Hi-

Since this is an open question, I would suggest you look into the Arduino 
platform.  It consists of an IDE based on Processing, C, and C++, which compile 
to Arduino boards.  There are many Arduino compatible boards (ATMega168, 328, 
644, etc), and many more 'shields', which are i/o specific pluggable boards 
whihc have such things as Servo, Stepper motor, Ethernet, RF, RFID, etc 
implemented.  

These would be a good basis for robotics and so on.  The IDE has a well 
developed set of libraries.  

Start at http://www.arduino.cc and explore.  

There are the beginnings of similar offerings based on PIC, ARM, etc 
microprocessors.  

David




Quoting Jake Anderson <jake@vapourforge.com>:

> take a look at EMC running in linux
> It'll run steppers out a parallel port at fairly insane step rates.
> 
> it can also run hobby servos as well as the real deal.
> 
> if you want more then use a mesa card to provide hardware stepping and 
> servo I/O.
> 
> you can interact with EMC through python.
> 
> PICdude wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm doing some science/engineering/robotics projects with a handful of  
> > high-school students and for our current project, we're looking for a  
> > "controller" -- a hardware platform, with OS and programming  
> > language/environment, so I'm seeking suggestions.
> >
> > This controller will/should...
> > - Have a keyboard and video interface (like a PC),
> > - Talk to stepper motor drivers and servos,
> > - Have a USB host interface (so we can transfer files using USB flash
> drives).
> > - Have a high-school-student friendly programming  
> > language/environment.  C is probably okay, but Basic or Pascal would  
> > be less cryptic for them.  Also, I'd prefer a common (well-known)  
> > language as they can learn something that makes them more marketable.
> > - Be stable (as bug-free or crash-free as possible).
> >
> > So far this is pretty much a PC, but to control the steppers & servos  
> > (PWM), we'd need to use a real-time OS, or use a fake-time (???) OS  
> > and build an intermediate hardware piece to take parallel/serial/USB  
> > signals and convert them to real-time signals for the stepper drivers  
> > and servos.  The latter I can do with a PIC, or use a USB-to-I2C or  
> > Serial-to-I2C interface and build a PIC-based hardware device to  
> > convert the I2C signals to stepper and servo signals.  Or perhaps  
> > there are low-cost USB to stepper devices already available...?
> >
> > I have a not-currently-in-use Mini-ITX mobo here (with PS, RAM, etc),  
> > and really want to use that, unless someone can talk me out of it, but  
> > need to find an O.S. for this.  A decent low-cost real-time Linux O.S.  
> > would be nice, or a regular Linux distro if I use the hardware  
> > interfaces for the stepper/servos.  But I don't know what the current  
> > offerings are for programming languages/environments on that -- any  
> > decent/simple IDEs?  Windows seems to have many user-friendly  
> > programming environments, but is not real-time and is less stable.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
> >
> > Cheers,
> > -Neil.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >   
> 
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