I suspect that I am like many who are trying to repurpose an older machine to run the table. Is there some suggestions on how to optimize Windows to just run Firecontrol and maybe one drive to share files?
Buy a mini computer. These work fantastically for the table. They’re fast and have a 1TB hard drive. At $179, it’s a no-brainer.
Beelink Mini PC Amazon.com
If you decide to order it. Please buy this one. It is a non powersaver cpu chip that won’t screw with the USB power output to the control box. The upgrades look tempting, but they may have a chip that will control the power to the USB.
I will end up there, but while I’m getting started I would like to use what I have.
Any Windows computer should work. Windows 10 or even older is ok. It might need an older version of FireControl to run correctly. Give it a try. Any hard drive will work.
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As stated, a mini pc works perfect for this.
But a really old computer will also run things just fine- much faster to just fire up that old computer, install Firecontrol, and see it for yourself than posting.
I ran Firecontrol on an old W530 Thinkpad with Windows 7 just to show someone last year the bottom of the barrel requirements thar FC has.
What do you look for to see it has a “non-powersaver” chip?
Look for a (U or H) after the chip designation.
Example: i9 9900 H or U. The very new chips have a V suffix.
If you are considering a new laptop, the choices are minimal. Almost all are now power-saver-chipped to extend battery life.
Any Intel N100, N150, or N95 computer is good for table control.
The one I posted is the perfect example of an excellent pc.
It will run the plasma table, the MR1, and almost any CNC control.
Laptops are great for Fusion and such. I would put them on the same local network, and your Fusion file will be on the Beelink before you stand up. Google Drive is also an option for file transfer.
I whole I can turn off the power-saver chip
mode, doesn’t work. You can turn it off in Windows, but the chip will still try to control the USB ports.
Win + R (hold keyboard windows button then tap R) => “msconfig” (without quotes)
go to the “services” tab, click the “hide all microsoft services” and uncheck everything unessential to the machine’s operation.
Then go to the “Startup” tab (and/or the startup tab of task manager, ctrl+shift+esc), and disable the startup of any extra apps that don’t need to start with windows to improve bootup time. Remember, you’ll need to manually start up anything you uncheck if it’s essential, so only deselect what you KNOW you don’t want loading.