re:smart box command set

Wally K wrote:

>If you want to make the box smart, then make it smart. Start by
>making it accept Gcodes and Mcodes. Use the machinery and tool
>handbook for the command set and descriptions of commands. Later
>add mfg specific Gcodes as required.

Wally,

This is a bad idea, IMO. Bad partitioning of the problem, as Jeff B
might say. The gcodes are not well defined and standardised enough to
be a good command set. The specific source you mention, Machinerys'
Handbook, is at least several years out of touch, even in their
latest, 27th edition!

In addition, I don't believe that we should be trying to make the
smart box THAT smart. Doing so will exponentially increase the time,
effort, and confusion already inherant in a project such as this. We
already have a PC!

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

P.S. In every product, it is a good idea to find the "crossover"
point where expenditure of resources stops having a direct
relationship with results. In other words, the point where you stop
getting out as much as you are putting in...

Making a smart box that accepts G&M codes is just another way of
saying make a CNC control. This CONSIDERABLY ups the 'ante' AND
considerably reduces the benefits for a LARGE number of people, IMO.