Most knitting machine manufacturers that targeted the prosumer market have gone out of business (or left the business of making knitting machines). However, there are large communities of owners who still keep the flame burning.
One of the most interesting hacks I've seen is from a German hackerspace, who have taken two Passap E6000 machines and merged them into a fully computer-controlled "Frankenpassap" (only one bed on a normal machine is dynamically controlled).
I have a Passap E6000 at home and will soon start working on reverse engineering the firmware in the computer that comes with the device so that we can start the process of migrating to a more modern toolchain.
Yes, there was a knitting boom in the 1970's and Passap had a huge period of growth. Then knitting fell out of fashion, and Passap fell off a cliff. (We have a Passap Model 80 with most accessories.)
I saw the Kniterate prototype at the San Mateo Maker Faire a couple of weeks ago. They are using commercial needles on a 5mm bed, so same gauge as a Passap machines. Looks very interesting, and seemed to have automated control over all the interesting operations. The sample knitting I saw leads me to believe that they haven't quite solved the tension problem yet, the tension seemed a little uneven. Still, it looks very promising and it could be a lot of fun for knitting machine hackers.
What migration? They really can't be used for anything automated - the tension control of a Passap is notoriously flimsy. I can't tell you how many half finished garments I have lying around because the yarn snapped halfway through.
One of the most interesting hacks I've seen is from a German hackerspace, who have taken two Passap E6000 machines and merged them into a fully computer-controlled "Frankenpassap" (only one bed on a normal machine is dynamically controlled).
https://www.hackerspace-bamberg.de/Passap_pfaff_e6000
I have a Passap E6000 at home and will soon start working on reverse engineering the firmware in the computer that comes with the device so that we can start the process of migrating to a more modern toolchain.