Problem- milltronics software question

[bradyplummer]

I have early 90s milltronics Partner 4 with a Centurion 5 drive. It has the simdrive with a floppy in it. My question is can I copy the software off the simdrive?

Reason
I would like to convert it over to run off a compact flash card that acts like a ide hard drive. This would allow me to have more memory. It would give me a backup of the complete software. I could then yank the simdrive out and replace it with a network card so I could get rid of the floppy drive.

When I boot it up dos comes up with an *A prompt but it seems really stripped down. It does not even say there is a "help" command. I did just come across an "unlock" command tonight on this forum. Will this open up the dos 3.1 to allow me to copy or at least see the autoexec.bat?

Thanks in advance for the help

B

[jpawelk]

The unlock command in DOS just sets the attributes of certain files from read only to read/write.

You state that you are getting the A: prompt upon boot up. If that is correct, typically an alarm or a statement is previous to that. What is that statement or alarm?

[bradyplummer]

Originally Posted by jpawelk The unlock command in DOS just sets the attributes of certain files from read only to read/write. You state that you are getting the A: prompt upon boot up. If that is correct, typically an alarm or a statement is previous to that. What is that statement or alarm?

I am not getting an error message that I know of until I get the ERROR 450 because I need to home the drives.

On boot up I interupt the boot sequence and get the menu that allows you to check sram and back it up. The dos prompt at this point is *A:.

I really need to get the software off the simdrive and get rid of it because I understand that there is a battery on this card? This machine sits off most of the time at a private residence. With nothing more than a parameters disk I would be in trouble if I lost the software due to a battery.

Thanks for the response
B

[KurtsKustom]

Mr. Pawelk
My friend called you a week or two ago in regard to the chip on the board being hard-coated. I contacted Milltronics about software but have not heard back yet. Is there a way to access the software for my machines? One is the mill, a Partner 4/Centurion 5 control, and the other an ML 14 lathe/Centurion 5 control. We've been working like madmen into the wee hours trying to get these machines up and running, but have had software issues. He's the computer guy, I the machinist. They are close, we feel, but have issues with the X on the mill homing, and the X on the lathe homing. Now, when homing the mill, the quill moves in the minus direction until it hits the OT limit, and days before it would home on the Z correctly. The lathe energizes for homing X, but does not move. It was moving before, but ignored the OT limit, and I've replace 2 tapered pins so far that sheared when the X ignored the limit. I now have 8 balls from the crosslide nut that I picked up off the Z ways have to work back in when the machine starts acting correctly.

[jpawelk]

Originally Posted by bradyplummer I am not getting an error message that I know of until I get the ERROR 450 because I need to home the drives. On boot up I interupt the boot sequence and get the menu that allows you to check sram and back it up. The dos prompt at this point is *A:. I really need to get the software off the simdrive and get rid of it because I understand that there is a battery on this card? This machine sits off most of the time at a private residence. With nothing more than a parameters disk I would be in trouble if I lost the software due to a battery. Thanks for the response B

If the battery fails on the simdisk you will not loose the software.

[jpawelk]

Originally Posted by KurtsKustom Mr. Pawelk My friend called you a week or two ago in regard to the chip on the board being hard-coated. I contacted Milltronics about software but have not heard back yet. Is there a way to access the software for my machines? One is the mill, a Partner 4/Centurion 5 control, and the other an ML 14 lathe/Centurion 5 control. We've been working like madmen into the wee hours trying to get these machines up and running, but have had software issues. He's the computer guy, I the machinist. They are close, we feel, but have issues with the X on the mill homing, and the X on the lathe homing. Now, when homing the mill, the quill moves in the minus direction until it hits the OT limit, and days before it would home on the Z correctly. The lathe energizes for homing X, but does not move. It was moving before, but ignored the OT limit, and I've replace 2 tapered pins so far that sheared when the X ignored the limit. I now have 8 balls from the crosslide nut that I picked up off the Z ways have to work back in when the machine starts acting correctly.

What kind of software issues are you having? On the mill, if the axis is moving away from the home switch when the axis is commanded to move, then the control is thinking that the home switch is already depressed. If this is the case, please take a look at the home switch for that axis. The only time it should be depressed is when the axis is at its home position.
On the lathe, when you command the axis to home, what happens? Is it possible that the machine is in feedhold preventing the axis from moving at all? There is also a parameter found under F7(PARMS), F1(SETUP), F4(AXIS) called Home Switch=0 Marker=1. The X, Y, and Z axis need to be set to 0.

[bradyplummer]

Originally Posted by jpawelk If the battery fails on the simdisk you will not loose the software.

Thanks that good to know. So I take it there is volitale and non-volitale memory on the simdisk? That must have been expensive back then.

So is there a way to move this to a hard drive solution?

Thanks
B

[KurtsKustom]

jpawelk wrote:
"What kind of software issues are you having? On the mill, if the axis is moving away from the home switch when the axis is commanded to move, then the control is thinking that the home switch is already depressed. If this is the case, please take a look at the home switch for that axis. The only time it should be depressed is when the axis is at its home position.
On the lathe, when you command the axis to home, what happens? Is it possible that the machine is in feedhold preventing the axis from moving at all? There is also a parameter found under F7(PARMS), F1(SETUP), F4(AXIS) called Home Switch=0 Marker=1. The X, Y, and Z axis need to be set to 0."


I'll have more info when my tech rolls in. We did something that made the Z axis on the mill 'reverse' home, as it homed correctly a couple of days ago This machine uses a proximity sensor on the Z, and the limits are roller micros. We're finding more all the time. While the Y has been 'jumping' around the home/limit, the problem had to be here:

Mike rewired this after I cleaned the Y switches up. I'm more or less grunting for him.

The lathe says, 'Homing X axis', but does not move. Both X & Z motors energize, but no movement. We have a lit 'STOP' light on the spindle (FP) that we cannot get rid of.
I might also add that the encoders are not showing digital movement on the FP screens.
We have put a lot of time and money into these two so far. More later.
Thx!

[jpawelk]

Originally Posted by bradyplummer Thanks that good to know. So I take it there is volitale and non-volitale memory on the simdisk? That must have been expensive back then. So is there a way to move this to a hard drive solution? Thanks B

I know of some guys that have been able to do this with great difficulty. Unfortunately I do not have any support on this type of task. Sorry.

[bborb]

I recall a harddrive option for the Cent5, there was software from Milltronics that you load on the harddrive and jumpers on the simdisk that disables the simdisk.

[KurtsKustom]

We've installed hardrives on both machines (lathe and mill, Cent V's). Mike's looking for his 3.3 DOS discs. We want to convert to 6.1. That's his meat.