Bit_Bucket_07
Member
As I recall, AB didn't promote the PLC-3 for very long. We were warned away from it by our local distributor at the time. We pretty much went directly from using the PLC-2 to the PLC-5 family.
For liability reasons they would not "fix" them or reprogram them
Thanks for the detailed update. It went better than I predicted !
Upgrades and migrations of big systems are exciting and challenging. Hospice care for dying controllers is less so.
6200-PLC3 was never "free"; it simply was not copy-protected and was widely pirated.
Neither of the software packages is out of copyright protection; in the USA, copyright of a work made for hire is 95 years from publication.
As a practical matter, Rockwell Automation does not pursue copyright violations for unsupported software.
In my opinion, PLC-3 upgrades should be left to companies who already have the experience and tools, or done in cooperation with those companies so that you are the "new local expert" who understands the process and installation and plant, who the customer can rely on for the next 25 years.