jamie@granite.dec.com (Jamie Painter) (07/08/88)
We are trying to interface an Eikonix EC850 digitizing camera to a uVax through a Q-bus interface. The uVax runs Ultrix V2.2. At this point, we'd like an existence proof that it can actually be made to work. Any information would be appreciated, both hardware matters (e.g. what card order in the uVax) and software (e.g. what driver are you using). -- Jamie Painter jamie@decwrl.dec.com
ferwerda@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (James Ferwerda) (07/08/88)
Well I've got some good news and some bad news. First, we are using a model EC850 with a MicroVax II under VMS with the interface (board and driver) provided by Eikonix. From the looks of it the board is just a repackaged DEC product (DRV11-W?). The driver software works fine and seems stable. So far so good right? Well the big problems start when you try to do anything but run the demo programs provided with the system. The documentation on the user level software library is hopelessly muddled, and the frontline user support is even worse. As I see it the problem stems from the fact that the software for the 850 (an 8 bit system) was simply hacked from the software from the earlier 12 bit 78/99. Incongruous references abound in the documentation and source code examples, and no one you can get to at Eikonix has any idea of what's going on. If you haven't bought your 850 yet I'd recommend getting an EC1000 instead. The 1000 is the first post-Kodak product Eikonix has brought out and from the looks of it it is a much more together system because they broke with their past and reworked the interface, the library and the packaging. As for the Ultrix interfacing issue my guess is that you're on your own. I'd try to get source code for the driver from Eikonix (they might be ok about letting it out since I think they see the 850 as a dying product) and hack it into something you can use. If you get something that works I'd be interested in seeing it. Finally, we're using our 850 as an array radiometer and colorimeter and have delved deeply into the issues of color balancing and radiometric calibration of the beast. If anyone out there in comp.graphics land is involved in similar work I'd like to hear from you. Jim Ferwerda Program of Computer Graphics 120 Rand Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 jaf@squid.tn.cornell.edu