Re: Whither goest DOS?

Chris,

Many of your points do not apply to DOS itself, but rather the way
cnc control writers have used it. When I walk up to any but the
newest, and most expensive commercial cnc machines, what I am dealing
with is a LOT more like DOS, than windows...

And I can do nearly all the things you mention rather handily, as the
control was written TO be able to do these things. Now the screen is
not as colorful, but for plain WORK-ability these controls do just
fine...

I DO wish control writers (on whatever platform) would consider ALL
the things an operator/programmer might need to do at the
machine/control.

I remember one (pc based)control that required me to use a calculator
to figure some number the control needed. When I mentioned this to
the programmer, he said, "So? What is the problem with that?"

I said,"I'm standing at a COMPUTER, riigghht?" :-)

That same control had a "move to coords" dialog box (dos equivalent,
anyway) that came up OVER the coordinate displays... so you'd WRITE
THEM DOWN first :-(

So I think it has more to do with program DESIGN, than PLATFORM...

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., CL <datac@l...> wrote:
<snip>
I would not even consider anything less than my dedicated Control
computer be
> a Windows Computer. At a moments notice, I can toggle in and out of
an
> Excellent G-Code text editor. I often want to tweak up a program
just a
> little especially when I am going to do repetative runs. The better
I can
> execute the path on the machine, the faster it will be the next
time I run
> the same job.
>
> How about that really quick piece of code you rambled up by hand
and sent
> over to the Control via ethernet ? Might it be real nice to just
pop open
> that Toolpath Verification program and run it thru there before
hitting the
> start switch, No?
>
> And, what about an old file you have not used in a long time? I do
not know
> about you, but I have not seen a decent DOS file manager in my life.
>
> I made the change to Windows control and have not looked back
because it is<snip>