Windows 98 and DOS

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
mpack
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Re: Windows 98 and DOS

Post by mpack »

So Procomm is uploading g-code? Or whatever passed for g-code at the time?

Well then, if Procomm is only used to upload parameters and download data, why does it have to be Procomm and why does it have to be DOS? Any terminal software could likely do that. It sounds like you're saying reliance on the latter two is actually quite small.

Do you know what protocol is used to upload parameters? If you say it's the equivalent of paper tape I'd guess it isn't using an error checking protocol at all, it's just spitting a string out and delaying for a while, then next string. If it relied on an old serial protocol (say Xmodem or Kermit) then you might have trouble finding modern apps with that capability, but transmitting text with character and line delays shouldn't be a big deal.

p.s. I suspect that a Procomm script will still be involved, reading and transferring strings with appropriate character and line delays, only now the script is much simpler than I imagined, and just about any terminal software could do it.

I can't escape the feeling that this doesn't need to be a PC at all, virtual or otherwise. The CNC machine doesn't care who's sending it serial instructions, it could easily be (for example) a Raspberry Pi running a Python script. All the config files could be stored on the RPi sdcard. You could pay a student in beer money to do the port.

If you stick to the original plan of keeping the ancient release of Procomm running in a CPU-throttled VM... then I have no doubt that you could get it to work for a while, but it's inherently unstable. Better IMO to understand the problem and fix it it properly. The age of the CNC machine is not the problem here, the problem is the age of the (temporary?) hack used to drive it!
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