Nick Müller wrote:
wrote:

Also available PC components change too fast for the custom interfaces to
keep up with. Pretty soon it becomes simpler to design loosely coupled
semi-autonomous custom hardware, than hardware that will put the PC CPU
inside the servo loop or even just the motion planner.

Now is that an argument for such an overkill-OS like XP?

In a way. An argument for a motion system loosely coupled to the user
interface / program storage PC is in effect an argument for granting
permission to choose the PC operating system primarily for user
interface, data interchange, etc reasons. If XP is on your desk, then
it may make a lot of sense for it to be on your machine. If XP isn't
on your desk then it probably has no place on your machine, though you
may have to go with what the vendor will sell you.

The point being that once you offload the critical stuff into custom
hardware (because its getting to be such a pain to do it on the PC)
then it doesn't matter all that much for machine performance what the
PC operating system is. It only matters for ease of use - ease of use
when all factors (such as compatability, familiarity, downtime, etc)
are taken into account. And that is very much an open question.