Originally Posted by gar 050712-2038 EST USA
sundy58:
One reason to send a file back to the computer is to do a file comparison. This is even better than XMODEM for program verification because HAAS compresses your program when it is loaded into main memory. Thus, XMODEM when it verifies transfer is not working with the data that is in main memory. That HAAS compresses data you can see by comparing the amount of memory used in HAAS with the size of the file you sent. When you send the file back to the computer HAAS re-expands the program, By this method you actually check the data that is used by HAAS to run the program.
Another reason is that you may make program changes on the HAAS and then want to save the actual file that was used.
Still another is that you may compose a program on the HAAS and when done you want to save the program.
Also you can use DPRINT to send information to the computer.
(edit 0507813-0547)
Even if you use file comparison for final verification of your data XMODEM can be valuable for detecting and thru resend correcting errors during communication. What file comparison does for you is detection of errors in HAAS processing after XMODEM has done its work or errors in HAAS main memory.
(end edit)
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Indeed,
However, the control checks files "regardless" of where they come from. When I attempt to load a file into the machine buffer (run memory) if the file contains syntax type errors they will trigger an alarm. This is about all you are getting from the xmodem error checking. Confirmation that what you are sending is what the control is getting. There is no "quality" checking. You can still send a bad program via RS232 or e-net. As long as the program passes syntax checking it will load. Xmodem is a good thing as the type of connection in question can be somewhat "less than dependable". This can be compounded by using max speed via RS232.
RS232 possibly brings the pain of :
1. The "mill PC" can be tempermental. Meaining some computer RS232 systems work far better than others. We needed to try 3 computers here with the late Fadal to get a PC talking to the mill @ 115K (long run on the wire however)
2. RS232 / modems are KNOWN to be more likely to pass a voltage spike. Personally, I think the 3K option is worth it to prevent this alone. IMHO, smoking something in a 100K machine over a <1K PC is not something I feel ok about. Granted you could just unplug the 232 everytime, but here we are with that pain in the neck thing again. That being said, indeed an e-net connection can indeed pass a "strike" to the mill. However, it is FAR more rare for this to occur. In defense of this, I would say that most commonly the server in any given shop that the mill would likely be connected to will be on a protected uninterupted power-supply. Further protecting connections to the expensive machine.
Best regards,
Sean