TimothyMoulder
Member
To expound further...
Everything that has been mentioned wrong with PC-based controls thus far has happened to me ... on one system.
We have two automatic welders running Steeplechase with devicenet and WAGO I/O blocks and a few numatics valve manifolds. Windows NT for an operating system.
On one machine :
1. The touchscreen would not stay calibrated, interfered with the mouse, and had to be disabled.
2. Generates a driver error and DR Watson error EVERY SINGLE TIME an application is opened or closed. If you acknowledge on of these (click "OK"), it generates two more!
On the second machine :
1. The screen goes black. Poof, gone. The machine will keep running anyhow, but what good is that if you can't see anything? The screen silicon is shot, the new motherboard will not accept the non-volatile RAM chips used in the old one.
2. After two years of suffering with devicenet bus-off failures, got the okay to buy an SST Netmeter. Found a malfunctioning node. Finally got one in the "win" column.
On both machines :
1. Corporate has issued a commandment from On High : "Thou Shalt Used Windows XP -- at least until the next version comes out." Both computers must be rebuilt, and the software installed. Oh, and our version of Steeplechase is not XP compatible, soooo we gotta buy that too.
Ya know, despite my recent complaints with AB, I have a micrologix 1200 in a machine installed at the same time as these two ****roaches, and it's been running like a top for over two years. No issues.
PC control? It's an oxymoron. With emphasis on the "moron".
TM
Everything that has been mentioned wrong with PC-based controls thus far has happened to me ... on one system.
We have two automatic welders running Steeplechase with devicenet and WAGO I/O blocks and a few numatics valve manifolds. Windows NT for an operating system.
On one machine :
1. The touchscreen would not stay calibrated, interfered with the mouse, and had to be disabled.
2. Generates a driver error and DR Watson error EVERY SINGLE TIME an application is opened or closed. If you acknowledge on of these (click "OK"), it generates two more!
On the second machine :
1. The screen goes black. Poof, gone. The machine will keep running anyhow, but what good is that if you can't see anything? The screen silicon is shot, the new motherboard will not accept the non-volatile RAM chips used in the old one.
2. After two years of suffering with devicenet bus-off failures, got the okay to buy an SST Netmeter. Found a malfunctioning node. Finally got one in the "win" column.
On both machines :
1. Corporate has issued a commandment from On High : "Thou Shalt Used Windows XP -- at least until the next version comes out." Both computers must be rebuilt, and the software installed. Oh, and our version of Steeplechase is not XP compatible, soooo we gotta buy that too.
Ya know, despite my recent complaints with AB, I have a micrologix 1200 in a machine installed at the same time as these two ****roaches, and it's been running like a top for over two years. No issues.
PC control? It's an oxymoron. With emphasis on the "moron".
TM
