Ethercat from ordinary Ethernet port?

[Ken_Brooks]

Our small company is, for the first time, acquiring  EtherCAT driven hardware to go in our product.  As I start reading messages on these boards, it seems that people are using special controllers as the EtherCAT master. Oh really? So my question is, is it possible to drive EtherCAT from an ordinary ethernet port, such as one might find in a laptop, provided that port is dedicated to this and no other use? Is it feasible to drive EtherCAT from a laptop at all? Or do we need special hardware on the computer end?

[BdogTheWatchdog]

Hey Ken, 

You might have better luck posting on the Industrial Communications page, but anyway:

People use 'special controllers', or Real-Time controllers, as the EtherCAT master because they want deterministic data transfer. EtherCAT is accomplished with regular Ethernet ports and Ethernet cables. If you find that the hardware works on your PC and you don't have requirements for bounded jitter or you don't have a need for a Real-Time system, then go for it. If you want to take full advantage of determinism, you'll have to use a Real-Time controller or convert the PC to an RTOS.

BDog