Rebirth of a Denford MIRAC CNC Lathe

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David Jupp:
Andrew - Spares price list (vintage 1990) from UK distributor for the RH80
http://www.denfordata.com/bb/download/file.php?id=1120

Not sure if it is any use to you.

awemawson:
Thanks David - already downloaded - massive prices aren't they :bugeye:

So a bit of progress. After advice given by 'Tim' on the UK DIY newsgroup (remember newsgroups !!!) I have loaded LINUX-MINT-MATE onto a USB stick and successfully booted from it on the target PC that is going into the lathe. Then again successfully connected it to my home network and copied files onto my desktop PC.

The USB stick is painfully slow to load but it works :ddb:

Now need to see if there is some Linux software to burn CD's that I can load onto the stick and if so I probably have all bases covered. The USB stick is a USB-2 Cruzer Blade Flash Drive - 16 GB. I don't think that the PC will do USB-3 to speed things up but there is probably a newer faster stick out there as I've had this one a few years now :coffee:

Odd seeing a Mint UNIX screen in the workshop - not my native operating system that's for sure :scratch:

awemawson:
So a bit more progress. I've loaded Kb3 cd/dvd writer to the USB stick, and generated a CD copy of the current target PC hard drive, which I can read spiffingly under WIN7 on my desktop PC - oddly under DOS on the target PC it has difficulty reading despite being in the drive it was written in :scratch:

However the written CD reads fine under MINT in the target PC - presumably different drivers under DOS and UNIX so another issue to bottom out.

Bit complicated these compatibility issues on operating systems :bang:

awemawson:
Elsewhere I've been asked why and how did I clone the original Viglen PC - as I wrote it up for them I thought I'd paste it in here as well:

A/ The original Viglen is fully functional but mechanically a write off

B/ The Viglen runs DOS 6.2 and has a floppy drive and HDD and two serial
ports

C/ One serial port is for an operators panel, the other is for the machine
CNC controller

D/ I took an MSBACKUP of the VIGLEN HDD under DOS6.2 on 13 floppies

E/ The COMPAC DC7600 SFF was running Windows 7 and has floppy, SATA HDD and
CD/DVD writer, one serial port and a network 10/100 port and 4 Gb RAM

F/ I Repartitioned and formatted its HDD and loaded DOS 6.22 from the three
original Microsoft disks

G/ I copied the full DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP suite to a folder on the DC7600

H/ I ran DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP under DOS 6.22 and restored all the VIGLEN files
to the DC7600 EXCEPT the DOS folder

I/ (You need to know the MSBACKUP 6.22 cannot read MSBACKUP 6.2 floppies)

J/ At this stage I had a fully functional DC7600 running DOS 6.22 and the
original controller software from the VIGLEN (except it only had one serial
port)

K/ Being an SFF I needed a small form factor PCI serial card - the only one
I could source with DOS drivers was a StarTech PEX2S5521P

L/ The machine now has three serial ports and I just need to configure the
IRQ to match the original

M/ I sourced some DOS drivers for the CR/DVD which allowed me to read but
not write CDs

N/ This is when I posted asking for assistance for DOS software to WRITE CDs
so that the machine files can easily be transferred in future

O/ I have (Thanks to TIM) loaded a USB stick with Linux MINT and K3B CD
software allowing me not only to boot up MINT and generate CD's but also
connect to my network and transfer files that way !!!

P/ The only oddity left is that the CDs generated read properly under MINT
in the DC7600 and also und WIN7 on another machine but under DOS 6.22 in the
DC7600 are rather flaky and rarely read ok.

Q/ I am assuming this is due to the DOS drivers I'm using (can't name them
at the moment as I'm on a different PC)

Pete.:
Did you order the Acorn controller Andrew, or are you holding off to see what the original controller works like?

This guy seems to be having some trouble getting his order in:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/75744-Any-news-on-the-Acorn-CNC-board

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