I think windows system was never concibed to use on so delicated task as is to control a second software to either control a mechanical device, My personal opinion is that you can take more benefits out of mach if you are a person that really wants to introduce and learn about cnc funcionality and assembling but for real bussines i think i would use an ajax system that is already based on linux even id pay the 2500 for the basic 3 axis kit but is something that really is trouble free and ready to make money on a seroius bussiness thinking persons, Mach is really a excellent software but id never put a $US 2000.00 metal block just not waiting for something bad to happen because of a windows/mach problem.

Hi,
  What about a version for Mac? I know nothing about Mac apart from its suposedly very
reliable,plus you can get them at a reasnonle price second hand.
   WhileI'm here My machines have there own dedicated XP pro computers,not networked,
How do I remove the networking side from the computers along with any unnecessary svchost stuff?
 I must admit XP Pro does seem like a sledgehammer to crack a nut in our applications.
 Cheers

I think ART has already covered this with "Linux,Unix,DEC,ETC does not work one  bit better than Windows. In fact more trouble and LESS support." The MACH kernal CAME started from EMC/Linux. Why would you want to put it back?

Need free CNC controller------------EMC/Linux it is wating for you to download, FREE,   Good Luck, been there done that one

MACH3  "Best $159.00 I ever spent"

There is software out there that can strip out all the unneccasary parts of XP/W2K and get it down to a more basic kernal. Xp shrinks from 1GB down to about 400MB and W2K down to about 250- 300mb.

Have you personally tried the Ajax conversion?  (;-)


(;-) TP

Vmax,
  Ive used mach for a couple of years now,It was the best £89 I have spent!
can you post some liks to this stripping software.
as far as linux is concerned,my interest in it and EMC stalled long before I managed to get it
to turn a motor,far to complicated to set up!plus I rely on mastercam X,autocad,solidworks etc.etc.

I HAVE A VERTICAL CNC MILL WITH THE AJAX CONVERSION AND I CAN TELL YOU ITS THE BEST LOW COST/HIGH EFFICIENCY CNC RETROFIT KITS AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT IS ROBUST AND REALLY MADE STRAIGHT TO INDUSTRIAL CNC ENVIROMENT, IT MEANS NO BUGS, NO OS CRASHES, THE DRIVERS COMES WITH A PLC INTEGRATED, ALSO THEY OFFER KITS FOR LATHES AND TOOL CHANGING OPTIONS, AND THE KIT COMES WITH A SOLID STATE HARD DRIVE WITH THE RIGHT CONFIGURATION FOR THE PLC SO IT MEANS YOU ONLY HAVE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION ABOUT CONFIGURING THE AXIS AND HOW TO PUT THE WIRES IN THE CORRECT PLACE, ALSO IT COMES WITH A AUTOSETTING FUNTION WICH SET HOW FAST CAN BE THE G0 MOVEMENT ON THAT PARTICULARY EQUIPMENT YOU HAVE INSTALLED THE KIT.

DIGI you don't have to yell(;-)

I have reveiwed the Ajax kit in the past. The initia upfront costs LOOK promising untill you start to add up all the "options" to make it equal to MACH. Then the major $$$ start to show up. So far Mach does about everything the Ajax kit promised and sometimes more at a "much" lower price. Also the support end was not readily forcoming. I started My BP Boss conversion with AJAX, I quickly figured out the Catch22. (;-)

BUT if you are happy with what you have, then that is all that matters. That is the beauty of homegrown CNC you can have it your way.

(;-) TP

Comet do a search on XPLITE.

Note: I might add if you are using your Comp for something other than CNC controller be carefull of what you think you may not need. Windows is seriously inter wowen with all its functions. Something that seems totally unrelated may controll another function you need to use.

Through the search you will find comments on this.

(;-) TP

Just a note, there is so much value in for instance Windows XP that most users are not aware of. The price of the OS is very reasonable. Consider the VBScript function, the JIT environment, cross language portability within the .net development. If you get to know it, you learn how to appreciate what the OS has taken care of. I have started programming in assembler in the late seventies, that is native code. The difference between then and know in what the OS can do is purely astounding. I suppose you can guess by know that I am a Microsoft fan!

William

Yes I agree, BUT windows carries a LOT more baggage than it really needs. A course in code reduction would serve them well.I guess it is easier to write a lot of sloppy code rather than spend the time to condense it to it simplest form.(;-) TP

The cost of windows is the only downside I can see. But if you buy a computer from a store you don't need to thing about that ether.

Did you know that XP runs some of the ATMs here in Sweden? I have never heard of a problem that was XPs fault. Altho we have made quite a few jokes about it. (and no it's not the kind of ATM that you can use MS paint on, these are secure)
2000 has been used for a long time in ATM aswell without a problem.

Anyway, my point is that if you treat windows properly it won't fail on it's own.

If only IBM would have been smarter. Then we would be using OS2 and not caring about instability. I have seen servers running OS2 for over 10 years without software faliure and still do. Getting tossed out only becuse the hardware itself is getting old now.

I don't know why I defend windows in this instance because I hate Micro$oft and what they do. I dissaprove that Gates stole the ideas not from Apple but from IBM during the time he worked there developing OS2. To bad he blew it with his own ideas. Neverminde. I should walk away now.