Subj : DOSBox
To   : Bencollver
From : Partiersp
Date : Sat Jan 24 2026 10:55:35

  Re: DOSBox
  By: Bencollver to Partiersp on Sun Jul 14 2024 09:08:46

The main task of that old 486 was to store, edit, and transmit G-Code programs to our CNC machines.  If you've ever worked with 3D-printers, These programs are basically the same as the files that a Slicer creates for the printer, although in our case our files would be way smaller.

Over the decades of use that computer had, it servered programs that would feed our CNC to produce thousands of different metal parts that our customers ordered. If a customer needed a part we made in the past, they could simply give us their part number, we'd enter that in the 486 and it would pull up the program.  We then could alter the program if needed, or simply send the file to one of 7 CNC machines all connected with the COM ports or LPT ports.

Alast most modern computers don't have physical serial or printer ports any more (USB adapters can be problematic to get to work).  The old CNC machines have slowly been upgraded/replaced with modern ones using USB memory sticks or networking capibilites.  Thus that old 486 has veen replaced with a Windows machine with new CAM software that generates G-Code files for the machines automatically (like slicer programs do for 3D printers).

I also created a PHP-MySQL program that was able to import all the old CNC files from the 486, and serve them in a webrowser.  We use that for archieval purposes now.

So in the end that 486 was replaced by 2 different machines. lol

.