Re: On beamline motor control

[jschug@cbil.humgen.upenn.edu (Jonathan Schug)]

Our experience at X9 at NSLS was that a physical knob is sometimes
quite useful.  Good software can come very close but sometimes doesn't
do it.  Some motor controllers can be made to listen to hand-held
knobs but still be able to report back their position to the computer.
A good computer interface can let you move in known relative or
absolute motions, but may also provide speed control and
user-controlled early stopping.  Then you can start a motor moving at
a slowish speed and just stop it with a key-press or mouse click at
(near) the desired location.

Just my opinion

Jonathan Schug