Virtualization of Mark V <I>

Dear All,

Hope you are all good. During our recent meeting on the subject "Digitalization and Virtualization of Control Systems," an idea was floated to virtualize Mark V due to it being obsolete and un-user friendly. We have made some arrangements and used third party softwares for virtually running MS DOS on Windows 7/10.

However, the problem arises when we connect Arcnet Card and try to link it with other PCs and control cores. We cannot find an interface or driver which will link Arcnet to be used in DOS via Windows 7/10.

I hope there is a solution to this as well, as there has been always on this forum.

Thanking in advance.

Regards.
Rizwan
 
rizwanhaide,

I have not found a solution to this problem.

I would recommend contacting the manufacturer of the ARCnet products GE uses to see if they have something (an NIC and a driver for the VM you are using).

Contemporary Controls

www.ccontrols.com

Please let us know what you learn!

For a complete HMI solution that is much better than the OEM's, try contacting CSE Engineering at:

www.cse-eng-inc.com

It's not as inexpensive as a VM solution, but it is better and less expensive than the OEM's offering which just keeps 6more compli6, less documented, less supported - by the OEM!, and more expensive.

Again, please let us know what you learn!
 
I have seen the CSE engineering product and agree that it is a good product.

If you are specifically looking for a virtualized MK-5 solution, several years ago TVA looked at the TC&E (Turbine Controls and Excitation) virtualized product and it appears to be a good product also. I have only seen it in a simulator environment, not on a actual unit.

Some years ago TVA evaluated the above 2 solutions as well as the TTS (Turbine Technology Services) TMOS system and eventually chose TMOS for our MK-4 and MK-5 units, with TMOS on 20 simple cycle MK-5 units, 28 MK-4 units and one cogen unit with MK-5.

TMOS has served us well and I believe we would have been well served with either of the other 2 solutions above also.

In summary, if you are looking for a non-OEM solution for MK-5 operator interfaces, I believe you will find either the CSE Engineering or the TTS system to be both significantly better than the OEM solution for MK-5, as well as more affordable.

The advantage/disadvantage of a virtualized solution that you originally asked about is that you are stuck with the limitations of the original software you are using. IMO, the 2 non-virtualized solutions discussed above offer significant additional features that are of value. That is why I would not consider a virtual solution for MK-5 unless it was really cheap, and I was making decisions based only on $ which in some cases is what has to be done.
 
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