Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Re: Re: Re: Black box

> Anne,

> What I've been saying all along is that whether CNC works or not with
> a GUI (WINxx included) is a SOFTWARE issue. Including the OS chosen.
>

Yes, we're in agreement on that.

> You can skin this cat with hardware. It's been done that way for
> years at the hi-end. As costs come down, and technology improves,
> it's getting reasonable to go this route at the lo-end.
>
> It's also true that we don't write software the way we used to. We
> accept that things we HAD to do in H/W(in the past) CAN now be done
> in S/W. (look at RISC vs. CISC-implementing instructions in microcode
> which used to be "hardwired" in the cpu). And a slew of others you
> can think of without really trying :-)

Yes, and I think doing this in DOS or RTLinux seems very reasonable.
Windoze timer resolution is legendarily poor. It's so poor we felt it
at my last job even though we were just doing cel animations in Java.

>
> In the end, business/product success is based on the development
> cost/time, Mfg. cost/time and the support cost/time, vs. income from
> the product.
>
> So what I think I hear you saying, is that these costs WILL be less
> with hardware based CNC solutions, at least where WINxx or PC,s(not
> sure if you mean either,neither, or both) are concerned?

Yes, I'd suspect so. It's a case of one time vs. marginal costs.
Especially important in this context is that in a hobby context the
one time costs are borne by the poor soul up at 3AM getting it to work.
In this case there's a hidden marginal cost to the software approach.
This approach is likely to have more support costs as well, as you
discover that AutoCAD has gotten smart and is using one CPU to render with,
etc. etc. ad nauseum.

>
> You may be right.
>

> But I remember when 64K was a LOT of memory and 4mhz was smokin'.
> Avoiding MULT's/DIV's because they took too long... And I
> know/believe we're traveling an exponential curve in capabilities
> here. This cat WILL also be skinned in software. There are expensive
> "s/w only" CNC solutions NOW. Just not at our end of the spectrum.
>

I don't think the machine's capabilities have much to do with it.
Any reasonably modern machine has plenty of raw computing power for what
we're doing here.