PLC-5 A.I. and PCMK in DOS or possible RS Linx

I wondered if anyone has ever gotten PLC-5 A.I. version 8.03 and RS Linx working with a PCMK card? Version "B".

I downloaded Cardware (free version on the internet for DOS) to work with A.I. DOS but I wanted to try and get version 8.03 of PLC-5 A.I. which according to AB Knowledge base should give me the option of "RS LINX" in A.I. Just curious if anyone has tried this in Windows 2000 and if you are successful or if I am wasting my time and just go with the Cardware driver for DOS and give up on getting A.I. working with Windows 2000...

There are tons of topics on PCMK posted, but I don’t think anyone has ever talked about what I am attempting to do. RS Logix 5 is not an option in this setup. I either gotta get a DOS driver working or get an update to 8.03 A.I. which support the RS LINX to A.I. (to my understanding reading some AB KB docs….)

RSLinx is the only way to get AI-5 to work with a PCMK card on a Windows NT/2000/XP computer. Windows NT architecture won't allow DOS drivers like Cardware to access hardware resources like the PCMCIA ports.

You'll find some testimony on this forum and others that AI online function using the RSLinx option is much slower than the old DOS version. Yup, DOS programs run better in DOS.

Does your PC have a 32-bit Cardbus interface, or the original 16-bit PCMCIA bus ?

****..I forgot to say...My laptop is DUAL BOOTED to DOS 6.22. I would be using Cardware drivers in DOS 6.22, but I prefer to try the RS LINX way, cause I am lazy and I like RS LINX...

You'll find some testimony on this forum and others that AI online function using the RSLinx option is much slower than the old DOS version. Yup, DOS programs run better in DOS.

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Soooooo...it must work eh?

Under Win 2000 or Win XP you need the "plug-and-play" driver for the PCMK card (its on the RSLinx CD).

But forget about using RSLinx with the old DOS software. Your DH+ connection will be as "fast" as a serial connection at 4800 baud.

As you have dualboot allready, do yourself a favor and use your DOS software under DOS. It will be "blistering" fast, compared to working under Win 2000.

NB: Cardware and the alternative PCMKINIT will work up to Win 98. So you could have your old software working in a more modern Windows environment, if thats what you are after.

RSLinx may be slower but don't let that discourage you from trying it. It really depends on what you are doing - heavy programming online, or just monitoring.

I work in a plant with over 1000 PLC-5's and we have dozens of PC's all over the floor all running Win2K and A.I. 5 and using RSLinx to access the PLCs through DH+ and Pyramid Integrators. This is our "standard" until we can afford to upgrade to newer technology.

It takes a long time to upload, and when you scroll quickly through rungs it has to pause about every 10 rungs to read another block from the processor. Most of the time it responds quickly enough to be useable.

There are some advantages that can't be done with DOS. If you create multiple folders of the AI executable files then you can run multiple instances under Win2K and be online with several processors at the same time. You can also connect to processors using ControlNet or Ethernet because RSLinx translates all protocols for you. If you go online through Ethernet, it will be "blazing" fast just like you were using DOS.

RSLinx may be slower but don't let that discourage you from trying it.

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steve708,

NICE! Thanks for the tips. I am trying to get our AI PLC-5 package added to our AB eConnect program at Rockwell Software, so I should be able to download the lastest version and give it a whirl soon.