There are a couple of things I wish to comment on. I apologize in advance for being contradictory. I just think a couple of philosophical items could use another view to enhance the objectivity.
Originally Posted by NC Cams  It has it's problems, especially when it comes to "openness", especially since the inception of Win 2k or above. Ask anone who's had a blue screen in the middle of a program when the uP decides to do something and/or hobbles/bobbles what had once been a perfectly smooth finish cut. |
Windows can be rock solid if you exercise careful version control with your device drivers and make sure your hardware is solid. Many BSODs are caused by flakey RAM. I would suggest that a stripped down Windows installation can be as reliable as a stripped down Linux installation. The problem with Windows stems from the tons of devices supported and the quantities of device drivers of varying qualities running at ring 0 level.
A CAM environment really calls for ECC memory but who wants to pop for an Opteron/Zeon to run their machine?
Originally Posted by NC Cams Do you think that Intiel, AMD, TI et al who make processor chips have CNC equipment is Windows based??? |
Yes. They do. I was blown away to discover most of AMD's fab floor populated with manufacturing machines run on Windows.
TI dropped their CPU lines long, long ago to focus on DSPs.
Most of AMD's automated precision manufacturing (APM) system is built mostly with Windows boxes. That is changing and they are moving to Linux but it has barely made a dent in their manufacturing technology footprint to date.
I will add that AMD's APM is about as successful of a system as there is on the planet right now.
Originally Posted by NC Cams Notice how few Macs there are in CNC??? SOme machines simply do some things better than others (as do the O/S's). Ever wonder why??? |
There is no technical reason a Mac wouldn't make as good or better of a CAM machine than most Linux boxes. Mac is built on BSD Unix which is so closely related to Linux that it's tough to chose one over the other on merit. Pretty much all of the non-graphical apps on OS X were ported from Linux... and by ported, I mean recompiled without change.
I just came from a Cisco security course and the Cisco same security client runs on both Linux and OS X. Once again... a *security client*. Of course, there is also a pretty graphical client for OS X that Linux doesn't have (Linux users scoff at such luxuries as graphical applications or indoor toilets
)
Originally Posted by unterhaus I have the same problem. The wasting of cycles and memory is painful. The other thing that is painful is that as we get faster and faster processors, the I/O speed that's available to things like CNC doesn't get any faster. Just doesn't seem right. |
I hessitate to offer so many conflicting points of view but I would suggest that the RS232 serial I knew as a kid is so long obsolete that it's rediculous they still include it on some motherboards. The thing was just barely able to handle 2400 bps modem communcations without dropping characters. It basically broke at higher modem speeds and was upgraded with fifo buffers to keep from dropping bytes. Is anyone old enough to remember the buffered UART evolution?
Centronics parallel was a cadillac point to point connector in it's day but it too has been enhanced a few times and then left for superior architectures.
Small device communication was re-thought in the 90s and a new serial technology was created and developed. The new technology allowed for massive expansion of serial ports, using hubs to allow for the addition of more ports and connection of more devices, and a sliding technology window that would allow for speed improvements with the retention of compatability with previous speed levels. This serial technology is called USB.
RS232... even in it's most evolved specification is pretty much topped out at 115Kbps. USB 2.0 currently hums along at 480Mbps. That makes it roughly 4000 times faster.
I believe USB is of dubious value these days as we enter the age of the IP connected appliance. Everything seems to be going toward ethernet connectivity and device autonomy. I applaud Gecko for creating the G-Rex.
Ethernet currently scales to 10Gbps with a draft specification of 1000Gbps or 1Tbps due for ratification in the relatively near future.
It seems to me inter device communications has improved more than five orders of magnitude while dropping in cost significantly. Does anyone remember the old Digi cards and PORT/S modules to drive more than 4 serial ports? I can assure you those did not come as cheaply as a modern USB hub.
.... just a different perspective on a few items.
It seems to me, one day in the not too distant future, the EMC community is going to have to embrace some of these new technologies and architectures. I would imagine it's already happening and will find it's way into the public distribution at some point.