Steve,  I got try your new plugin on a 1843 last night and it was spot on.  Now when I press stop, then Goto Zero it is correct!    I hope try this on a 2133 soon, I will report the results.  I also note that the Stop event seems smoother now, not such an abrupt stop.  All in all a definite improvement!

Thank you for the fix and all your efforts,
Matt

Thanks Machine head Steve,

I was reading in another thread that the MPG hand wheel is the problem.I hope I read wrong.

Thanks for your help and i will have to remember that you and Smurph are both Steve!

Joe

I posted this in another thread, but this thread that is the only one getting any action so I am going to ask again here.

I am setting up a new dedicated computer now for Mach3 . I was able to pick up an Optima 1830 Pci
I had some new unused parts available even though they are dated by todays standards.

Intel q6600 Gigabyte board 500 gb 4gb DDR3 1600 ram 750 Watt Power Supply

So I can now run a faster computer than the one with my Galil ISA card

Do I install Smart term still or the new galil Suite?

Thanks,
Joe

Hi Steve (Smurph),

Tried the new plugin on a 2133, it works great, after Stop it is able to return to zero  .  Tried several times to make it loose position and could not loose position.  Plan to cut a bunch more in the next few days so will keep an eye on it.  Also I searched the log on both DMCs and only saw a DP on start up, which seems acceptable...

Note: If you did not do a DP on start up and instead use the position that is already in the Galil to update Mach's DRO it would be a bit better.  Then a user could go into and out of Mach without loosing position.  I would not classify this as a bug, more a potential enhancement.  With this change only a Ref Home would do a DP.  Again not a big deal, the way it is works (might even be best practice to force users to Home on Mach start up), just a thought.

Thank you,
Matt

Nice!  I'm glad it works for you! 

I posted this in another thread, but this thread that is the only one getting any action so I am going to ask again here.

I am setting up a new dedicated computer now for Mach3 . I was able to pick up an Optima 1830 Pci
I had some new unused parts available even though they are dated by todays standards.

Intel q6600 Gigabyte board 500 gb 4gb DDR3 1600 ram 750 Watt Power Supply

So I can now run a faster computer than the one with my Galil ISA card

Do I install Smart term still or the new galil Suite?

Thanks,
Joe

What OS?  Smart Term only works up to XP.  Anything newer and you will have to use Galil Tools and the non Smart Term Galil plugin.  This MAY work for you.  I just have never tested it.  In any case, stick with a 32 bit OS as the code in the Galil plugin has a better chance of working with that.  I have tested the Galil Tools based plugin with a 18x6 Accelera PCI controller and it worked.  But I have no Optimas or Econos to test with. 

The no nonsense combo that WILL absolutely work is Windows XP32 with Start Term (version 7) drivers. 

Just a heads up...  For the future, I am thinking about dropping support for all bus based controllers.  This is not a decision I took lightly.  And I actually haven't decided yet.  But it is getting increasingly harder to support the bus based controllers.  Namely because I don't have one of each (and they all act a bit differently with data record retrieval) and my latest PC doesn't even have a regular PCI slot!  Conversely, nearly ALL PCs have Ethernet cards in them and the Ethernet cards all work the same.

That and the fact that I don't believe Galil even plans on releasing another bus based controller.  Meaning PCI-e is not in the cards. 

Just something to think about...

Steve

Hi Smurph,

I know what you mean about the Bus controller handling the DR differently, I had to come to a similar conclusion.  Dropping support for them is the right decision because the way you have to process the DR on a BUS controller is so much slower than the old methods of retrieving records that it really handicaps those controllers.  So even if you took the time to code DR handling for the BUS controllers the results would be a less responsive controller.  In my opinion you are better off leaving them using the current plugin and leave them at Mach3.  The DR is just such a powerful tool to the programmer that using that exclusively will improve performance.

I don't say that lightly either because my hobby CNC uses an Econo 1843    But you got to do the right thing.

I will say this I have only dealt with the econo series Bus controllers, I do believe the accelera bus controllers can handle DR using the same programming techniques that ethernet controllers use.  So you might just be able to drop the econo bus and not have to do any special coding for the accelera bus controllers...  I checked and Accelera Bus does except the DR command.  Also checked and the Econo Bus controllers have to use the QR command which is not efficient and takes extra coding effort.

Matt

Smurph thanks for your response.

If you drop support for the Bus Based Galil cards us Folks who have them will still be able to use Mach3 as long as we do not update Mach3 should be ok still using them yes?

So what card do you recommend getting?

Thanks,
Joe

Yes.  But you can only be assured it works with XP32 and Smart Term.    XP is a bit long in the tooth these days and MS will drop support for it in 2 months!  But if you get a machine that is stable with it, you should be able to run Mach3 on XP for quite a while.  Just remember that if something goes "poof", you will have a hard time getting it replaced as compared to just buying a new PC and going from there.  Most new PCs don't even have the good 'ol PCI slots anymore.  

I recommend any Ethernet controller.  21x3, 21x0, 22x0 for the older ones.  41x3 and 40x0 for the new ones.  The new controllers are really fast.  They take input from the command line approximately 10 times faster.  They also have a new motion mode called PVT (vs. linear interpolation) and can also use contour mode.  Ethernet will be around for a really really long time.  And it requires no driver from Galil that may become antiquated by new Windows versions or hardware changes.

Steve

Yes I guess I should just sell the Galil cards on ebay and start over.

It has been so long since I have used XP PRO I hope I can still remember how to use it!