Scott- Those are really excellent write-ups! I agree with you about the newbie first impressions. I very nearly went with Mach when I built my first machine 2 years ago. It wasn't until I visited Jon Elson that I saw first hand what a capable piece of software LinuxCNC really is that I made my decision. What I observed was that the documentation manuals were very good if a bit challenging for a newbie in places. The wiki entries are uneven (to be expected, I suppose) and could often use some clarification. For me, at least, thorough case sudies like Scott's can be very useful.
I'm at the point now that I can probably help out in improving the wiki for new users and intend to do so soon. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be welcome. Greg >________________________________ > From: Scott Hasse <scott.ha...@gmail.com> >To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> >Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2012 9:19 AM >Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Marketing LinuxCNC, was Re: Trajectory planning and >other topics from a EMC(LinuxCNC) newbie > >As a relative LinuxCNC newbie, I can say that a more clear presentation of >the capabilities of the system would have made it less daunting to choose >LinuxCNC. As a hobby CNC user, I had been exposed to probably 20 >half-baked open source CAM tools/packages and been impressed with a total >of zero. As a hacker space, we were philosophically committed to open >source and so pursued LinuxCNC, but given that previous CAM experience I >thought it was going to be a "down the rabbit hole" experience. > >I was greatly pleased to find out not only that LinuxCNC is extremely >mature and stable, but that the architecture is well-thought-out and well >executed, there are configuration generators for the most common use cases, >a choice of clean functional extensible GUIs, and so many other "batteries >included" that I absolutely was not expecting. Not to mention what others >have said with respect to the helpfulness and openness of this support >community. > >I'm now through two conversions and could not be more pleased: > >http://code.google.com/p/sector67-sandbox/wiki/3300MillConversion >http://code.google.com/p/sector67-sandbox/wiki/ProjectSheetCake > >and would be willing to pitch in the documentation I have and additional >videos, etc. to help more accurately represent the excellent state of this >software and community to prospective users. > >My two cents, > >Scott > >On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 8:34 AM, gene heskett <ghesk...@wdtv.com> wrote: > >> On Saturday, March 17, 2012 09:05:00 AM Mark Wendt (Contractor) did opine: >> >> > On 3/16/2012 10:31 PM, Stuart Stevenson wrote: >> > > Gentlemen, >> > > >> > > Just how do you 'market' a free item/product? The free LinuxCNC >> > > software >> > > >> > > is not even a loss leader. The whole thing is free - all the time - >> > > even the advice - even the help. >> > > >> > > Just asking. >> > > >> > > thanks >> > > Stuart >> > >> > Stuart, >> > >> > Marketing is marketing, whether for profit or for non-profit. Even if >> > free, you still want to be able to "give" it away. Like Kent mentioned, >> > Case Studies and perhaps Testimonials are our "Free" advertising. >> > That's the kind of stuff that needs to be in big, bold letters for folks >> > looking at our stuff and wondering whether it's worth their time and >> > effort to install the software, and become part of our user base. We >> > need to show them what the software can do for them, how our support >> > works, and how it all benefits them. >> > >> > Otherwise, if they see no benefit, they'll say the hell with it and >> > become a Mach user. >> > >> > Mark >> >> While I tend to agree that we need to polish up our sales pitch and >> material, one of the things I think we need to emphasize is the level of >> support, I think it is fantastic compared to anything I've ever seen >> before, where software packages that cost $2500/month, often have bugs that >> don't get fixed till the next annual, send lots more money, update. That >> is the usual situation at a tv station, where the software that handles >> "Traffic", is the heart and soul of the business model. >> >> LinuxCNC with its random releases that to my knowledge have only once or >> twice not been 100% backwards compatible, has amazed me. But I guess I'm >> getting used to the Linux way of doing things. >> >> Take amanda, the backup program, where I have been playing the canary in >> the coal mine for the bleeding edge development versions for nearly 10 >> years & running it for 14. Only one, non-compatible update has ever taken >> place and that was at least a decade ago. It gets broken by support >> library changes regularly, most recently by a glib-utils update, but was >> fixed in 3 days. That rapidity of fixing things we have no control over >> means we get broken more often than an M$ product is, but we still fix it >> 10x faster too. >> >> IMO, this rapid response to problems, should be quite near the top of the >> list of advantages to choosing LinuxCNC. >> >> 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> >> Credit ... is the only enduring testimonial to man's confidence in man. >> -- James Blish >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> This SF email is sponsosred by: >> Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure >> _______________________________________________ >> Emc-users mailing list >> Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users >> >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >This SF email is sponsosred by: >Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here >http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure >_______________________________________________ >Emc-users mailing list >Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net >https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
