Laptop configuration suitable for Guppy F036B camera

[viswa]

Dear all,

                      My question seems trivial but i want your opinions. I have a AVT Guppy F036B firewire camera. I am using on a PC interfacing with IEEE1394 adaptor board. I want to avoid adding any cards to Laptop. This can be possible if my laptop has a firewire port.

I am unable to understand, if i use firewire where would be images stored for processing?

If anybody has suggestions whether to go for firewire port or some other alternatives? 

Thanks in advance.

[ScottSmith]

A suitably configured laptop can be fine for light to moderate applications, though a desktop is often preferred for higher-performance applications.   Without knowing more about your application goals it's hard to say.

Certainly a laptop can control a Guppy 036B just fine in terms of camera control and image acquisition.

Re. built-in vs. add-on;  note that the Guppy uses a conventional 1394a 6-pin connection, with 4 pins for data and 1 each for power and ground.   Many laptops with built in "firewire" only offer the 4-pin iLink miniport.  In which case you'd have to power the camera by the Hirose adapter or with a "Y" cable adapter that adds the power and ground to get up to the 6-pin standard.

Also, if you go with a PCMCIA adapter card or the newer Cardbus/34 adapter, one has to add power to the card as the laptop doesn't power the add-on firewire bus.

Scott

[viswa]

Hi Scott,

                    Thanks for your reply. My concern was also  whether to have built-in  or add-on??? Recent LAPTOP models does not have PCMCIA slot. So i thought firewire interface is considered as efficient as PCMCIA interface. I spoke to guys at AVT UK they also are suggesting me to choose one of the possible choices that you suggested. 

I want to have image acquisition fast enough and also portable, don't want to have hassles with external power supplies etc. I am using AVT GUPPY camera in a interferometer. We want to demonstrate our optical set up in an exhibition.

Please look at the attachments

Regards

viswanath

[ScottSmith]

Hi Viswanath,

If your laptop is newer than the ones that had PCMCIA slots, then presumably it has an ExpressCard34 slot.  In which case you could us something like:

http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=NN-EC2012-S1

If you have an iLink 4 port adapter built in, then you'll need either the "Y" adapter or the Hirose approach I mentioned previously.

Either way, I think you are going to need to power the bus or the camera with "mains" power adapted down to 12V DC.

Cheers,

Scott

AVT Americas

[viswa]

Hi Scott,

                           So i need an adapter which can output 12V DC. Could you suggest a suitable power adapter?

Thanks for your help.

Regards

viswanath

[ScottSmith]

If you go with that SIIG, I see they offer one.

Or most electronics shops sell "universal" adapters with interchangable "barrel type" plugs.  Just check the polarity of barrel inside vs. outside relative to the ExpressCard requirements.

Or go through your AVT distributor and get the Hirose power adapter.

Scott