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tmoulder

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Everything posted by tmoulder

  1. I have enough gray hair to remember DOS and the concepts of "TSR" and "HIMEM". So I use high-number memory locations for certain canned subroutines like alarms and communications, and lower addresses for the system playground. Like Joe, I group things in 10s and 100s for station and process logic, ordered based on the workflow of the system. One exception to this, timers. Aside from timers assigned to those canned routines (which I try to avoid) I just use the "next operand" button. I'm rarely concerned with a particular timer and what it does, only with the effect on logic flow (alarms, for instance), and since there are fewer available timers than other bits, it makes no practical sense to reserve 10 timers for a station, then end up only using 3 or 5 of them. TM
  2. For my own clarification - the 560 is basically a 570 in a 280 housing, correct? (I know, some differences, but that's the gist of it?)
  3. Hi All! I'm working with Arkadi Samarov's 570 DHCP program and trying to pull and IP from my company servers. I had this working a couple of days ago, but when I went back to play further, it won't connect. Here's the funny part - the PLC is not showing a link. I plug it into my computer, and the link shows up, but the corporate router is a no-show, like the cable is not plugged in at all I'm trying to find out if a router can outright refuse a link - I thought this was a purely electrical signal, and had no dependency on IP or anything else, but looking online for the word "link" throws up too much static for a meaningful answer. Anybody see anything like this in the past? Thanks, TM
  4. Hi All! I'd like to suggest adding zooming to Visilogic when programming for the larger HMI sizes. I'm not as young as I used to be, and trying to lay out screen objects on the 1210 is giving me a migraine. Thanks! TM
  5. Has anyone had any success trying to send email from a V570 via an ISP service like Yahoo or such? At my current location, I can reach the internet but the LAN servers are off limits Thanks, TM
  6. This is awesome! DS402 is not officially supported in Unitronics, so if you found a work-around, that's golden! Do share!
  7. Hi D'Agostino, If you are asking about my module here, you can choose to import the display using the visilogic "Import" function. Instructions are in the text file in the download. If you are speaking about the built-in Unitronics function, the truth is, I only ever used it once, and never on the 1040, so I'm not sure myself where to begin. Ask in the general forum and you will find more help there. Best of Luck! TM
  8. Sounds like electrical noise. Check your ground, and watch out for feedback paths that can reach the PLC. Remember - isolators are your friends.
  9. So after a lengthy wait, I finally got the go-ahead to execute my long awaited CanOpen rebuild project in November. I can't go into the details of the machine itself, but I wanted to share a few critical learnings from contending with it during the installation and commissioning. 1. AC Tech Servo Drives - worked like champions, but I ran into an issue with the OEM limit switches. These were two-wire proxes, and leakage current wrought havoc on my sensitive new drives. This was addressed by installing relays on the switches, which provided a load to prevent false triggering. I also took it a step further and fully isolated the 24VDC circuit of the drives, to protect them from welding noise. 2. Wago CanOpen - When first powered up, the nodes were throwing an error onto the bus, then working fine thereafter. It turns out the node remembers the IO configuration that was connected to it the first time it was powered on, and if it sees different, generates this error before going to Operational state. Can be corrected by writing "save" to the appropriate register via SDO and CanOpen configuration software. 3. Numatics CanOpen - After powering up, the nodes would not respond to or generate any PDOs. I could see them in PCAN (software) and everything was right - operational, PDO length reflecting the physical IO attached, and no errors on communication, but also no action from them in response to input being tripped, or output being commanded. I grabbed my original test unit and checked it, and made a suprising discovery - the test unit had all 8 bytes of it's PDOs configured. This, regardless of the fact it only had two bytes each worth of IO. I used PCAN to manually configure the PDO on the nodes of the machine, and it all came to life. It seems that despite the Numatics node automatically detecting the IO attached, and automatically configuring it's PDO in response, it will not recognize or generate a PDO of any kind if it is, in fact, less than 8 bytes in length. Also of note, while the corrected setup is retained, if you get a bus-off error, it will force the node to reconfigure its PDO back to defaults, ie automatic detection again. It has to be corrected manually again to correct. 