Smooth Steppers are finally available in UK !

**John S** · 22-05-2012

Originally Posted by Jonathan

I'm glad to hear it. I'd love to hear his thoughts on the subject.

Sorry, over the years I have worked closely with Art and I am still doing so on three different fronts, one is Gearotic which I can mention, the other two are still under wraps. We speak most weeks and I have nothing but complete respect for this guy and what he has done for the CNC comunity virtually single handed. He has made CNC affordable and workable for many people who would not have had this opertunity any other way.
LinuxCNC isn't exactly on everyones lips, in fact the vast majority involved in CNC have never heard of it.

Because of support I know know exactly how many Sieg machines have been sold and to what countries. It's an impressive number given that Russia has installed one in virtually every school not to mention all the other countries. All running on Mach with little or no support given that windows is the most popular program out there and someone somewhere will sort windows problems out.
This also doesn't cover home builds which has got to be in the tens of thousands and the clones like Novacon, How Mau and Syil that were all copied from Sieg in the early days.

Why isn't Linux CNC up there with these numbers?

**Jonathan** · 22-05-2012

Originally Posted by John S

Because of support I know know exactly how many Sieg machines have been sold and to what countries. It's an impressive number given that Russia has installed one in virtually every school not to mention all the other countries. All running on Mach with little or no support given that windows is the most popular program out there and someone somewhere will sort windows problems out.

I'll refer you to my friend who was born in Russia, lived and went to school in Russia for half his life is talking to me on Skype had this to say:

Originally Posted by Comrade Sokolov

Didn't have one in the school I went to, and never heard of one being in a school. Seeing as funding in Russian state schools is incredibly tight and corrupt, I find your claim difficult to believe. Googling "Sieg ЧПУ в школах" (meaning Sieg CNC in schools) doesn't bring up any relevant results. If anything, briefly looking over the list of linuxCNC developers, I couldn't help but notice a lot of Russian names.

Originally Posted by John S

Why isn't Linux CNC up there with these numbers?

The reason is the same reason computing is dominated by Windows, and iPhones are popular: Profitable organisations can afford marketing. But don't worry, all that is changing. Furthermore, this is an argumentum ad populum.

Originally Posted by John S

LinuxCNC isn't exactly on everyones lips, in fact the vast majority involved in CNC have never heard of it.

That's precisely why I've gone to the trouble of making as many replies as I have. I don't think it gets the credit it deserves.

**JAZZCNC** · 22-05-2012

Originally Posted by Jonathan

I'll refer you to my friend who was born in Russia, lived and went to school in Russia for half his life is talking to me on Skype had this to say:

There you go again with the disrespect basicly calling respectable bloke a liar.!! . . . . Grow up Lad and have some respect.

**Jonathan** · 22-05-2012

Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Anyway with the mention of Russia and to get slightly back on track with the OP's thread.!
I've been intouch with Alexey of Purelogic in Russia about trying there Ethernet controller and also there drives and I'm going to be having some sent shortly.
...
I'll give a honest report of how it compares for the few hundred thousand Mach users that are still left or interested.??

That will be interesting. If I have the opportunity to do a direct comparison I shall.

Originally Posted by m_c

When has Mach ever been marketed?

I apologise for not making myself clear. Mach hasn't been marketed, but Windows most certainly has. Most people aren't aware of linux TO be aware of linuxCNC.

Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

There you go again with the disrespect basicly calling respectable bloke a liar.!! . . . . Grow up Lad and have some respect.

No he's really not, you're putting words in his mouth.

I wasn't saying he is lying:If you'd ever been to a Russian school, and knew for example that they were literally all built the same, and had numbers instead of names, you'd understand how ridiculous it would be for them to have CNC machines. It would be the equivalent of having an multi million pound NMR machine in a school chemistry lab. A few select private schools maybe (and good for them), most schools, certainly not.