OT: Can someone explain Rockwell versioning system

cardosocea said:

- one was to be told that their not so old CPU's don't support Ethernet field IO (this is on CLX),

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Ouch. Do you recall what model CLX and firmware, and what the I/O was? Would love to know so I can avoid that landmine!

Maybe an old, old L1 processor? I know a 1756-ENET Ethernet card doesn't support Ethernet I/P.

not so old CPU's

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I'm old enough to remember that Ethernet's rise to dominance in industrial I/O has been notably fast, even though it's so common as to be standard today.

My recollection is that ControlLogix EtherNet/IP support for I/O connections was introduced with the 1756-ENET Series B firmware and RSLogix 5000 v16, so that would be in the summer of 2007.

Only the very first generation of ControlLogix controllers (1756-L1, released 21 years ago) could not be upgraded to support EtherNet/IP I/O.

Ken Roach said:

I'm old enough to remember that Ethernet's rise to dominance in industrial I/O has been notably fast, even though it's so common as to be standard today.

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I was just thinking about how far things have come recently. I've been in the industry a pinch over 10 years, and when i was just starting out, it was VERY important whether or not you were using crossover cables or patch cables. Now everything is autocrossover, and I had literally forgotten that was a concern in "the old days".

PLCnovice61 said:

l wonder how many people here have had to buy the software themselves( S or AB), without the ability to offset the cost to someone else.

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Come down to it, it's the cost of doing business. Doesn't matter if you are doing controls or running a hog dog stand.

I done "casual" work for engineering firms, part of the deal is the ability to use their software. It's all part of the consideration of how much to charge for your work and what's covered.

Hi all

It’s been a few years now that I have replied to any post.
I have been reading posts but for one reason or another I did not post anything
I have been reading this post and just wanted to post my experience

I worked mainly on AB for the first 12 years of working on plc’s. I worked on plc 5, slc 501,502,503,504 and 505. I would have worked on dh+, rio, device net,
Ethernet, then onto control Logix starting with ver 6 in 2001( where has the time gone and the hair�����&#56881 on my first clx project I used to ultra 300 servo drives with the old 2 axis Analog motion card. Things moved on and we got sercos ultra drives, then safety in the Plc and Ethernet motion. I even had to work on a few ab 150’s. My first slc ab program was done with the dos based software and after that all bar the 150 were the newer software. I worked with panel builder 32, rs view works , rs view me and se
In the last 6 or so years and I have used Siemens a fair bit. I have mainly used Siemens s7 but I also had to use the s5 software a good bit. I have to say that was hard to get used to but once I got a few tips the s5 software was some software for the age of it. A guy I worked with has shown me most of what I know on step 7. I have just finished my first full project from scratch on tia.
Like all new software with me it did take a while to get the hang of it.

The reason I have outlined the above is I use what the client is willing to pay me to do. I feel both have good and not so good points. I still feel ab is a better networking plc ( just my feeling and you don’t have to agree with me)
I would also say if you are nothappy with either there are plenty of other brands that give free software but from my experience I have not come across any free software that compares to paid for software. I take the view that software is not free to develop and as a programmer I use it to earn money to pay the bills.
Plc and robot programming have been good to me and have allowed me to earn a good living, now not every job or every hour have be great but I enjoy the challenges it brings.

If you don’t like either ab or Siemens that is up to you, but if someone is willing to pay you to program why should it matter to you. There is a reason these two companies have the biggest install in the world and looking at the new ab stuff I can’t see anytime in my working life that they will not always be one of the major players

Plc software has moved on so much in the last 20 years I can’t wait to see what it will be like in 20 years time.
Just my 2 cents

I like Donnchadh's comment. Where is the like button?

I really like Rockwell ladder (deff my fav) but I always feel like I am having to become fluent in Rockwell to support their product rather than use Engineering to solve issues. I seem to focus more on just the actual problems with Siemens. Just my .02