4. Motoman - ah, motoman. The CanOpen cards I ordered were bad from the box. Turns out that batch had known firmware issues. After several phone calls and some frantic rushing around, converted the robots to my fallback position of Modbus TCP. Lesson - if you are trying to do CanOpen with Motoman, at least in the US, don't. There's zero support for those cards and the cards themselves are questionable at best. Unitronics supports several protocols, just pick a different one for your robots. 5. IPD Dalsa vision system - nothing but kudos for these guys. I've using the VA31, and it runs terrific. One word of advice, use the hardware trigger input, it's just so much simpler than trying to trigger the image aquisition from modbus. Leave the data to modbus and trip the camera with a relay. 6. Unitronics - I replaced a Pentium 3 PC running Entivity Steeplechase. It included $16k worth of proprietary hardware, including a Sherlock vision card, two Motion control cards, and a devicenet card, all obsolete, all nearly impossible to obtain. I replaced that mess with a Vision 570 PLC, and a combination of CanOpen and Modbus TCP. The PLC cost less than any single component of the original PC based system - if you could even find them anymore. That's all for now. Thanks for reading! TM
  10. Motoman does the same thing. Annoying, isn't it? Does the eNod3 at least retain the value across power cycles, or do you need to repeat it every time? TM
  11. Hi Damian, I had an experience last week that has some bearing on your situation. It was time to validate a couple of Omron-based machines as part of our pre-relocation inventory. I tried to get online with my linux/xp combo running CX-One, and failed completely. None of the comm drivers would work, serial or usb. I researched this ad nauseum, and found I was not the first to experience this problem, specifically with CX-One. Apparently Omron was late to the game supporting Win7, and alot of guys tried to VM XP to support their equipment. Omron provided no support for this at all, completely silent in fact. Some guys theorized you had to have Omron's drivers installed in the host, but I'm running Trio and PcanOpen both without any special setup, so unless Omron purposefully set it up that way, I couldn't imagine it. I tried every configuration I could think of, including making a separate XP service pack 2 VM and hacking the VM config file to simulate a 32-bit version. Still no love from Omron. In the midst of all of this, Omron began supporting Win7, with a laundry list of caveats, but I finally switched my host OS to Win7 and got CX-One operational. $#$#&&^ the %$^% off, because I had to lose linux to do it, but I also have to support this equipment, so there it is. I hate Omron. Long story short (I know, too late), the part you should know is that when I moved my usual VM from Linux to Win7, it went off without a hitch. Had to reassign the virtual CD-Rom manually, and reinstalled VMware tools as a precaution, but otherwise, smooth as silk - the main reason I went to a VM scheme in the first place. Of course, I use VMware Player (free). I've heard good things about the XP client in Win7 Pro, but I'm old enough to remember "Dos Mode" under Win98, and I find myself thinking about the compatability issues people had back then too, running what was essentially a stripped-down DOS VM. Microsoft is doing a better job these days, but virtualization is not their key revenue stream, so I have my doubts about it. And I seriously doubt you could move the instance you are running to another host OS in any way, shape or form. Best of luck, TM
  12. Hi Damian, I've been running Visilogic under an XP virtual machine for a year now, under Linux and Win7 hosts: http://forum.unitronics.com/index.php?/blog/16/entry-67-thoughts-on-linux/page__mode__show I've not had the problem you describe. Are you using vmware or virtualbox? TM
  13. Hi guys, The Unitronics will recognize a larger SD, but remember that the largest size file that is supported under windows is 4 Gig, so after that you need to create a new file. As a starting point, have a look at this: http://forum.unitronics.com/index.php?/blog/16/entry-43-the-ubiquitous-buffered-sd/ Best of luck, TM
  14. I've not seen this myself, but I would surmise you've got columns in your data table that contain more than one element. For instance, a column of MI, with 5 elements. When read, this column will load 5 sequential MI with the data from the table. Presumably, there's a limit to how many elements you can put into a single column, and you've run up against that. Look for such a column and try breaking it up. Best of Luck, TM
  15. tmoulder

    Thoughts on Linux

