Re: [foxboro] V8 Letterbug Configurator

Mini Tutorial : Micro I/A.  

  Presented as a public service for those who never heard of it.

- Micro IA was a Control Processor build with PCMCIA cards.
  It ran IA Control software and talked on Ethernet to IA
  stations just like a standard CP.
  It could talk to Foxboro FBMs or Allen Bradley Flex IO
  or (I think) GE Genie IO
  Micro IA was never made Fault Tolerant and was generally
  marketed to sell with NT based AW and WP 70 systems.

- Micro IA Letterbugs

  On the AW70 a program ran which allowed the user to look
  for a Micro IA unit's MAC address on the network, and assign 
  a letterbug to it.  From then on that station had the assigned 
  letterbug ID.

- Don't remember if the assignment was saved in the AW or in the
  control station itself.

This arrangement worked just fine, though certainly the early AW70s 
generally had reliability problems which also affected this function.

One of our customers still has three of these Micro IA units operating,
and that's been continuous for over 10 years. We have on occasion had
to replace or reload units and this can still be done.

The model is certainly valid, and avoids the various problems we see
today with the PDA based thing.  Down the road, we are certain to see
far more problems with the current arrangement. 

There have been design changes which one might not agree with, like
forcing configuration to a single station, or discontinuing the AW based
controller image. But I tend to use the word "stupid" when discussing this 
IR Letterbug programming stuff. I don't quite understand how it got past 
the design QA to become product.  It builds maintenance traps into the
system, with control system downtime as the result.  

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

William C Ricker


 
 
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