Ken Roach
Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator
Yesterday I added a new entry to the "oldest PLC I've worked on" record.
It's an original PLC-2, part number 1772-LN, Series A Rev B, in an 8-slot 1771-A2 Series A chassis. Manufactured in 1979, and running flawlessly until yesterday.
When I got the call, the owner said he had Apple computer based software that used to work to re-load the PLC-2, but that his technician hadn't been able to get it to work.
No way, I said. There was never an Apple-based tool for the PLC-2. The only Apple software I ever saw from A-B was a Macintosh Classic version of GML for the 1394 motion controller.
He was true to his word: In 1982, Yancey Machine Tool Works of Portland, OR built a PLC-2 memory upload/download utility that booted and ran off a 5 1/4 inch floppy in an Apple II. The computer and the disk still boot and run, but the serial card (there's a box of them, most marked "BAD") and the RS232/PLC-2 converter don't work.
I spent yesterday manually re-entering the program into AI-2 software (thank goodness they had a printout) and am building a DOS computer this morning to try to download the program.
Yesterday definitely brought back memories.
It's an original PLC-2, part number 1772-LN, Series A Rev B, in an 8-slot 1771-A2 Series A chassis. Manufactured in 1979, and running flawlessly until yesterday.
When I got the call, the owner said he had Apple computer based software that used to work to re-load the PLC-2, but that his technician hadn't been able to get it to work.
No way, I said. There was never an Apple-based tool for the PLC-2. The only Apple software I ever saw from A-B was a Macintosh Classic version of GML for the 1394 motion controller.
He was true to his word: In 1982, Yancey Machine Tool Works of Portland, OR built a PLC-2 memory upload/download utility that booted and ran off a 5 1/4 inch floppy in an Apple II. The computer and the disk still boot and run, but the serial card (there's a box of them, most marked "BAD") and the RS232/PLC-2 converter don't work.
I spent yesterday manually re-entering the program into AI-2 software (thank goodness they had a printout) and am building a DOS computer this morning to try to download the program.
Yesterday definitely brought back memories.