CaveLamb wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Joe AutoDrill wrote:
First, follow these steps:

1. Reformat drive
2. Install Linux.

Cheers!
Rich
Rich,

When I can seamlessly run Quickbooks, AutoCAD, Outlook, Outlook Express, an
internet browser compatible with Facebook, Twitter and UPS and not have to
spend a lot of time learning the new set-up and receive the same level of
support from the companies I buy the software and hardware from, then Linux
will make sense for my computer.

Until then, I've got business to take care of.


I agree. Try running automated test equipment under Linux, or on a
MAC that requires you to use a custom interface card and software that
would lose it's certification if it was ported to another OS..



Well, you can't run it (ATE) under Windows with any constrained timing!


You could under the early versions. One ATE system we had was for
the Scientific Atlanta telemetry receiver, which was their clone of the
Microdyne 1200 series. It would only run under Windows 2.0 and SA had
lost all the documentation before they shipped the system to us. I
think that it was intentional, after they lost the patent infringement
lawsuit. The other systems ran under Win 95 or Windows NT and
communicated to the test equipment through a National Instruments 16 bit
IEEE-488 interface card. There were no timing issues, since the gear
was set, given time to make sure the signals were stable, then read
before the next test. The same setup would work with newer versions of
Windows, since there were no critical timing involved. between the
computer and the test equipment. it worked much better than the 4 bit
Data General based SATE for the PRC-77 I used at Cincinnati
Electronics. It had close to 100 relays in the custom test bed and
there was always one failing. DG had to keep a field engineer n site to
keep it running while I only had to repair the SA test bed once in four
years, after IT decided to 'Upgrade' from Win 2.0 to Win 95. Our in
house metrology lab calibrated & certified the test equipment.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid™ on it, because it's
Teflon coated.