There has been a heated exchange the last two days on the Mach3 email list that some of you might be interested in..
The discussion centers around the Mach3 planner and the Position - Time data that is passed to a 3rd party plug in when Mach3 is used with an external motion controller. Basically the new Mach4 uses the same data interface and Sergey is not happy about that..as you can read below. It appears that Sergey asked Brian to supply a new, improved interface and Brian is not doing that.. Brian Barker owns Artsoft - the supplier of Mach3. A new version of Mach3, called Mach4 has been in development for years. Sergey, I believe, is the owner of KSI Labs and has a loyal following. Sergey mentioned EMC2/LinuxCNC several times in the reply below. This is his second or third in the exchange with Brian. Brian replied to this message also, but not in any substantial way.. Dave >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Tue, 6 Aug 2013, Brian Barker wrote: I'm reiterating -- there is _ABSOLUTELY NO NEED_ to remove the old functionality. I've been talking about _ADDING_ the proper trajectory data, _NOT REPLACING_ the old stuff. Sergey's reply ................................................................................................ Then, the time is now or never. Nobody makes major changes to a software in minor versions. Such a change is MAJOR and usually comes in a new version. E.g. Mach4 vs Mach3. You reworked the code, made major changes so no older plugins would work any more without complete rewriting but you did not put proper functionality in it. The earliest such a functionality could be added is Mach5 -- you don't expect everybody will rewrite their plugins for ANY minor Mach4 version change, do you? -- but I'll probably be well into my retirement by then if I live THAT long. Then, trying to avoid manufacturers rewriting their plugins does not stand even a laugh test. It could've made sense had their old plugins still had been working but they have to rewrite them anyways. Rewriting 85% of their code does not make it any easier than rewriting 85.1%. So there is no hope, you don't want to make your Mach software any closer to professional grade keeping it in "for hobby use only" category. No problems, it is your choice. You had a chance but you wasted it so you're stuck in that hobby segment. With such an "upgrade" there is absolutely no REAL need for anybody to switch to the shiny new version -- it won't let them do better MACHINING job, it's the same old candy in a new package. There is also no reason for anybody to use any intelligent controllers with your software because it is pure waste on features that are never used. Your software is not just made to allow using cheapest dumb "BBs" available, it is made to support _ONLY_ such hardware so anything more complex and intelligent simply _MUST_ be dumbed down to that level. That means _ALL_ advanced features should be turned off ergo there is _ABSOLUTELY_ no reason to pay for any such features. That also means that no matter how good a motion controller is and what its capabilities are there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to do actual MACHINING any better than using a cheapest chinese dumb BB available. Again, this is your choice and I can not tell you what to do. Neither can I push you to do something -- it is all up to you. The thing is I simply can not see where I fit in your world. Neither I'm going to waste my time on making dumb BBs nor there is a need for just a new one -- chinese stuff is abundant and dirt cheap and there is no shortage of that crap, you just whistle... Even if someone WAS going to make something new it is futile because you simply can NOT compete with chinese crap. Sure, there is one other way -- one can deliberately deceive those who don't have any knowledge on the subject by telling them his controller is very advanced and can dance polka, anticipate Mach output, interpolate on a single point etc so illeterate people would buy his stuff. Unfortunately I'm not of the used cars salesman type so I simply can not do that. I'm an engineer by trade and by calling -- I get my endorphins from designing and making things and I'm addicted to it. There is simply no place in your Mach world where I can satisfy that urge to make new things to feed my addiction. I'm getting off your ship not because I'm angry but because I'm bored and there is nothing for me to do here. There is no shame in staying in hobbyist market. There are plenty of people who are hobbyists and they are pretty OK with what your software can do so they simply don't need anything better. Keep serving them, it is a noble task. It is simply not a place for me. I'd rather go where the big boys are and where real athletes compete instead of staying at general fitness group for those who is physically challenged or not especially fit. I will keep supporting my hardware on Mach3 but won't do anything for upcoming (?) Mach4 -- there is simply absolutely no need for Mach3 users to go for the new version. I will probably make firmware/software version (fully open source, both hardware and software/firmware) for EMC2 in near future for my existing hardware (CENTIPEDE.) Then I will dive deeper into EMC2 and see if it has everything required to run intelligent stuff. If it does I'll start porting my new hardware family of products to it. If it doesn't I will look if it is possible to ADD that functionality to the existing code base and make it included in the main tree. If even this is not possible I might fork my own branch off of EMC2 or something else -- don't want to start this from scratch because I'm more like embedded/electrical/low-level stuff engineer so I'd rather use something half-baked for the UI. So please expect CENTIPEDE EMC2 port in a foreseable future and a whole bunch of new products (motion controllers, networked servo drives, high-power servo spindle drives with encoder/resolver feedback, broken down networked servo controllers with analog outputs to older servo amps and so on.) made for EMC2 or whatever it is going to be some time early next year. Lots of DSPs, very smooth, PnP configuration, fiberoptic network and lots of other cool stuff. This won't be too expensive but not dirt cheap either. Those are not hobby-type products. They are made for prosumer/professional segment and they will provide professional type MACHINING quality and speed. As for upcoming (?) cool new Mach4 -- sorry guys, I'm off that ship. I simply don't belong there. Sorry for all this but I felt I had to tell it because it looks like I'm almost only one here who designs and makes motion control devices so this is the voice of a [dissapointed] manufacturer. P.S. Please expect a very big white paper on CNC, motors, drives, software etc and how it fits together in a week or so. It is written for beginners without deep knowledge in this area -- not much math, common sense only -- but it goes very deep into details so it should be useful for the vast majority of hobby community. I'm half-through it but very busy right now so it might take a while to finish that document. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get 100% visibility into Java/.NET code with AppDynamics Lite! It's a free troubleshooting tool designed for production. Get down to code-level detail for bottlenecks, with <2% overhead. Download for free and get started troubleshooting in minutes. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48897031&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
