Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Future CNC man

dlantz@... wrote:

> I would have to agree with most of the below statments... (well,
> actually all of them...sigh...)

Well, sorry for the redundant post then.

> But from a farely recent 'newbie' status myself, and having a long
> background in acad myself, i found the things that i did (vmware &
> acad...etc...) to be the easiest method.

As much as I use Linux nearly 100% of the time at both work and
home, if my applications run on Windows, I'd just run Windows.
Given the price of hardware these days, a headless box will run you
measly $300. Heck, CompUSA has refurb/discontinued models all the
time for $300-400, that come with everything but keyboard (and even
a Windows license).

> last i knew there was a version of vmware that ONLY ran windows98
> under linux, and it was 69.95

Yeah, forgot about that one. Can you use it commerically though? I
know you're talking about the version separate from the "personal"
version of VMWare (the $99 one, or did this version replace that?),
but I wasn't sure you could use even this new product commercially?
Damn my spectulation, let's see ... VMWare Express FAQ:
http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/exp_faqs.html

Don't see any restrictions. And it's only $49 (both the
downloadable and packaged versions). Damn, I think I might need to
buy a copy. Not because I think this is the "way to go", but I
cannot get Windows 98 SE running on my system, but largely because a
few Windows drivers are conflicting (I have all 6 PCI slots
populated). Right now I'm using an age old Pentium Pro w/32MB of
RAM for my limited Windows work (and my 1.2GHz Athlon w/512MB would
be faster -- even if under VMWare).

> and you probably allready have a version of windows98 (tm).

That depends on who you talk to. ;-PPP

Microsoft says you need an additional license for each additional
installation -- even if on the same system. Heck, several execs
have stated that it requires a full commercial license (non-OEM) for
"virtualized" use (like in VMWare). Of course even Microsoft just
licensed VMWare for use in demoing and testing. ;-PPP

> for the long run, however, i would really recomend (or agree with
> the below comments) to try to get away from autocad to a more
> open-source-industrial-standard type of program... perhaps others
> on this list will add some suggestions... hmmm?

Again, as I said before, BRL-CAD. I'm new to this CNC stuff, so I'm
not sure it is applicable. I know a lot of you drive your stuff
with VB, but there are a number of us who prefer a language that is
a little more stable, along with a file format (let alone platform)
that is a little more open.

But if Windows + AutoCAD works for you, use it. That's the whole
purpose of commercial software, to provide you with the tools to
work. I really hate it when columnists label us Linux users as the
"anything but Microsoft" crowd. I'm sorry, I don't see people who
really use Linux having such attitudes. Most of us use Linux
because it has software that Windows doesn't -- or like the way it
works.

This is why you'll never see a direct 1-to-1 equivalent program in
Linux to Windows. Because if we needed such an application, we'd
just use the one that already exists on Windows, instead of
re-creating it.

-- TheBS

--
Bryan "TheBS" Smith mailto:b.j.smith@... chat:thebs413
Engineer AbsoluteValue Systems, Inc. http://www.linux-wlan.org
President SmithConcepts, Inc. http://www.SmithConcepts.com