One of the newer thin clients should be able to run LCNC very nicely. I finally
got my Light Machines mill shifted out to where I can get at it to work with
it. Just need to get unbusy with other things so I can see about putting DOS on
a WYSE S30 to run its old software. It'll work with something as old as a Model
5150 IBM PC. The S30 is far more computer than it needs, but small enough I
could probably stuff it somewhere inside the box on the back of the mill.
A newer and beefier thin client would be needed for LCNC. Fortunately there are
several models with support for at least a couple of gigs RAM, and have normal
CPUs instead of that Geode descendant of the Cyrix MediaGX in the Sx0 series.
I do have all the technical info on the Animatics servo controller* Light
Machines and Intelitek used in the PLM2000 mill, so it should be possible to
use that to feed it gcode from LCNC. If LCNC could be squeezed onto an Sx0 or
similar, the lack of CPU power wouldn't be an issue because the servo
controller in the mill does all the heavy work, the control PC merely throws
gcode at it, no calculating of curves etc. It's likely not possible to teach
the old mill new tricks, except by using different software to calculate things
not built into its controller, then translating the output to a series of
commands it does understand. There's also the possibility of exploiting
features of the controller which Light Machines didn't tap, such as the
internal program memory to store and repeatedly run code.
*Someone at Moog-Animatics who was with Animatics prior to their merger dug it
up on an old backup drive they still had.
On Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 3:57:09 PM MDT, Marcus Bowman
<[email protected]> wrote:
I have several old computers here, but I much prefer putting a new computer in
a new project machine. Even with a cheap main board, the cost is considerable
by the time you add memory, rack mount case and PSU, swappable hard drives,
etc. The BBB or anything like it which would work, would be a nice 'slim' way
to go, for a change.
I'm about to convert a small CNC lathe from a proprietary system to LinuxCNC
and Mach3 (swappable drives) so that will be another big new computer, I guess.
<sigh>.
Marcus
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