Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Commercial vs. hobby controls was Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit rec...

I'm getting lots of emails on the topic, so I'll ask it publicly: Is
there a way that I can distribute my mods to interested parties and not
go offside of your license ?

Kim

On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 10:01, dkowalcz@... wrote:
> Good morning all:
>
> Well, this topic sure seems to be pressing a lot of buttons out
> there; pardon the pun.
>
> So, the question whether a particular control is better than
> another is fairly subjective territory. Might as well argue someone
> out of his favorite color.
>
> That said, I'd say that our hobby controls are roughly equivalent
> to the commercial ones of about ten years back. Some advantages,
> some drawbacks - notably limited onboard memory and proprietary
> hardware for the old commercial units. Being able to use commodity
> hardware for CNC is a big advantage for a hobby guy.
>
> Since it wasn't initially clear from Kim's post, Kim is using
> TurboCNC after modifying it fairly heavily - and his discussion of
> the advantages of TCNC here hinges on that. A lot of what he's done
> is going to be in the next version anyway, but not all. Many of his
> mods have to do with adding special canned cycles unique to his line
> of work.
>
> To address the open source aspect - I've kept TurboCNC open source
> for the benefit of individuals like Kim. The majority of users don't
> care about the source code. But to some of them, it's like dynamite
> on wheels. Very powerful.
>
> Since I, nor my contract employees, nor my ISP, will work for free -
> it costs $20 to get the source code.
>
> Having 27 versions around doesn't work in anyone's favor either,
> and our "in your own doors only" stance on mods and re-distribution
> keeps that in check.
>
> I don't think any of that is unreasonable, and it actually improves
> things IMHO. If TCNC were GNU GPL'd, or public domain it probably
> wouldn't be as good.
>
> Dave Kowalczyk
> Mercer Island, WA
> TurboCNC --> http://www.dakeng.com/turbo.html
>
> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Kim Lux <lux@d...> wrote:
> > On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 03:01, ballendo@y... wrote:
> > > Kim,
> > >
> > > Many great points. BUT...
> > >
> > > How many of them stand up without YOU in the equation???
> >
> > I agree. However, even a stock TCNC package is pretty close to what
> > most stand alone controllers offer, even the old ones.
> >
> >
> > > In other words, how many people do you think could do the pascal
> > > programming you have done to make your version of TCNC? And of
> those
> > > who CAN program pascal, how many would have the time and
> inclination
> > > to help someone who knows machining, but NOT programming? (After
> all,
> > > you've just told us about two people who CAN'T get to where you
> are,
> > > or they wouldn't be asking you to set up their CNC...
> >
> > Agreed.
> >
> > > What this all leads to is that for most people, Doug is correct.
> An
> > > older commercial control (as he says, not necessarily 15 years
> old,
> > > when you have 15K bux to spend) will run circles-(and you know
> why
> > > I'm making that pun if you're familiar with TCNC-it currently has
> > > problems with feedrates in circles, even in the V4 beta)- around
> a
> > > STANDARD TCNC install...
> >
> > V3 doesn't have these problems. I made my changed to V3, not V4
> code.
> > I started with V3.24c to be exact.
> >
> > > Once your mods make it into the TCNC pkg (if they ever do), THEN
> the
> > > argument(s) you've just laid out make sense for the "typical"
> guy...
> >
> > > Having said all this, I do agree with some of your points. Ray
> Henry,
> > > I understand, taught himself programming so that he could do the
> same
> > > kinds of things with EMC that you have done with TCNC. And Art
> > > Fenerty is learning a LOT about what needs to be in a commercial
> > > level CNC control as he writes Mach2- he came from the
> programming
> > > side. So if the right person meets the right challenge...
> > >
> > > And I also agree that the timeframe for Doug's truth is
> diminishing.
> > > Hobby controls are getting a lot better, very quickly. Especially
> > > Mach2, IMO. TCNC, without your mods, IMO still has a long way to
> go.
> > >
> > > Right now, a guy who wants to machine, with 15k bux in hand, is
> > > better off with an older control he can use immediately. Unless
> YOU
> > > are going to update TCNC for his machine and HIS needs...
> >
> > BTW: it isn't my doing that TCNC isn't updated with my mods. Powers
> > higher than me control whether or not this stuff makes it into the
> > public domain.
> >
> > > Ballendo
> > >
> > > P.S. I also agree with your statements about the value of
> > > having "done it" yourself, so you can fix it...
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Kim Lux <lux@d...> wrote:
> > > > On Tue, 2003-12-16 at 09:40, doug.rasmussen@c... wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi Kim,
> > > > >
> > > > > First off, I didn't mean to suggest buying a machine that
> old, I
> > > was
> > > > > only making the statement that I feel the commercial controls
> of
> > > > > that age generally have more features than the current hobby
> PC
> > > > > based
> > > > > types.<snip>
> [snip]
>
>
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--
Kim Lux <lux@...>