On Sunday 02 February 2020 14:14:16 Rafael Skodlar wrote: > On 2020-01-29 09:35, Stuart Stevenson wrote: > > On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 3:34 AM Les Newell > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > ... snip > > > Another story > > In 1997 I purchased a 5 axis license from OpenCNC (MDSI2). OpenCNC > > (closed source) ran on QNX RTOS (closed source) using hardware from > > a list of . The Open meant OpenCNC didn't have hardware to sell but > > they supported a limited list of approved vendors (all closed > > source). The hardware vendors were very proud of their offerings. I > > ended up with three 5 axis machines running OpenCNC. I had to have a > > license to run each machine. Software and hardware was something > > just south of USD20,000.00 per machine. One of the machines was > > running OpenCNC (QNX) until 2017. > > Open had a slightly different meaning than we think of open today. > > :) I will say I liked their product. Their total package including > > documentation was complete enough I was able to install, configure > > and run it with minimal contact with OpenCNC staff. They were very > > helpful and knowledgeable. A very polished organization. I purchased > > their API and would probably still be running their software today > > but in the next release they left QNX and settled exclusively on > > Windows and Venturcom RTOS. They would no longer support QNX. I > > almost cried. I called my contact and told him they just lost me as > > I would not purposely install Windows on my machine. For me this was > > preLinux. I came from (I am no VMS guru) VMS and Windows. I know the > > difference between a productive OS and a pretty OS. I am almost glad > > OpenCNC took the direction they took because if they had not left > > QNX I probably would not have found LinuxCNC. > > They were not visionaries or they would port their application to > Linux. > > > When I bought the software OpenCNC was already in one of the big > > three in Detroit. The requirement was OpenCNC has to look and > > respond EXACTLY like all the other controls in the shop. I was told > > it took the tech department in said shop one day to develop the > > human interface screen and MDSI configured OpenCNC to run just like > > all the other controls in the shop. I don't know if that project is > > ongoing. > > > > A 300 man shop South of Wichita started installing OpenCNC after I > > had completed my installs. I knew a couple of the techs installing > > OpenCNC there and a couple operators running it. All reports were > > the techs and the operators loved it and lobbied for it to be > > installed on every machine. I don't know if that project is ongoing > > as my contacts have either died or retired > > > A four or five man group from Cessna visited my shop to evaluate > > OpenCNC. I believe it was an operator, a maintenance tech, a > > software developer and a finance guy. They installed it on at least > > one flat bed router. Reports are they loved it. Modern Machine Shop > > did a feature on the Cessna install. I don't know if that project > > is ongoing. > > I love reading such stories. Reminds me of a book I was reading about > a tiny lathe secretly built by American POWs in one of Japanese > concentration camps during WWII. > > > Bruce Norse (of Compact II by MDSI and OpenCNC by MDSI2) started > > what became OpenCNC to develop a factory automation application. > > This was to collect information from any and all controls in the > > factory and present it to management. Somewhere around 2000 Briggs > > and Stratton bought MDSI with the plan to utilize the factory > > management software world wide. I am not sure how that worked out > > but in relation to OpenCNC it seemed to stop development. > > > > All of this was during the 1997 through the 2001 time frame. I don't > > know why OpenCNC seemed to go into hibernation then as it was used > > and loved by small shops and very large shops. Maybe Briggs stopped > > it on purpose or with Bruce no longer in ultimate charge there was > > no overriding dream to develop it further. > > Mach guys don't get it either. Their saddle on ... never mind. > Their narrow minded software might die by 1000 CNC cuts. > > > The "OPEN" world had an opportunity to grow and flourish at that > > time and seemed to just fizzle. > > That was dot.com downfall when some of the best went down, Sun > Microsystems, SGI, etc. > > ... snip > > > EMC (Enhanced Machine Control) seems to have fizzled out. No it hasn't, but the other emc objected to the name so it was changed to LinuxCNC, several years ago, and it sure as hell hasn't died. > > That's frustrating indeed. Local Home Brew Robotics Club had an > interesting presentation about ROS (Robot OS) used at Amazon. They are > developing virtual environment to test code written for robotics use. > As we know, robots also use RT kernel in some instances. > > If a giant like Amazon is able to see $$$ in simulating robotics > environments for developers then it might be just a matter of time > before we see them do the same thing with CNC. Forget about dead end > PC motherboards and parallel port! > > > LinuxCNC is largely the result of 4 of 5 guys giving their time and > > intelligence to the project. In no particular order I thank Matt, > > Jeff, Chris, John and Stephen. Their contributions were done without > > profit motive. > > > > Another group of men with contributions far in excess of their > > profit motive is Jon, Peter and Steve. > > > > What a group of fine men. This list is not necessarily complete. If > > anyone would like to add to the list then I encourage the addition. > > > > I appreciate each and every one on this list. > > Strongly agree. > > > I like the latest discussions and hope a way forward is found to > > continue the development and proliferation of LinuxCNC. > > > > Regards > > Stuart > > That's my desire to see also. We do whatever we can in our capacities. > Some of us support open source with providing feedback, free or low > cost support or buy early related products for our own use. CDs and > DVDs with free Linux distributions, laptop with Linux on it in my > case. I kept most of them as evidence to claims on my resume ;-) > > If there was an easy way to help somebody remotely on the Linux(CNC) > side I would gladly help. In person I can only help in Silicon Valley > but here we don't have many machine shops anymore. I doubt we can > count those with LinuxCNC with fingers on one hand. > > Best wishes,
All this talk about opencnc is discouraging considering you claim to have dropped $20,000 per machine, and its last update was in 2013. I certainly will not invest in a dead project even if the site(s) are still up. Way too much like buying a pig in a sealed poke sack. Or schroedingers cat still in the sealed box. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. - Louis D. Brandeis Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
