Re: emc (TOME)

On Tue, 12 Oct 1999 16:22:58 -0700, Jon Anderson
<janders@...> wrote:

>... I'm at the commercial end
>of the spectrum here, time IS money, and I want the most power and speed
>I can get for my limited bucks. EMC and scrounged servos offer that, and
>I'll dink with the software late at night until it's working. When I get
>to making chips, I want to be able to use the G-codes I know and the
>hundred or so programs I've already got.

Yup, and the wunnerful thing is, IF you want to, you can customize the
software [cuz you can TOUCH it] to both emit and consume just the
G-codes you've come to know and love, if need be.

>Something I would love to see, would be a PC or Linux based program that
>duplicated the fill-in-the-blanks approach of Proto-Trak and such, and
>generate standard G-code.
>This seems like a perfect brewing ground for input/ideas and beta
>testers, and I rather suspect there would be a significant commercial
>potential.

Again, I would think it a cinch that if Linux-style OpSys freedoms
(especially in RT kernels), and EMC-style CAM software freedom still
lives in another 5-10 years, you'll see a multitude of things like this.
Because there are ALWAYS more creative minds wanting to develop and
extend the envelop, that can *ever* be sequestered within the confines
of commercial software offices. Think of all the people that learned how
to write OpSys internals via FreeBSD (geez am I dating meself :) and the
like, that NEVER would have had a chance to do same at Microsoft or IBM,
but were not only PERFECTLY capable, but some simply brilliant at it.
Only a very few of them thot of such learning as a means to big $$$. [I
expect those now work at MS :] Most of them just wanted to enjoy and
learn and expand their horizons as thinkers, doers, and builders.

Collaboration driven by raw mutual interest is a VERY powerful engine
for progress. It used to be called "science" way back when, before that
too went 'commercial'. I'm idealizing a tad, but you get me drift I
expect.

Put forward a proposal for what you've sketched above, Jon. You might be
surprised a project could spring up out of just such a germinating seed.
Wouldn't exactly be a first, ya know. :)

Gar