On Thursday, November 17, 2011 02:23:07 PM Kent A. Reed did opine: > On 11/17/2011 5:22 AM, Peter Blodow wrote: > > Jon, > > I think Richards original message was a little ironical. I think was > > he meant was that this EMC2 list is moving towards commercial users > > more and more, who are making money by using a no cost control > > program system. Consequently, interests of hobbyists (like I am, too) > > are going to the background. Nobody seriously wants to make watches > > on the kitchen table, you can buy them for a few dollars. > > Peter: > > I find your observation a bit ironical as well. Do you really feel > hobbyist interests are going to the background? > > It seems to me that this list is remarkably tolerant of one's 1) > interest, 2) level of skill and knowledge, 3) intention, and 4) > financial means. It would seem that all one has to do is ask and someone > somewhere will have an answer or a pointer toward someone else who does. > It certainly has met my hobbyist needs. Very well said, Kent. I am continually impressed, both on this list, and on IRC, of the number of people who will, in between changing pallets of a production job, stop and try, usually successfully, to answer questions from a hobbyist that can often be replied to with a curt RTFM, but who instead take the time to try and teach an old fart like me how to do it. A huge tip of the hat to those folks, you know who you are, and TBT it is most of you. > As for commercial users who are "making money by using a no cost control > program system," more power to them. After all, the EMC project at NIST > was part of a large national effort to improve the state of > manufacturing. That EMC2 seemed initially to cater to hobbyists is more > a matter of commercial users shunning an open-source project until they > discovered it was a viable alternative to their industrial controllers. > I think EMC2 is improved by efforts to introduce capabilities typical of > machining centers.
Tremendously so. Scratching an itch if you will, and we all benefit. > I've mentioned on this list before that the Wiki has a poorly kept up > section on the future of EMC2. If there are hobbyist interests that you > believe need to be addressed, that would be a good place to post them. > > And you underestimate my desire as a hobbyist when you say "nobody > seriously wants to make watches on the kitchen table...." Granted, it > isn't a watch but a big, noisy electro-mechanical clock I want to make. > Nearly everyday during my time at NBS/NIST I would take a moment to look > at the Shortt-Synchronome master clock in the library. Is that described in a wiki someplace? > Eventually I > decided I wanted to build one. From there is was an easy segue to the > decision that I needed to get into CNC milling before I could start > making clock parts. Granted, that's a bit like saying I have to drive to > the grocery store so I need to buy a Porsche 911 Carrera S, but you get > my drift. Exactly. ;-) > Happy machining! > > Regards, > Kent Cheers, Gene -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo. -- actress Mary Pickford, 1925 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All the data continuously generated in your IT infrastructure contains a definitive record of customers, application performance, security threats, fraudulent activity, and more. Splunk takes this data and makes sense of it. IT sense. And common sense. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-novd2d _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
