Re: Floppy-EMC? and some other questions

["bfp" <bfp-at-earthlink.net>]

> Ian wrote
>
> I like the idea  of being able to use an old, low end PC as a machine
> control but I'm not sure that I could get on with a minimal text-only
> interface. Is this really what is proposed or is it just a simplified
> version of the existing GUI? If a display could be produced which would
give
> just large number readouts of the (6) axes with, perhaps, a simple
> indication of what bits of the machine should be receiving power, the
> monitor could then be an old 6" B/W one - less to risk in a workshop
> environment!

right the interface I am thinking of would be of the textGUI type
much like the ones from Okuma and Haas
with several screens that would change out by what machine mode
you were using ,with only the most needed functions on the display
for each mode
with a status bar accross the top showing some of the machine conditions
and a row of soft key lables on the bottom to select the functions needed
a standard 14" monitor screen is almost exactly as wide as the F1 to F12
keys on a standard keyboard if you need more than 12 options in that mode
a couple F keys could be set aside as "menu fwd" and "menu back" to
bring up more options
the middle of the screen would have plenty of room for all the readouts
you could want and screen up and down would give diffrent views of
the same mode data (well thats the goal anyway but I'll start small at
first)
used 14" monitors are practicaly give away items these days

Brian