garethEds Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 Good afternoon All, Bit of a long shot, but has anyone managed to get a parallel port Mercury II Laster Cutter to work through Windows 10 (1909?). I've purchased a USB>Parallel Port adapter to try and it's a no go. Seems a shame to throw away this laser cutter which works on Windows XP (a standalone). So thought I would ask here. Thanks all, Gareth
Chris_Cook Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 We tried and failed. I managed to get it on windows 7, but even that was a pain. Once its working, you need to keep it plugged into the same USB port on the PC. Does yours have a USB port on the back? There are some drivers here, it mentions version 10, but I don't know if this is the same version we are running. Its been a while since I looked at it. https://www.technologysupplies.co.uk/mercuryii-drivers-manuals
garethEds Posted March 26, 2021 Author Posted March 26, 2021 We tried and failed. I managed to get it on windows 7, but even that was a pain. Once its working, you need to keep it plugged into the same USB port on the PC. Does yours have a USB port on the back? There are some drivers here, it mentions version 10, but I don't know if this is the same version we are running. Its been a while since I looked at it. https://www.technologysupplies.co.uk/mercuryii-drivers-manuals Hi @Chris_Cook, Thanks for this. I've downloaded it and installed it on the computer. I had to turn off the need for signed drivers on this machine. The USB>Parallel adapter didn't work so I ordered a small parallel port card which I have fitted. Printer driver installed again and attached to the card port. It sends the file but we are given a 'Control Error' on the laser cutter. Gutted. I thought I was there. I was really hoping it would work - but alas it has not worked so it looks as if we may need to go back to the old Windows XP standalone machine. Thanks for your help with this, Gareth
garethEds Posted December 2, 2022 Author Posted December 2, 2022 Morning all - did anyone ever have any luck with this? Our cutter is still running on a standalone XP machine. It's not good enough and we want to move forward with the cutter on the networked W10 machines (running Techsoft V3). It's shame that the laster cutter just will not work - it's in great condition. Works really well on XP. Serviced every year. G
Scan099 Posted December 2, 2022 Posted December 2, 2022 Hi @Chris_Cook, Thanks for this. I've downloaded it and installed it on the computer. I had to turn off the need for signed drivers on this machine. The USB>Parallel adapter didn't work so I ordered a small parallel port card which I have fitted. Printer driver installed again and attached to the card port. It sends the file but we are given a 'Control Error' on the laser cutter. Gutted. I thought I was there. I was really hoping it would work - but alas it has not worked so it looks as if we may need to go back to the old Windows XP standalone machine. Thanks for your help with this, Gareth Try turning off print spooling and see if that makes a difference
PotNoodleTech Posted December 6, 2022 Posted December 6, 2022 It's unlikely you can get that to work - we had to have 2 of our lasers have upgraded motherboards (and displays) so they would work on windows 10. All working now though!
hellgate24 Posted December 8, 2022 Posted December 8, 2022 I managed to get our Mercury II working on a 32 bit build of 1909 with driver signature enforcement disabled. Had to use an older PC that had a parallel port on the motherboard though, couldn't get it to work with a USB to parallel adapter.
3s-gtech Posted December 8, 2022 Posted December 8, 2022 You should be able to get over that hurdle with a PCI-e parallel port card. I've done driver signature enforcement disabling on older OSs, but drew the line at Windows 10. If you're happy to do that I imagine it'll play - but that only gives you three more years of Windows support until 32 bit is gone.
PotNoodleTech Posted December 8, 2022 Posted December 8, 2022 Yeh that's why we went with new motherboards as it will work from now on rather than constantly bodging things on the old motherboards.
Davit2005 Posted December 8, 2022 Posted December 8, 2022 (edited) As some one who has a desktop CNC router my self I saw some videos related to this. You prob need a specific USB to Parallel adapter. The below link is for a CNC router but I'm sure there will be similarities. After all it is mostly controlling the stepper drivers and the triggering/power etc. of the laser is the only real difference. https://rckeith.co.uk/mach3-parallel-port/ In the end I replaced my MACH3 USB controller board exactly like the one in the link above with a ethernet based controller. Edited December 8, 2022 by Davit2005
Chris_Cook Posted December 8, 2022 Posted December 8, 2022 It's unlikely you can get that to work - we had to have 2 of our lasers have upgraded motherboards (and displays) so they would work on windows 10. All working now though! Was this the boards in laser cutter itself, or is this the PC attached to it? Have you got the details if its the laser cutter?
PotNoodleTech Posted December 9, 2022 Posted December 9, 2022 Was this the boards in laser cutter itself, or is this the PC attached to it? Have you got the details if its the laser cutter? Hi I don't have exact details a third party "laser guy" did it but it was replacing the main boards in the laser itself, and we had to have new screens in the laser as the old screens wouldnt work with the new boards, so new board, new screen and then new driver to go with it wich worked nice on win 10 - and we moved to Lightburn too at the same time. (we also had him change a power supply in one of them and both laser tubes). I mean there's like totally differnt boards in each laser so I couldnt comment on if it would work for you guys as you've probably all got different makes and models of laser?
Chris_Cook Posted December 9, 2022 Posted December 9, 2022 Thanks, We've got a mercury 2 as well, but I think its a slightly more up to date one than in this thread as we have usb on it as well as parallel. Same problems though as its the driver issue. It sounds like you might have one of the opensource boards if its using lightburn. I've been pondering if its worth changing ours, but don't really have the time to experiment.
garethEds Posted December 21, 2022 Author Posted December 21, 2022 Really not sure where to go with this. How easy is it to write a driver file?
3s-gtech Posted December 21, 2022 Posted December 21, 2022 Depends on your coding abilities! You'd probably need to deep dive into the driver DLL. The issues with a modern Windows OS seem to come with getting that driver signed once it's built, as a one man band. There is very little info online about achieving it, especially on Windows, and doubly on anything above XP (with a parallel port). The actual driver code probably isn't miles off working, even on x64, but you'd really need to do this stuff day-in day-out.
Elisa212 Posted October 22, 2024 Posted October 22, 2024 It's unlikely you can get that to work - we had to have 2 of our lasers have upgraded motherboards (and displays) so they would work on windows 10. All working now though! Hiya. Can I please ask what type motherboards? I'm very new to technical world 🥴 Thanks in advance.
PotNoodleTech Posted October 23, 2024 Posted October 23, 2024 What laser is it there are different motherboards in every laser?
Elisa212 Posted October 23, 2024 Posted October 23, 2024 What laser is it there are different motherboards in every laser? Hi. Thank you very much for your reply. It's Laser pro Mercury 2 25w
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