Personally I feel like linuxCNC has nothing to prove to Mach3. It is a far superior product in my mind and from what I have seen of it. Having built and run a machine on both systems now I feel that LinuxCNC is a much more pro control in the way it works. It feels and runs a lot more like something you would see on a commercial machine whereas Mach3 looks and runs like something you would put on a hobby router. I honestly feel that the BIGGEST reason people go to Mach3 is because it is just easy. It is windows based, everything is laid out for you in a couple simple panels that you input your information in and you can be up and running however buggy in short order. LinuxCNC apparently has come a long way towards this in the addition of the Stepconf and PNCconf setups that allow a lot more seamless approach to setting up the basic machine and getting it running. Once one looks beyond the ease of setup and nintendo look display of mach3 and seriously looks at linuxCNC it becomes quite clear which is more adaptable and has more built in features that can be taken advantage of. The real problem in my view is that you have to have a pretty damn good working knowledge of linux and programming to get those advantages. I am speaking here about adding some of the more advanced things like toolchangers and spindle orientation etc. All of which is either impossible or difficult even in mach3 but from what I have seen it is not something that someone without some programming experience can just download and input some settings into and be running with. Of course once it is setup and running it will be far more reliable and capable than anything in mach3 but it is what it is. Perhaps I am speaking here as someone who does not have the programming knowledge and experience as most do but the reality is that I think that is what keeps a lot of folks away. If you really want to get people to move away from Mach3 and into linuxCNC I think more effort is needed to make things as plug and play as humanly possible and try to implement setups like stepconf and Pncconf for the most varied and wide user base and machine setup possible. That basically takes away any excuse to NOT use linuxCNC. I mean hell you have to pay for mach3 and linuxCNC is dead free so If I had even the slightest reason to use linuxCNC over mach3 in the beginning I would have done exactly that. Peace
Pete On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 11:24 AM, Charles Buckley <[email protected]> wrote: > The real impediment to LinuxCNC having a larger adoption is.. Arduino. > > Not Mach. Not LinuxCNC itself. > > The whole way the younger generation is being taught that what they are > doing is cutting edge and new and exciting and that there is nothing to > learn from CNC as it is old and outdated is the real problem. > > Was on Slashdot a month, or so, ago and was discussing the Dremel 3D > printer. Someone asked why they did not have a commodity CNC mill instead. > I pointed out that the 3D printer was a very simplified CNC machine. A > milling machine has orders of magnitude greater complexity and the skill of > the operator needed to be higher, in general. I had someone present a > number of cases of how skilled the operator of a 3D printer needed to be > (all of which dealt with how flimsy the reprap derived hardware was) and > someone else who referred to me as a buggy whip manufacturer. (Yes, and I > have been watching the newer generation work from starting principles > recreating buggy whips using christmas tree tinsel). > > Machinists - or even people who understand the concepts - can make informed > decisions about which CNC interface to use. If I want to quickly re-skin > something for someone who is tech adverse, I would go with Mach in a > second. > > The young want "new" even if they have to buy into a myth to make it > happen. > > You want people to adopt LinuxCNC? You have to tie it to a new machine that > is cutting edge, then bill it as open source. Right now, Instructables is > hyping their new desktop milling machine and Make is excited about this new > innovation. > > > On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 8:24 AM, Len Shelton <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Except that the only reason that Mach3 is popular is because it runs on > > Windows, which is a feature that LinuxCNC will never have :-P > > > > >Len > > > > > > > > > > On 10/22/2014 9:20 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > > I think there is plenty of reason to care about why another control may > > be more popular, including commerical/industrial controls. Looking at how > > other controls do things and understanding why they may be more popular > > provides valuable information on what might be improved in LinuxCNC. With > > larger volumes of users come larger volumes of unique perspectives and > > feedback on what could be better. > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Comprehensive Server Monitoring with Site24x7. > > Monitor 10 servers for $9/Month. > > Get alerted through email, SMS, voice calls or mobile push notifications. > > Take corrective actions from your mobile device. > > http://p.sf.net/sfu/Zoho > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-users mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > -- Pete Matos A and N Precision and Fabrication Maryville, Tennessee 865-236-8996 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
