MACH3 apparently won't run on 64bit machines without a parallel port. MACH4 was supposed to be the successor and support more of the 64bit machines and external stepper engines. Not only that they have a licensing method that is tied to the hardware and more expensive for commercial systems. In the Tormach case the LinuxCNC variant is probably tied to the motor hardware so replacing the PC and installing Path Pilot can be done without a "Call Home" sequence.
AS always. Follow the money. John > -----Original Message----- > From: Martin Dobbins [mailto:tu...@hotmail.com] > Sent: October-12-17 9:03 AM > To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] MachineKit on the BeagleBone Black > > It was in response to comparisons being made to commercial software such as > Apple, Microsoft, Google and Tormach. Money is not required to make > progress, it sometimes makes it faster, though. > > > The work that is going on right now to make Path Pilot run on any machine that > can run Linuxcnc makes me think of those people who make "hackintoshes". > Apple's operating system is priced low compared to Microsoft's (and arguably > works better), but it is designed to work with Apple's hardware and if someone > wants to put it on a system that isn't Apple they have to think of work arounds > to persuade the software that it is running on Apple hardware. > > > My guess is that Path pilot is probably easier to use than Mach 3 or Mach 4 and > easier for Tormach to support which is why they made the decision to move > away from their previous software offerings. I don't know the facts, but I > would bet that money made Path Pilot happen (relatively quickly) for Tormach. > > > Rather than run up against possible licensing issues, it would be nice to see a > reverse engineer of Path Pilot possibly with changes to make it even better, that > comes as another choice of user interfaces to add to those already available. > > > Martin > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ > > > On 11 October 2017 at 22:30, Martin Dobbins <tu...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > What it needs is money, unfortunately. > > Why do you say that? We have got this far without any money. > > -- > atp > "A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is > designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and > lunatics." > - George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1916 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
