Get Gooey: The new Haas user interface?

[Donkey Hotey]

For those who didn't attend Westec, you can't appreciate what it's like walking in the main doors. The first thing that hits you is a wall of Haas machines. You can't help but walk into them. Three of the main aisles right from the front doors, go past, through or around their booth.

And for a Haas owner / user, the first thing you notice as you walk into the booth is that you don't have a clue what control they're running. In place of your old, familiar interface, there is a pastel colored screen with what seems like an overwhelming amount of information.

I can't say much more about it. You have to see it first. I'm curious what other users think of the new screen layout. Did people welcome the 10" LCD screen when they arrived? Or did they long for their old monochrome display?

Here's a video showing the new layout.

http://www.haascnc.com/gui/

[Ken_Shea]

My vote is for anything that moves away from that old DOS looking format, I think I would like it.

Ken

[Geof]

Originally Posted by Donkey Hotey ....I'm curious what other users think of the new screen layout. Did people welcome the 10" LCD screen when they arrived? Or did they long for their old monochrome display?....

I think the new screen layout is the same as on my most recent SuperMini....I can take it or leave it, but I do not know the opinion of my guys. There is some utility in having more axis and position information available simultaneously, i.e. having both Work position and Distance To Go without switching screens, but sometimes I think there is too much in formation and as an old guy I like true analogue spindle load meters, not some faked up display.

But I have to say I liked the 10" LCD over the old monochrome display.

[Ken_Shea]

It's 15" LCD now isn't it?

LCD over CRT any day.

[Donkey Hotey]

Me thinks that you guys are missing something. Take a look at the attached picture:

[John Crawford]

I wonder if it will be possible to apply this interface to an earlier machine? More information on a single screen might reduce the need to jump around from page to page.

I'm not especially thrilled with the blue background color. It would be nice if the interface could be customized by the user to allow the selection of colors and maybe even the size and location of windows and what it is displayed in them.

Some companies might find it beneficial to create custom windows for specific jobs. You could create templates for each job that minimize paging and reduce confusion because most of the data needed for that job is on one screen. Most people might not want to mess around with this, but it could be valuable in certain environments.

[Donkey Hotey]

My understanding is that it will be possible to upgrade the latest LCD15 machines to use it. Because of screen real estate, it obviously won't work on a 10" LCD or earlier.

It might be more functional and might reduce changing pages but I'm not crazy about it. When I walked into the show and saw the first LCD15 screens, I was envious. My VF-2 has the 10" LCD. All it lacks is the little bit of information they added to the periphery. But the new screen 'looked' cool. I have it on my TL-1. It's a very nice looking screen. I wish my VF-2 had the LCD15 and the 'old' (as of a month ago) screen look.

The new layout might have more information and it might reduce paging but it just isn't very pretty. I agree: the first thing that has to go is that blue background. I should note that blue isn't the only offensive color I saw on those screens.

I'm not sure but I think they are trying some kind of color highlighting scheme to denote which 'panel' is active at the moment. I could be remembering it wrong but I think there was a mustard yellow color and some other ones that were equally unappealing.

I agree that the interface could use some updating but for me, it wasn't the look of the interface that needed changing. Having a GUI is about having a mouse.

What I'd like to see on the control is a couple of USB ports for a keyboard and mouse. You could plug in when you're doing heavy programming or editing. The menus would now work with mouse clicks instead of F1, F2, etc. When you're done, stash the mouse & keyboard and still have the keypad for day-to-day operation.

But it's not my name on the machines so I don't get a say in this.

[HAILINHAAS]

You can change the color to whatever you like ... it takes sometime to get use to .. but it is better

[JohnJW]

I like the 15" screen because more information is available, but I don't feel handicapped by the old 10" LCD because the same information can be accessed by pushing a few buttons. I'm probably in the minority on the GUI subject because I still type my GCode using vi and still use the command line to administer the servers at work so though I like GUI, I don't think GUI is necessarily a better interface for all situations. In terms of image manipulation GUI is essential, but for displaying machining information I think text based display works just as well and I rather see Haas develop a better tool path simulator or remote controller display via ethernet than working on GUI eye candy for the main information page. GUI make help with marketing but something simpler like remote controller display maybe more functional and cheaper to implement. Regarding the spindle load meter, for something that require instantaneous reading with wide fluctuation I like the analog version better.

What about the effect of the newer CPU on the current controller? How much faster is it compared with the older units from a couple years ago? Can the new non-HSM controller approach the speed of old HSM controller? The controller all look the same from the outside, but how many revisions has it gone through since the early 90s?

[slatern44]

I prefer the screen that they were using about 6 months ago the best. It was just hard to even look at without getting distracted with the background color. Must have been a person from San Fran that picked it.

[Haas_Apps]

Yes, you can modify all the screen colors.

Originally Posted by John Crawford I wonder if it will be possible to apply this interface to an earlier machine? More information on a single screen might reduce the need to jump around from page to page. I'm not especially thrilled with the blue background color. It would be nice if the interface could be customized by the user to allow the selection of colors and maybe even the size and location of windows and what it is displayed in them. Some companies might find it beneficial to create custom windows for specific jobs. You could create templates for each job that minimize paging and reduce confusion because most of the data needed for that job is on one screen. Most people might not want to mess around with this, but it could be valuable in certain environments.

[SeymourDumore]

"""
I think text based display works just as well and I rather see Haas develop a better tool path simulator or remote controller display via ethernet than working on GUI eye candy for the main information page.

"""


Amen to that brother.
Don't get me wrong, I DO like the new interface, but I liked the old one just fine too.
Time much better be spent though in developing a better backplot/graphics interface. Real time backplot watching the tool on the screen while the cut is taking place. PC based simulation using REAL offsets downloaded from the machine. Knowing the machine type and the work offset settings, one can easily check EXACTLY what is going to happen. If you consider Predator @ $1000/axis or Vericut @ 7500/3 axis, I think there are a lot of possibilities where HAAS can make some real money with real value added.
How about coupling it with the USB/Enet option for 5K? Sign me up right now.

Oh, one more thing, the Control Simulator isn't exactly the same. Could that be made into a PC version with all sw. emulation?