[vcf-midatlantic] C64 workhorse survivor

[Jason Perkins]

It's amusing to consider NT4e "huge", the whole thing runs off of an
8gb IDE hard drive, with 2 2gb FAT partitions. The whole thing takes
up only 700mb, 8mb of which is the configuration and logging database.
But... compared to 100s of KB in a C64 it is much more overhead :)

-J

On Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 2:16 PM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic
<vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
>
>   Oh my, those are some very nice displays, perhaps I spoke too soon.
>
>   As a frequent developer of systems for mission-critical applications,
> though, I find the idea of a simple 8-bit system with code in ROM a
> whole lot more appealing than anything with a huge OS and an active
> filesystem volume.  And anything Windows-related would be right out from
> the get-go.
>
>   But wow, those displays are very nicely done!
>
>             -Dave
>
> On 09/28/2016 02:07 PM, Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
> New Kensington, PA



-- 
Jason Perkins
313 355 0085