S
Steve Myres
<i>My point (which you seam to have missed) was that ALL of the MAJOR players, Rockwell, Emerson and my limited experience Siemens newer S7 do this (flash the hardware to add major functionality) which requires software changes.</i>
I didn’t miss that point, but it’s not responsive to my original point, with which you seemed to disagree.
<i> I do not consider Automation direct or even Omron to be a major player.....for the most part AD is a low end small toy market (low bidder) type of market (fire at will). (go read any of the product user annual usage numbers, small players) </i>
Omron is huge in Asia, and you’ll find them in a lot of Asian- and European-made equipment. Maybe not an RA or a Siemens but not a bit player. Yes, the AD/Koyo stuff is for small equipment only, not process plants or distributed control, but they sell a lot of them in the small custom machine market. But I know what you mean, they certainly don’t have the major player “feel” about them.
<i> You're argument to me comes across as why do I have to buy a new home computer to support Aero, or virtualization etc, why can't I just do everything with my x86 processor or my old Pentium, damn you Microsoft and Intel.....</i>
I never said any of that stuff nor made the analogous PLC complaints. If I’m projecting that opinion unintentionally, I apologize for my lack of precision. I don’t mind being given the option of upgrading a processor with new firmware for new capabilities and if that requires running the latest software version, I have no problem with that either. Refer to my earlier posts and the earlier part of this post.
My only beef, as I’m sure you can confirm if you reread my original post, is that newer software should support all firmware that’s been fielded by the time the software is released, or at least within the preceding decade, and preferably without asking the user to tell the software that’s what he wants while he’s installing it, and DEFINITELY without requiring multiple full separate installs, either of the user or of his PC. And the NEXT version of the software should do the same thing, support all firmware in the field at the time of ITS release. It actually sounds from one of Bob's posts that the current versions of RSL500 may actually DO this (with the exception of asking the installer if he wants the old firmwares supported -- why even ask this?) and if that's the case, my disdain, while still richly deserved by the old versions, is obsolete. I further stated that contrary to your assertions, that RSL500 was capable of this as are many of the other players in the market (to the best of my knowledge, all of them), so for RA to say “Wah, it’s too hard” is simply not credible. That’s the sum total of my opinion as expressed in this thread, except for some tangential stuff between Bob and myself about the CLX feature set and date of introduction of UDT’s.
<i> You seam to think that you HAVE to update the processor to exist, you do not......reread that, YOU DO NOT. But if you do want to do (analogy alert) say XP mode, virtualization, Aero, Internet integration, then you DO have to flash your processor (not buy a new one) and use the new software to talk to it. If you do not want to use these features, then keep using the older version. If you have some processors running one and another new, check the box to support both revisions (now) of hardware. DONE, no big deal....</i>
Again, not a thing that I actually said, but I agree nonetheless. People don’t have to feel obligated to go around flashing PLC’s in working applications to the latest firmware just because there IS one.
<i>We can agree to disagree.....</i>
Works for me. I still feel like you’re ignoring my actual claims and demolishing claims I never made, but given your responses, perhaps you feel that’s what I’m doing to you as well. If so, my apologies.
I didn’t miss that point, but it’s not responsive to my original point, with which you seemed to disagree.
<i> I do not consider Automation direct or even Omron to be a major player.....for the most part AD is a low end small toy market (low bidder) type of market (fire at will). (go read any of the product user annual usage numbers, small players) </i>
Omron is huge in Asia, and you’ll find them in a lot of Asian- and European-made equipment. Maybe not an RA or a Siemens but not a bit player. Yes, the AD/Koyo stuff is for small equipment only, not process plants or distributed control, but they sell a lot of them in the small custom machine market. But I know what you mean, they certainly don’t have the major player “feel” about them.
<i> You're argument to me comes across as why do I have to buy a new home computer to support Aero, or virtualization etc, why can't I just do everything with my x86 processor or my old Pentium, damn you Microsoft and Intel.....</i>
I never said any of that stuff nor made the analogous PLC complaints. If I’m projecting that opinion unintentionally, I apologize for my lack of precision. I don’t mind being given the option of upgrading a processor with new firmware for new capabilities and if that requires running the latest software version, I have no problem with that either. Refer to my earlier posts and the earlier part of this post.
My only beef, as I’m sure you can confirm if you reread my original post, is that newer software should support all firmware that’s been fielded by the time the software is released, or at least within the preceding decade, and preferably without asking the user to tell the software that’s what he wants while he’s installing it, and DEFINITELY without requiring multiple full separate installs, either of the user or of his PC. And the NEXT version of the software should do the same thing, support all firmware in the field at the time of ITS release. It actually sounds from one of Bob's posts that the current versions of RSL500 may actually DO this (with the exception of asking the installer if he wants the old firmwares supported -- why even ask this?) and if that's the case, my disdain, while still richly deserved by the old versions, is obsolete. I further stated that contrary to your assertions, that RSL500 was capable of this as are many of the other players in the market (to the best of my knowledge, all of them), so for RA to say “Wah, it’s too hard” is simply not credible. That’s the sum total of my opinion as expressed in this thread, except for some tangential stuff between Bob and myself about the CLX feature set and date of introduction of UDT’s.
<i> You seam to think that you HAVE to update the processor to exist, you do not......reread that, YOU DO NOT. But if you do want to do (analogy alert) say XP mode, virtualization, Aero, Internet integration, then you DO have to flash your processor (not buy a new one) and use the new software to talk to it. If you do not want to use these features, then keep using the older version. If you have some processors running one and another new, check the box to support both revisions (now) of hardware. DONE, no big deal....</i>
Again, not a thing that I actually said, but I agree nonetheless. People don’t have to feel obligated to go around flashing PLC’s in working applications to the latest firmware just because there IS one.
<i>We can agree to disagree.....</i>
Works for me. I still feel like you’re ignoring my actual claims and demolishing claims I never made, but given your responses, perhaps you feel that’s what I’m doing to you as well. If so, my apologies.
