check with Trotec? May be possible if you can install 2 different versions of Job Control, but I don't think you are meant to be able to even do that.

Why don't you want to use 2 separate computers?

[Kev Williams]

What's the connection, USB, ethernet? Can the software be loaded twice? Can the software be copied to, and loaded from, 2 different folders?

I found out not long ago while poking around in my new (to me) computer, that I can choose which of the 8 processors I want to dedicate to certain programs. Each USB port has its own COM port number, and a second ethernet card could be configured separately--

Just thinking out loud, but running 2 programs thru 2 different procs, each configured to a unique USB port or ethernet card might be do-able?

[Brian Lamb]

Maybe I don't understand the issue... but couldn't you just load the printer driver twice and call one Laser 1 and the other Laser 2? Set up the Laser 1 to print out of the one USB port, the second out of another? Then you wouldn't even need two copies of Corel open, just print right from Corel using whichever printer you wanted to. At least that's how I think I could/would do it with my ULS if I had two machines.

[Mark Langston]

That's a good question.

[Mark Langston]

The problem is that Trotec has their own printer queue software called JobControl. All print jobs to the laser go to this software, which apparently can only run 1 laser and not 2 from it.

[Brian Lamb]

OK, so you are not using the print command from your OS, like windows 10 or whatever? You do a job in Corel, then have to load the file (.cdr?) into Job control and then print the file out of it? Seems kind of bass ackwards and extra steps to me, but I've only ever experienced the printer drivers from ULS, not sure if that's good or bad, but I find them easy to use.

[Brian Lamb]

Another thought.... years ago, 1979 to be exact, we acquired a bunch of CNC machines in the machine shop. At the time you either made paper tapes and carried them out to the machine in the shop and fed them into the tape reader, or you set up RS232 communication to each machine and had a tape punch/reader machine in the office. It was better than the guy in the shop getting oil on the paper tape and then having it go wacky in the machine.

Due to about 5 machines being fed by the one punch, we had a switch box that was ABCDE type of thing, you chose which machine you wanted the code to go to and it sent it correctly. Now if the Trotec machines don't run from loaded memory (like my ULS) then this won't work. But if you load a job into the machine and then can run it without the computer hooked up, then you might be able to set up multiple USB or parallel ports driving each machine of the same computer. Seems kind of archaic in today's day and age that you can't run a whole shop off one computer.

[Gary Hair]

OK, so you are not using the print command from your OS, like windows 10 or whatever? You do a job in Corel, then have to load the file (.cdr?) into Job control and then print the file out of it? Seems kind of bass ackwards and extra steps to me, but I've only ever experienced the printer drivers from ULS, not sure if that's good or bad, but I find them easy to use.

Not exactly how it works. You print the job from Corel using the Trotec print driver. You select the parameters you want for that job and send it to Job Control. Think of Job Control as the “Print Manager” from Windows, it holds the jobs that are going to the laser. The difference is that you can select which job goes when as well as changing any parameters you want to change (even on the fly while its running), and you can also place several jobs onto the virtual laser bed (the “plate” to Job Control). You can set it up to AutoPrint and bypass manually placing jobs in JCX, but for me those jobs are pretty rare, I use the power of JCX all the time.

[Kev Williams]

It sounds like Job Control basically acts as a print spooler. And since there's a Trotec print driver, then Windows should consider the machine-or Job Control- a printer... If this is true, then a second print driver should be able to be installed, named differently (if needed) and configured to use a different port for a second machine.

---should be...

[Gary Hair]

It sounds like Job Control basically acts as a print spooler. And since there's a Trotec print driver, then Windows should consider the machine-or Job Control- a printer... If this is true, then a second print driver should be able to be installed, named differently (if needed) and configured to use a different port for a second machine.

---should be...

Still not quite how it works Kev, or how it could work. In Corel, you print to the Trotec and then it goes to Job Control. Having two Trotec printers would do no good because they would both go to Job Control. What is needed is two printers *and* two Job Control, or a way in Job Control to direct the job to a particular laser. Failing this, it’s really easy to have multiple computers setup with Job Control and use a simple KVM switch to run them.

[Curt Harms]

Could you do it with virtual machines?

That was my thought.