PLC 2 Family Software help

I just got a copy of A/B 6201-PLC2 Release 2.23 Programming Terminal Software, and am having trouble getting it to run on a win98 133MHZ laptop. It seemed to install alright, and the Menu will load, and sometimes the Editor will load, but then win98 comes up with an error, and it shuts down.

In the INFO.TXT file, it says:
"The following statements are required in the CONFIG.SYS file in order for the software to run successfully:
FILES=25
BUFFERS=30 DEVICE=ANSI.SYS BREAK=OFF Note - If your hard disk is partitioned larger than 32Mb,
you should load SHARE."

I have added the statements to Config.sys, but am not sure about SHARE. I also know that w98 doesn't actually have DOS, just emulates it, and that can be a problem with some DOS apps.
Will it work with W95?
Any ideas?

Thank you,
Ben Blackburn
Blackburn Services
[email protected]

A blast from the past !

6200-PLC2 Version 2.23? I presume you inherited this from an elderly uncle ? Maybe you found it in the attic, in a steamer trunk filled with moth-eaten uniforms and a rusty Punjabi dagger from the last defense of the Empire ? Sweet heaven, you didn't pay money for it, did you?

I guess it's not really THAT old. The last release of 6200-PLC2 was 3.00.01, in January of 1995.

You're right to suspect an operating system conflict. 6200-PLC2 is unique among 6200-series editors because it uses a realtime operating system called ChronOS that sits between DOS and 6200. ChronOS tries to directly handle quite a lot of PC resources, and it has no idea how to stretch it's little arms around Windows 98 or, Heaven forbid, the FAT32 file system.

It isn't supported in any kind of Windows environment. Carve yourself out a little FAT16 partition on that hard drive and get your machine to boot to MS-DOS 6.22. 6200-PLC2 can only be installed in the default C:\IPDS\ directories.

Then think carefully about what you're going to connect to. 6200-PLC2 was built when portable computers were curiosities, and it has very limited support for anything except the 1784-KT ISA card. It supports the 8-bit 1784-PCMK Series A card, but only if you have an old laptop that has 16-bit original PCMCIA sockets, not 32-bit Cardbus ones.

Rockwell didn't abandon PLC-2 users; the "modern" AI-2 software supports the current PCMK cards and the "smart cable" front-port connection and even can run in Windows NT ! But Rockwell prices it sky-high to keep it out of the hands of dabblers and encourage PLC-5 and SLC upgrades.

I will now deliver my rant about DOS editor support to an audience of frozen pizza and Law & Order re-runs, and spare my comrades on this BBS.

And Steve Meisel's post in another thread reminded me of the URL I couldn't remember:

http://www.austglobal.com/plcc.html

These guys are probably doing a good business supplanting 6200-PLC2. If they could export to AI-2 format they'd be heroes.

I had this little problem when trying to run GE logimaster in a window using windows 98. The way I got round this was to refomat the hard drive to fat 16 (as previously suggested) and edit the config.sys file to the following:

device=c:\windows\himem.sys
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe NOEMS I=B000-B7FF X=CC00-CDFF
dos=high,umb
files=30
buffers=20
device=c:\windows\command\ansi.sys

Then I placed a nice little shortcut onto the desktop, right clicked it selected properties and in the program tag, selected advanced and ticked 'prevent msdos based programs from detecting windows'. This approach worked for me and allowed me to run an old dos program in a window.

This might help, or it might not, so good luck.

Paul

We can Help U out

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Phil

I was able to use that software two years ago while running Windows 95.

It would work fine (even download) as long as I selected the msdos option from the Windows 95 shutdown menu.

I believe that Win98 would work the same in this regard.

Man-gal, I doubt very much if'n U could help out any of us hyar, cuz we is obviously too stoopid t' figger out thet you is advertisin' instead of tryin' to assist the rest o' the fellers. Either thet, or U has found a magic potion what U cin sprinkle on yer keyboard and transmit the secrets o' th' universe t' us mere mortals!

(By the way, sum of us fellers hyar is gonna be a little shy askin fer exspurt advice from a guy what cain't be bothered t' write grammatically keerect sentences.)