Re: Anyone using Zaber motion controllers

[Ralph Lange via Tech-talk <tech-talk@aps.anl.gov>]

On Fri, 7 Nov 2025 at 13:09, Torsten Bögershausen <tboegi@edom.se> wrote:

Salut,
I read the information from Matt in a completely different way.

[...]

Back to the basics. The documentation is pretty good, I think.
   For the binary format, they use 6 bytes for each message:

<https://www.zaber.com/protocolmanualprotocol=Binary#topic_message_format>

I also find the documentation looking pretty good.

Careful: Zaber calls the binary protocol "legacy". [1]

I wouldn't start a new project based on it.

So, what do you really need ?
(Send my a device, and I will implement a driverfor it ;-)

This is for ITER - which means: Personally, I don't need anything. I hardly know how to spell Zaber.

A developer of a Diagnostic system who is considering a Zaber device is asking me how to integrate it best into EPICS, given that - if they decide to use it - it needs to be supported (by us!) for the next ~30 years.

In that context, "requires a current version of Golang" sounds pretty scary, so I was asking the EPICS community what the experiences with Zaber devices are.

Based on the answers so far, I will go with:

"Looks like a reasonable device choice. Use the ASCII protocol. Based on the functionality you need, start with StreamDevice and/or write a type 3 motor support if that fits better. Try to avoid the Motion Library as introducing a new programming language would need strong justification."

Cheers,
~Ralph

[1] https://software.zaber.com/motion-library/docs/binary/introduction