[jcposada]

I sent this to the Yahoo group a few days ago but have not seen any responses. I'm just curious - with the launch of Mach seemingly coming closer, is there an official position from Tormach regarding a potential upgrade path?

[ger21]

Seeing how Tormach goes to great lengths to minimize having Mach3 support issues, I can't imagine they'd get on board with Mach4 for at least two years.

I personally think that Mach4 is still 6-12 months away from being a stable, finished product.

[tmarks11]

...with the launch of Mach seemingly coming closer...

The launch of Mach 4 has been close for about 12 months... or is it 48 months?

With all the linuxcnc work that Tormach just did on their Lathe, I wonder if they are more inclined to come up with an updated version of linuxcnc for the 1100 and 770 rather than suffer the growing pains that mach 4 is sure to produce?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

The launch of Mach 4 has been close for about 12 months... or is it 48 months?

With all the linuxcnc work that Tormach just did on their Lathe, I wonder if they are more inclined to come up with an updated version of linuxcnc for the 1100 and 770 rather than suffer the growing pains that mach 4 is sure to produce?

I first heard Mach4 was going to release "next year" back in 2009....

They're now doing what could be called, at best, an alpha release. Based on 30+ years in the software industry, I'd be amazed if they had a stable "production" release in anything less than 18-24 months, and that would be something of a miracle. I would not expect Tormach, or any other OEM, to announce plans to support it until they've seen something close to production-ready. It is going to require Tormach to completely re-write every single one of their plug-ins, macros, screensets, etc. from the ground up, as there is literally nothing from Mach3 that carries over to Mach4.

At Cabin Fever last April, I spent over an hour talking to Brian Barker, the owner/author, and he told me less than 1% of the code-base for Mach3 is shared with Mach4. Plug-ins, macros, etc. must be written in a different language (Lua rather than Cypress Basic), every single programming API has changed completely (it now uses an object-oriented model), screen-sets do not carry over, etc., etc. Once stable, it will be vastly better from an architectural standpoint, which will make it FAR easier to maintain and improve, without breaking existing functionality. But, it's all new from a to z, so a lot of bugs should be expected for some time to come.

Regards,
Ray L.

[jcposada]

Thanks all for the insight.

[GITERDUN]

The way I hear, Mach 4 will come in 3 versions- Hobby, School and Business- Unfortunately the lower versions do not have all the features of Mach 3, so you have to upgrade to the Business version to get the same features, but at an additional cost. I think it still requires a parallel port as well, so there is no significant improvement in the system, only more cost. smacks of Microsoft dumping XP support just to get you to buy Win 8.

[ger21]

While there are technically 3 versions, there are really only two avaialable for purchase.

Mach4 Lite, a limited version, is only available to OEM's, and not available for purchase.

Mach4 Hobby, which should have all the features Mach3 has when it's finished.

Mach4 Industrial, which has all the features of Mach4 Hobby, + Fanuc Macro B, + Phone Support.

Mach4 - Newfangled Solutions


Mach4 is designed to run with 3rd party external motion controllers. A parallel port driver will be available at additional cost. You can pre-buy it now for $20.

If you pre-buy Mach4 right now, even with the parallel port driver, it's cheaper than Mach3. Until the end of the month.

Early reports seem to show that Mach4 has smoother motion than mach3.

But if your machine runs fine with Mach3, than there's probably no reason to upgrade. No one is forcing you to upgrade.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

The way I hear, Mach 4 will come in 3 versions- Hobby, School and Business- Unfortunately the lower versions do not have all the features of Mach 3, so you have to upgrade to the Business version to get the same features, but at an additional cost. I think it still requires a parallel port as well, so there is no significant improvement in the system, only more cost. smacks of Microsoft dumping XP support just to get you to buy Win 8.

You should get your information straight, since almost everything you posted is wrong, despite the fact that the information is easily available on the website

There are three versions: Lite, Hobby and Industrial. Lite is intended for OEM use, on things like 3D printers. It has little that can be configured or changed by the user. Hobby is equivalent to the current Mach3, and is $200 - only slightly more than Mach3. Industrial is just that - a high-end version, the major additional feature being ready access to support. It does NOT "require" a parallel port. It does support the parallel port. Just like Mach3, it also supports external motion controllers. There are MASSIVE improvements throughout the entire system. Once debugged, it should be FAR more robust, and flexible.

Regards,
Ray L.

[mountaindew]

If you pre-buy Mach4 right now, even with the parallel port driver, it's cheaper than Mach3. Until the end of the month.
.

This Is tempting!
Then I would have to buy a cnc router to use it on.
need to get over there and look around
md