Re: (CIM) Wooden Block CIM whitepaper

"tkosan" <tkosan@y...> wrote:

> Neither Master5 nor TurboCNC is a network-centric technology and

since

> leveraging a network is the easiest way to achieve flexibility and
> scalability, these kind of PC based controllers are barred from

this.

Would this mean that a new " -based" controller will have to be
cooked up for this purpose, or perhaps Art or Dave will have to make
their creations network-centric, or both?

> As an example of this lack of flexibility, imagine having 20

machines

> in a CIM system broken up into various workcells. Using PC based
> controllers, this would mean that at least 20 PCs would be needed to
> control these machines. How are these machines suppose to be

managed?

> Is the shop owner going to constantly run around the shop

manually

> attending to each PC, booting it up, shutting it down, loading files
> into it, configuring it and recovering from crashes?
>
> With network-centric Outpost based technology, the whole CIM system,
> from 1 machine up through hundreds of machines, is designed to be
> managed from any computer on the network that is capable of hosting

a

> Java enabled web browser. The whole system can also be managed from
> anywhere in the world using a Java enabled wireless PDA or cellphone
> if desired.

Is this 1-up on DNC?

> I have great respect for applications like Master5 and TurboCNC
> because I found out what kind of heavy-duty programming is needed to
> support multi-axis CNC controls when I wrote the software needed to
> control a 12 axis stepper motor driven machine a few years ago.

Does this mean we already have some software ready to snap into this
CIM network?

Fun

PS. Didn't expect a response from you so fast. Thought you would be
stuck at some boring seminar somewhere.