3.8.10 any takers?

[2Egress Sound & Design]

Hi all,

Brady let us all know that we have new 3.8 software available.

I am running 3.8.8 on my PRS Alpha 96,48 and have to say it's been ok.

Would like to know if anyone else has taken the plunge and what they are experiencing. I see my fellow Canadian Mr Coholic may have.

I am sure there are many of us waiting to know before they jump aboard.

Please share your experience so far, the rest of you that chose not to upgrade we can understand that you won't fix what isn't broke!

Been lucky here so far, want to continue that run!

Thanks to all that give their time and advice so willingly here! I know it's saved my skin a few times.

Brock

[adrianm]

I'll probably upgrade over the weekend as I'm still running an earlier 3.8 version (3.8.6 I think) and there are supposed to be issues with that although it's worked perfectly for me.

[srwtlc]

I've been running it since Monday morning. It installed fine, updated the firmware (didn't need to but did anyway just to test it), and worked fine right out of the box, but I noticed that it overwrote my virtualtools.ini file. I needed to edit that to allow the spindle control app to load on startup along with my 'Buttons' window. After doing that I couldn't get it to locate itself and had to unplug/replug the USB cable to get it connected again. After that, it's been running fine. This is on a fresh new PC build, with a clean/lean Win 7 install, that started it's life running 3.8.8. I've also been running it on a lower powered single core system today for a test and it's running just fine.

I've got two issues that I found in early beta testing that is still present on my two different systems. These two issues don't necessarily effect day to day use. They are something that users should keep an eye out for and report on if you see it happen so that SB HQ can track them down (they're not currently able to reproduce).

One issue is if you move the tool out to a location away from 0,0 and maybe even do a z zero there (don't necessarily have to) and then go into preview mode to preview a file. After previewing the file, go back to cut mode and attempt to load/cut a file at that location. What happens to me (it may take a couple tries for it to happen) is that the machine will start to move at a much slower speed and start cutting the file from there or some random location instead of from the true 0,0. The trick to make sure this doesn't happen if you go into and out of preview mode, is to bring up the keypad and move the tool around a bit so the controller location gets updated, you should be fine.

The other issue is if you hit the spacebar during or right at the point that the tool is jogging to another part of the file, it may stop and then start moving slowly for a bit and then jerk around violently a bit before stopping. It may also loose connection after that and need restarting or a unplug/replug of the USB cable to find itself.

Both my systems are running AMD processors. One is a high end 3.8GHz APU with 8gb ram and the other is an old XP 2500+ single core with 2gb ram. Both these PC's run the machine (PRS Alpha) at the same pace with no other problems. The old one has been running along just fine for the last few hours on a large 3D test file that was showing some problems for someone else. The newer one performed the same. Old one has Packet-ET's of 23 and the new one is 15. Both connected without a hub and the new one is using the USB 3.0 ports that use an AMD driver. I've used a 3.0 port on a slightly older system with approximately the same specs of the newer one, but it has NEC drivers for it and it doesn't play well. As Ted mentioned elsewhere, Intel driven USB 3.0 seems to work well for them and it seems like AMD driven USB 3.0 may work well also. YMMV from motherboard to motherboard.

I've been running/testing nothing but beta's for several years. Some of them started out bad, but some of them that were just before 3.8 started out, were solid, and I trusted the machine to run all night and all day unattended without issue. I lost all trust in my machine when 3.8 hit, but my trust is starting to improve now.

[bcondon]

I have my original software 3.5.0.12 and have not upgraded once.

The software is working perfectly from the beginning (for me)
and I just don't understand the need to "keep up" and
jeopardize my setup!

Is there a running list out there of what each version's fixes/functionality improvements out there?

Thanks!
Bob

[jhedlund58]

I have been running 3.8.8 for over a month on AMD processor with no problems. I think new software should work on any machine regardless of setup.

SystemInfo.JPG

[srwtlc]

I just don't understand the need to "keep up"

Bob, it's guys like me that like to do so to pave the way for you.

There are update history text file in the install folder 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ShopBot\ShopBot 3' and also on the SB site here and here.

Depending on the version of your control board, you may not be able to run 3.8.XX.

[Bob Eustace]

Scott your attitude and analytical skills are really appreciated and it certainly makes us battling Shopbotters life more predictable. I urge others to try 3.8 as I simply couldnt live without it for just the radio buttons on positions. I now have enough confidence to leave the room but not enough to run all night just yet!

Thanks again Scott - wish I had your brains!

[gerryv]

Is it possible to maintain two different versions on a partitioned hard drive such that you could revert to an older version if a given file is giving you grief. I recognize that it may take 5-10 minutes to flip over but would that not be a better fallback than indeterminate downtime?

[bcondon]

I am sure you could do it with one machine but my recommendation would be to have 2 machines and simply move the USB port from one machine to the other and move the files with a finger stick... You would be up in under 1 minute and not have to wonder if "one" was contaminating the "other". Having worked in the computer field for over 35 years taught me that lesson (I worked in Development and QA).

[Mark Farris]

There are still some bugs in 3.8.8 depending on your setup. When I got my 2010 PRS Alpha up and running I started with 3.8.8 and all was good. I surfaced my sub-top, cut my vacuum grid and holes, and ran several quick 2D files without incident. My next run was a large 3D file and that's where the problems started. I had the previously mentioned "slowdowns" happen at regular intervals which could be stopped and resumed back to proper speed. I then had the total "freeze up" a couple times which required re-starting the file with the FG command, which turned out to be the next problem. I could not re-start the file without weird things happening or the "Runtime 9" error. I mentioned this on the forum a while back and was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Ted Hall the next day. We worked on the problem on and off for several weeks and just couldn't get it to work on my machine. Ted and the staff at Shopbot ran my file on many different machines and processors and were never able to re-produce the slowdown. They were however able to re-produce the Runtime 9 error when trying to re-start the file with the FG command. I finally, after having this particular carving on the table for a month and a half, had to revert back to 3.6.44 and was able to successfully complete the file with only one small stoppage glitch. I want to thank Ted for sticking with me on the problem and have no doubt they will fix the problems in the near future. Even though I was at my wits end, having Ted personally interested and willing to help strengthened my commitment to Shopbot as a company and I am looking forward to many more years with the blue machines.
By the way, I am running a AMD Anthon 2.8 GHZ 64 bit dual core processor with 4GB of ram with Windows 7 Home Premium. I'll wait a little and get some work done before I try the new control software again.

Mark