[vcf-midatlantic] C64 workhorse survivor

[Jason Perkins]

Sure, we're still running it today.... it's hosted on an AMD Pentium
class machine running Windows NT4 Embedded, and a Java based
enviroment called Tridium. The problems we run into now are with
everything around the sytem... the configuration software only works
with Microsoft's Java VM, so that means XP with no service packs
installed. The system runs a network called LONWorks. The controller
boards in the air handlers and roof top units were designed by the
company, who has since discontinued them, so spares of those are very
hard to come by.

Our main unit is the JACE NP, we also have two JACE-5 devices,
controlling one wing of the building and the irrigation system.

http://198.65.3.172/moreniagara.htm

The system has some nice displays:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/okmztauso1f1nez/BAS_Main.JPG?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8fy6u8o4a8m10be/BAS_ZoneB_AHU.JPG?dl=0

-J

On Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 1:51 PM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic
<vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
> On 09/28/2016 01:46 PM, Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
>> My boss used to work for a building automation company. Their original
>> product was based around the C64. They had them installed in buildings
>> for years and years... the program was on a cartridge so with no
>> moving parts there was little to go wrong. It took a lot of convincing
>> to get their customers to update to something newer in the early
>> 2000s.
>
>   It's certainly understanding that they'd take some convincing.  Why
> would they want to change?  Don't fix it if it ain't broke.  The
> industrial landscape is littered with stories about how a
> fully-functioning, simple, easily-maintainable system is replaced by
> something "new" which is supposed to be "better" (but they can rarely
> tell you how), is inevitably PC-based, and turns out to be an utter pile
> of crap.
>
>   Care to place some bets on the longevity of the "newer" system as
> compared to the system it replaced?
>
>                -Dave
>
> --
> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
> New Kensington, PA



-- 
Jason Perkins
313 355 0085