    A few more helpful tidbits: 1. When you set up your virtual machine, choose "multiple files" for your virtual hard drive. Makes copying alot easier if, as I found out too late, your backup drive is FAT32, and won't accept a single file larger than 4 gig. Theoretically, it can lead to a performance hit, but I haven't noticed one. 2. Don't pre-allocate the drive space. There's really just no reason to, and why use space you don't need? 3. If, like me, you have an original XP install disk, go out RIGHT NOW to microsoft's website and download the service pack stand-alone installers (1a, 2 and 3). MS has discontinued support for any version of XP prior to SP3, and you won't be able to get updates unless you install these directly. SP1a and SP2 can be downloaded through linux, but for whatever reason, MS only allows downloading SP3 from a windows environment. On a side note, if you have a kvetchy program that doesn't like the later SPs, you can create a VM with any combination you like going this route. TM
  16. Like alot of people, I still use Windows XP for running my work-related programs. I know, lost in the 90's, but it works well for me. About a year ago, I had a PC crash that set me back severely. I didn't lose any data - for years now, I've kept all my project data in a single folder, and copy-pasted to my backup hard drive regularly. However, it took three days to reinstall all the software after I recovered the PC. That got me thinking - there's got to be an easier way to do this. As the first entry on this blog describes, I've dabbled with Linux for a while, and with some sound advice, I decided to make the leap. I wiped Windows from my PC and installed Linux Mint 11. Then I downloaded VMware Player, created a new Vitrual Machine, and installed XP on that. I was prepared for a raft of headaches arising from this - oh no, linux! oh no, vmware! - hardware issues, software issues, pain, hate, discontent! What I got was - nothing at all. No problems, no issues. The whole thing ran magnificently. Best of all, I can now back up my entire windows virtual machine to my backup drive. Why is this so grand, you ask? Because my work PC is now essentially indestuctable. I can drop my laptop in the swimming pool, buy a new one, load Mint and VMware, drag-drop my saved VM into my home directory, and get right back to work. Alternatively, I can upgrade to a new pc and get rolling equally fast. In the process, I've learned a few things, so if you decide to go this route, you may find these experiences helpful - 1. You can't do this with a netbook, at least not an Acer. Not enough ram, and atom chips lack the needed horsepower. Get a laptop with a 64-bit architecture, that you can upgrade to at least 8 Gig of Ram, and a hard drive large enough to accomodate everything you'll need. On the ram side, get as much as you can - mine has 5 gig, and I'll be upping it to 8 gig after the holidays. 2. The temptation is to use a minimalist distro, so you can allocate maximum resources to the VM (where you are doing all the work, after all). Resist this. I've played with Puppy, DSL, Bodhi, and Mint LXDE, and what you gain in performance for the VM is neglible, particularly in relation to the difficulty of using a minimal distro (unless you're into that kind of configuration headache). Choose something that provides all you need up front. Linux Mint is an excellent option - it's based on the widely used Ubuntu, but includes alot of extras that Ubuntu makes you find yourself. I'm using Pinguy OS, which is derived from Linux Mint, and offers even more eye candy - who wants an ugly desktop? 3. As you can probably guess, I tried a lot of distros. Everybody makes a big whoop about live cd and live usb, but I found testing them that way to be a little pointless - you can't add software (need to test with VMware) and performance lags going that route, so you don't get a true flavor of what you'll have when installed. Apart from seeing if you like the screen, you'll pretty much have to install it to try it out. So the first time you go to set up linux, create a home partition on your hard drive. When you install most distros, you'll have the option to assign this partition as your home directory. You can install the new system into the rest of the drive, and usually not have to move your important personal files around. WARNING - that's not fool-proof, so make sure you back up your files first. If it works, it will save you alot of time and aggravation. But if something gums up, it'll kill you if you haven't backed up first. 