iPad in the workshop, something to bear in mind!

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Jomac,

 

If you liked the Clinometer, try the iSetSquare at 69pence. It does what it says on the box on a 4th Generation iPod etc.

 

It is very useful for tasks such as setting up the swivelling vice on a milling machine, or the angle on a topslide to within + or – 0.1º much more accurate than relying on a degree scale. Not ultra precision but good enough for most jobs. It uses the gyroscope in the latest devices for accuracy.

 

Best Regards

 

Terry

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by John Stevenson on 28/12/2011 16:49:35:

A lot of the Apple / Windows arguments are purely personal.

However when you have to deal with others / customers who are on a certain program then the choice is taken off you.

 

I can’t call Apple as I have never looked at it because there are no mainstream CAD / CAM programs that run on it – end of story.

 

Whether I like it or not Windows works for me because it’s the ONLY operating system I can use for the programs I have to use.

 

John S.

 

Hi John,

 

It depends on what you call ‘mainstream’. There are some very good CAD/CAM programs for Macs. For Example CAM expert from Ribbonsoft is a very good program apparently (from reviews, I’ve not tested it yet). And of course there are many excellent CAD programs which will export G codes for use on a PC

 

However I would entirely agree with you that if you already have a substantial investment in hardware and software such as you have it is not worth changing, but someone just starting out should be able to understand and test different systems before making that commitment. There is no doubt that the PC and Windows is improving, I have no real experience of windows 7, but I must admit that in the years I have used XP it has proven quite stable with few crashes. Unlike previous versions of Windows with the ever present threat of the dreaded Blue Screen and is now approaching the stability of the Mac os.

 

Best wishes and greetings for a Happy New Year,

 

Terry

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Hi Terryd

 

We run XP 32 bit around the home office; all the systems are stable and work well. my PC uses Win7 64 bit.

 

The 64 bit Intel I7 system works well with Autocad 2012; There are a few caviats however. I had to upgrade the Gigabyte motherboard bios to the latest version and change the Gforce video driver as well. There was also a problem with the Ram. The hardware is about 18 months old. The so called top end ram, 8 gig of Corsair Dominator was unstable. I switched back to Kingston “Hyper ram” (less than half the cost of the Corsair ram) Kingston is my normal choice and that problem was gone.

 

Finally Autodesk as usual dished out a slightly less than perfect 2011 upgrade version in the first instance. however they have issued a 64bit service pack and it is a lot more stable. They even added a couple of extra features. It wont be that long before the next version is out…. So the whole cycle starts again….

 

I guess the Apple guys will chortle about how they never have issues!

 

Building up a system is not for the feint hearted however when you get it right is is a pleasure to use, and lightening fast.

 

Cheers

John

Edited By John McNamara on 31/12/2011 06:09:23

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by Ian P on 29/12/2011 12:26:06:

Posted by jomac on 29/12/2011 12:08:17:

…………………………

 

My daughter loaned me her I/pad, next thing is how to link the I/pad to my computer, and down load good stuff, (I have a different ISP, and dont know her ISP).

………………………………

John Holloway

John

 

I am no iPad expert but my advice would be DO NOT connect it to a computer unless it is the same computer that it has been previously connected to..

 

To communicate with an iPad the computer needs to have iTunes installed. If you connect an iPad that has previously been syncronised with a different computer you will get lots of warning messages about the iPad data being overwritten and it may not actually let you do anything useful anyway.

 

In any event I think you will be disappointed with what you can and cannot download onto an iPad, its much more limited than a laptop.

 

Ian Phillips

 

Hi John,

 

To download apps from the Apple store you really need iTunes. I don’t think any other program can connect – I may be wrong here, I would love to be found wrong. You can connect and register the device with more than one computer but you must be aware of ‘autosync’ this syncs the device with the iTunes content on that particular computer.

 

However you can switch off the autosync facility so you can then choose what you want to load on to your device. To do this open iTunes before plugging in the device. I must emphasise that. Otherwise the data will be overridden (but you do get the option to abort). Then click ‘Edit‘ menu then ‘Preferences’ and in the box which opens choose the ‘Device’ tab and click the box which says something like “Prevents iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically”

 

You can then plug in your device (iPad?) and choose to load any download from the Apple app store. With the iPad attached, iTunes will have a series of tabs which include ‘Music’ , ‘Video’, ‘Apps’ etc. You choose from these. Remember, an iPad is not a laptop, it is in many ways more versatile. There are programs for most functions available, and of course you can use programs from the Cloud such as Google Docs. The built in sensors, cameras, gyroscope etc are very useful and enable many applications which are impossible on laptops. and it can use GPS to locate your position if you ever need directions to a location if you are unsure or lost in an unfamiliar city.

 

Best wishes for the new Year,

 

Terry

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by John McNamara on 31/12/2011 06:05:34:

Hi Terryd

 

We run XP 32 bit around the home office; all the systems are stable and work well. my PC uses Win7 64 bit.

 

The 64 bit Intel I7 system works well with Autocad 2012; There are a few caviats however. I had to upgrade the Gigabyte motherboard bios to the latest version and change the Gforce video driver as well. There was also a problem with the Ram. The hardware is about 18 months old. The so called top end ram, 8 gig of Corsair Dominator was unstable. I switched back to Kingston “Hyper ram” (less than half the cost of the Corsair ram) Kingston is my normal choice and that problem was gone……………..

……………………………….Building up a system is not for the feint hearted however when you get it right is is a pleasure to use, and lightening fast.

 

Cheers

John

Edited By John McNamara on 31/12/2011 06:09:23

I Couldn’t agree more John,

 

I’ve enjoyed playing with computers (as opposed to programming them – first experience punched cards on an ICL 64 in 1968 using ALGOL), of all shapes and sizes from my first Dragon 32 in 1982 or 3. In those days I was mostly interested in building interfaces and buffers for external devices and programming those devices using Assembler. Watching a home built robotic vehicle being controlled and responding to it’s environment by a self programmed computer through interfaces built from scratch is a marvellous feeling. Many of today’s programmers were inspired by those early machines which were so easy to modify and experiment with. oh for the good old days

 

Happy new year,

 

Terry

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