IMHO, there’s a big “it depends” issue when we look at advice on computers.
As I see it, there are at least three types of users — The first is the person who’s using their machines to make a living, or at least to turn a buck. For that user, I’d most likely recommend building your own computer using various motherboards, video boards, and I/O boards that places like Microcenter offer. Everything would be purchased new and would be replaceable. I’d also suggest purchasing additional I/O boards as these are what I’e expect to fail more often than the hard drive or mother board, etc. When you’re looking to use your machine as part of your livelihood, you don’t want to rely on a bunch of old used equipment. A failure could result in a significant loss - more than you’d spend for a current state-of-the-art system. They’ll also want to use the latest version of EMC/LinuxCNC once it’s been out for a while. The next person is the one who has metalworking as their hobby, or as a major part of their hobby. They’re not trying to turn a buck with their tools, but they’re generally found puttering in the shop making “this or that.” Here, they don’t need the latest and greatest - recently retired will do - but you want something that’s fast and and has replacement parts available. The PCG or Cybernet Elite II won’t cut the mustard. Too old, too slow, often not enough memory. They might be on the bleeding edge of being the first to install and try out the latest versions of EMC/LinuxCNC, depending on where their interests lie. And, finally, you come to folks like me. I purchased a Sherline mill & lathe when I retired fourteen years ago - gads, has it been that long? - with the intention of building a brass locomotive. I’m in the “desktop machine” league, which tends to limit the speed at which I can do things. This plays well with using older equipment that can’t generate robust step pulses at high rates. But the PCG’s will support 20 ipm rapids with Sherline’s 20 tpi leadscrews and 4 microsteps per step motor drives. I don’t use these tools every day. Model trains and woodworking are my main hobbies. Metalworking is a sideline as necessary to support the main hobbies. I did a lot of factory automation projects when I was working - putting cameras, computers, and motors on manufacturing equipment to make or inspect things - so I’ve got some knowledge of computers and am not afraid of taking things apart. I’ve no real need to keep up with the latest and greatest version of EMC/LinuxCNC as long as the version I’m using allows me to do the things that I want to do. I’ve also played a lot with TurboCNC for DOS but it’s pretty much been abandoned which is why I moved to EMC. Obsolete computers that come cheaply work for me. Quite frankly, I was surprised that EMC V8 runs so nicely on the PCG that I bought when that machine was the state of the art. So much so that I’ve purchased a few extra Sony PCG's and have EMC installed on them, ready to go, in the event that the ones connected to my machines fail. I’ve found that eBay’s “buy it now” is my friend. BTW, I doubt that I’ll ever get that brass loco built, but I’m having fun building an Arduino based control system for the trains and using the Sherline mill to make circuit boards. Jerry Jankura So many toys. . . So little time . . . On May 19, 2014, at 5:07 AM, emc-users-requ...@lists.sourceforge.net wrote: > It's a 2Ghz or slower Pentium III, Socket 370 type. IIRC it takes PC100 > or PC133 SDRAM, maximum of 2 gig. > > There was an optional PCI slot but to use that it couldn't have the > optical drive installed. > > I used to have one of those. Decent for web browsing, e-mail and not > much else. They were mainly marketed as POS systems and for office or > front desk machines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Accelerate Dev Cycles with Automated Cross-Browser Testing - For FREE Instantly run your Selenium tests across 300+ browser/OS combos. Get unparalleled scalability from the best Selenium testing platform available Simple to use. Nothing to install. Get started now for free." http://p.sf.net/sfu/SauceLabs _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