4. When creating your Windows VM, dedicate some thought to division of responsibility. Simply put, if it doesn't need to be in the VM, put it in the linux host instead. I have about 2 gig of PDF reference files that used to be under windows, that now rest comfortably in my linux home directory, outside my VM. Accessing them is a breeze, with or without windows open, and it keeps the VM smaller. When you do run a backup, you can just backup the contents of the home directory - drag, drop, done - and preserve everything you need, including your VM and external files. On the hardware side, 99% of everything I've tried has worked great. The most obscure thing I use is PCanOpen Magic Pro, with a USB adapter, and it worked right out of the box. I use an Iconcepts USB to serial adapter for most programming jobs, and it runs flawlessly. Oddly, the only thing I've had trouble with is a Unitronics 1040 PLC - can't do direct USB to the panel. Apparently, there is a known issue with the linux driver for the usb-serial chip Unitronics used in this device. It's a linux issue, not a Uni issue (just to make that clear). So I just use my usual serial port adapter instead - no problems there. Detailed instructions for how to do all of this are readily available on the web. Personally, I've found it a huge help (already recovered once [me and my distro hopping]). Best of Luck, and remember - backups are your friend. This mainly about making them more complete and portable. TM
  17. So with my netbook reacting so slowly, I conscripted my wife's new laptop and started about setting up shop with it. It's a compaq presario CQ56 with a 2.6 Ghz processor. I cranked the ram up to 5 gig and installed linux mint 11, then added VMware Player and created a Windows XP virtual machine with 2.5 gig of memory assigned. After installing my various software, I fired up Visilogic 930 and it runs perfectly. This is particularly interesting, since a VM is traditionally poorer performance than a native install, but regardless, it does look like the problem lay in my computer, not the software. Thanks! TM
  18. Hi Damian, Yeh, I've tried every trick in my arsenal. Even changing priority to "high" did nothing to help. TM
  19. Hi guys, Trying to set up a 1210 screen on my Acer netbook. Now, my trusty little Acer is not a bad computer - I'm running an Intel Atom N270 CPU at 1.6 Ghz, with 1.48 Gb ram. It's got Windows XP SP3, all the latest updates, and I keep my hard drive and registry scrubbed regularly with CCleaner. Nonetheless, Visilogic is running sloooooooow. I've noticed in the past it was a bit laggy (took a second or two for pop-ups to open and so on) when trying to program a 570, but the delay was tolerable, if not ideal. But the 1210 is, in fact, intolerable. The delay drags on for 5-10 seconds simply trying to select an object on the HMI screen. Perhaps I'm missing something. I tend to doubt that it's the hardware specs, given I can run Autocad on it without issues, and that's the most resource-devouring software I can think of. I tried disabling my anti-virus, but it made no difference. Thanks, TM
  20. Hi Damian, It seems like the capacity exists in Visilogic to look for these sorts of "gotchas". After all, if you try to use a CanOpen PDO or NMT, or a modbus command, the compiler checks to see if you put a buffer bit or busy bit ahead of the instruction. I really think the simplest solution (for us users) would be something in the OS that checks what HMI is displaying an ignores additional calls to that screen. Then it wouldn't matter how you called the HMI, and the problem would go away altogether. My two bits. TM
  21. Greetings Uni People! Okay, I'm trying to design a screen in a new V1210 project, my first time with an HMI bigger than a 570, and I discover to my dismay that I can't zoom in on the screen (cntrl-I does not work.) Now, this is a big issue for me. I don't have a 50" monitor and my eyes aren't what they used to be 10 years ago. To get things aligned on the screen "just right", I really NEED to be able to zoom in on parts of the screen. Am I missing something? I checked the menus, but no options there I could find. If zooming has been left out of large HMIs for Visilogic 930, I think it really needs to be put in. Thanks, TM
  22. Don't feel bad. I've done it, people I know personally have done it, people here have reported doing it - it happens alot. And on that note, to the Uni design gurus - I know, I know, we're supposed to be engineers and technicians and we should at least be able to read the little labels on the sides of the units. But we're still humans, and we get excited about our new toys and we goof up. Human nature being what it is, it's inevitable that people will continue plugging the enet cable into the expansion port, and I can count at least 20 hours (mine, another fellow I know, and now Rick) that have been lost on this. Sometime in the future, it might be a good idea to change the form factor of the expansion adapter away from RJ-45. Just sayin'. TM
  23. There is a special function button you can place on the touchscreen that will allow you to view the current folder contents and delete files if desired. There are several parameters to set, so check the help file. Best of Luck, TM
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