Computer Querstion

Does anyone know of a manufactuer in Canada that sells Desktop computer with ISA slots??

I need the ISA slots for the KT and KTX cards for DH+

Any help would be great thanks

It would be MUCH easier to replace the KT and KTX cards with a PKTX (PCI slot) than to find new computers with ISA.

I agree..however we already have all the KT and KTX cards (which are $$)

Chado613 said:

I agree..however we already have all the KT and KTX cards (which are $$)

Click to expand...

How about a ControlLogix Gateway. Get a 4-slot rack, a power supply, a DHRIO and an ENBT. Then you can set your computers up on ETHERNET instead of DH+ to communicate with the PLCs.

If you have more than three or four computers to replace, this may actually end up being cheaper (since you're not likely going to find new ISA slots and will need to convert those KT/KTX's anyway...) Every computer has ethernet built-in. This would help you to eliminate those KT/KTX cards altogether.

I will examine this option
thanks for your help Oz!!

I would consider a 1770-KF2 or Datalink DL3500 (both of which can be picked up from Ebay for about $150) and use an RS232 connection. That way you won't have to worry about the availability of an ISA slot. PC's with an RS232 port are much easier to find.

Consider industrial pc

We use Advantech industrial pc's where we are limited by legacy operating systems (QNX4).

Something like this.

If you don't need industrial, get some older generic PC. People are trying to get rid of them.

Chado613 said:

Does anyone know of a manufactuer in Canada that sells Desktop computer with ISA slots??

I need the ISA slots for the KT and KTX cards for DH+

Any help would be great thanks

Click to expand...

I had this problem last year. I needed modern computers with ISA slots for KTX cards. These were talking to S5 modules for PLC3's. I could not use PKTX cards because the older PLC3 system will not support them. I found a bunch of companies that make specialty computers. I ended up with the following. It is not Canadian,but it might give you some ideas. http://www.nixsys.com/ I have ordered some of their computers and they are quite nice. The first computer I purchased came in at about $1000, which really is not that bad.

For my two cents worth.
Any solution above that does not require ISA slots. If you get a PC with ISA slots and an OS that supports it. And then one of the KT cards fail what then ? Better to bite the bullet now and gradually bring your system up to a level where you can maintain it with "off the shelf" hardware and software.

There are lots of suppliers

There are many suppliers of current boards with ISA slots.
Take a browse on the net.
Go to Ebay, type in ISA....
Lots of options. To me, it depends on current business, and the obstacles that are put in front of change at my company........

I had the same experience upgrading a Legacy system with KT-1784 cards as well. I ended up upgrading my PC's to newer systems, (which happened to have an ISA slot anyway) (I chose XYCOM) but I chose to get rid of the KT cards and use ethernet, building a contrologix gateway. It cost a little bit up-front, but as indicated in prior posts, the costs of the 1784-KT card are pretty expensive.

That was a great improvement in communication speed, and the process (HMI) is faster responding because of the change.

Let me know if you require any further information...