Copyright (C) 1986-2009 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved.
No part of "This Web Site" (HTML document), including associated files, may be: distributed, sublicensed, transmitted, copied, archived, mirrored, modified, bundled, embedded, sold, given away, rented, loaned, or shared in any form without express written permission in a formal Vendor agreement contract dated and signed in ink obtained directly from Daniel H. Hudgins by registered postal mail. All agreements for permission to distribute expire after a period no greater than one year from the date of the signing of the agreement by Daniel H. Hudgins. See the current "EULA" for information regarding limited copying and storage for the purpose of "Beta Testing" "This Web Site."
To view or use the current version of this Web page you may need to reload or refresh the display of this page by your browser. Just clicking on the browser's [Reload] or [Refresh] icon may not be enough to insure that all of the page's most current contents have been cached and displayed. Some browsers may have additional commands to help display the page's most current contents such as: holding down the [Shift] key and clicking on the [Reload] icon, holding down the [Control] key and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, holding down the [Control] and [Shift] keys and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, pressing the [Control] and [F5] keys, pressing [Control] and the [R] key, or some other combination of keys or clicks. Check to see which commands your HTML browser uses to load the most current page contents into its cache and then to display them onto the screen.
This Web site is dedicated to the thousands of "users" of my programs, those who have helped test my programs over the last 23 or so years, and especially those who shared their experiences with me.
You must read this notice: This is a licensed Web site (HTML document and associated files). You must read and agree to be legally bound in contract by the Terms of Use and conditions given in the End User License Agreement ("EULA"), Legal Notices, Instructions, Warnings, Disclaimers, and all other text in "SECTION: 0" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before reading or using any of the information, software programs, and or files, contained in, linked to, and or associated with, "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files). Any use or "Beta Testing" of "This Web Site" constitutes your acknowledgment of your full agreement with the current End User License Agreement ("EULA") and your decision to have this current license supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings. Information and files in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) have been placed here so that long time users of "The Author's" programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) , DANCAD87.EXE (tm), DANCINEL.EXE (tm), DANCINES.EXE (tm) , DANCAM.EXE (tm) , or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) could help proofread the text of the documentation files or screens displayed, and also help test data files, example files, and or any software programs that might be made available from time to time, to aid "The Author" in finding mistakes, bugs, and other errors, omissions, defects, mistakes, and faults. Everything in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) is "Beta Test", "Beta Code", Experimental, Preliminary, requires proofreading, or is being evaluated for possible revision, and is NOT warranted to be free of defect. To help "The Author" report any bugs, foul-ups, defects, or mistakes that you find, see "SECTION: 8" for instructions. "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) and all other files and programs by Daniel H. Hudgins are made available "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. All offers and specifications are subject to change or discontinuation without notice of any kind. Please look over "SECTION: 8" of "This Web Site" before contacting "The Author."
Some text in this section was derived from some Quick Start information that was in the INDEX.HTM page and other sources, but was relocated here into it's own section in order to make room on the INDEX.HTM page. See also the information in the Download section pertaining to installing the programs, as well as the update documents and other documentation.
The use of VISTA (tm) is not recommended with my DOS compatible programs at this time. OS above Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) are not recommended for use with my DOS compatible programs at this time.
In order to make full use of my programs you may need to be able to boot your computer using FreeDOS FAT32 (tm) boot CD, Windows ME "rescue" boot floppy (tm), and Windows XP Home SP3 (tm). Since the internal format command in Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) was crippled intentionally by Microsoft (tm) to not allow you to format large harddisks with FAT32 you need to download a third party freeware program called FAT32FORMAT.EXE (tm) from the internet, and use another computer running XP (tm) to format a large EIDE harddrive between about 500GB and 2TB as FAT32, then you will be able to boot the computer with all there of the required OS and have access to the files. If you format your SATA harddrives as NTFS then you would be limited to using maybe just Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) and that could result in not being able to use all of the high resolution SVGA graphics modes that you video boards support.
As of the time this page was written, there are two main distribution files, one of which a "Beta Tester" would need to download in order to install the programs, i.e. DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm) or DANCAD16.ZIP (tm). Some other *.ZIP files are also in the download section that have other accessory programs and files such as fonts, symbols, example macros, and other files that relate to the main programs.
DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm) contains two CAD/DI and two CAM real memory mode programs compiled to run on computers that only have 640KB of RAM memory and any 8088 to P4 compatible processor. Because 640KB of memory is too small to load everything needed into, the real memory mode programs store much of the binary data on the computers harddisk, so the harddisk speed can have a large impact on the performance of some features. To improve some aspects of the program's performance newer protected memory mode program versions have undergone development, see below, but they will not run on very old computers, so there is still a need for the real memory mode in cases where very old computer's need to be used, or the protected memory mode program versions cannot be used for other reasons. It is possible for you to install both the real memory mode and protected memory mode versions of the programs on the same computer in different sub-directories to compare their performance.
DANCAD16.ZIP (tm) contains two CAD and two CAM protected memory mode programs compiled to run on computers that have more than about 16MB of RAM memory and any 80286 to P4 compatible processor. Some of the protected memory mode programs may run on computers with 4MB or RAM or less, but that depends on the OS used and other system configurations. Because 16MB of memory is too small to load everything needed into, the protected memory mode programs store much of the binary data on the computers harddisk, so the harddisk speed can have a large impact on the performance of some features. Some aspects of the program's performance of the protected memory mode are better than the older real memory mode versions and some of the newer features are only present in the protected memory mode programs. It is possible for you to install both the real memory mode and protected memory mode versions of the programs on the same computer in different sub-directories to compare their performance.
In order to install the programs for "Beta Testing" you need to have some kind of compatible UNZIP program to unzip the program distribution file. Free UNZIP programs may be available for download from third parties, check the External Links sections here and also try a search of the Internet.
The process for installing the programs proceeds like this, first you agree to become a "Beta Tester" under the current Terms of Use in the "EULA", second you create a sub-directory on one of your harddisks that has plenty of free space, third you download one of the program distribution files and copy it into its new sub-directory, fourth you use your unzip program to unzip the distribution into its sub-directory, if you are using a DOS type UNZIP program you may need to copy it into the same directory as the distribution is in to get the unzipped files to extract there, fifth run INSTALL.BAT and read the instructions, then run INSTALL.BAT a second time followed by the keyword INSTALL i.e. C:\051123D1>INSTALL INSTALL, and sixth enter the name of the program and read the setup instructions that come onto the screen.
When you run the programs the first time they may take longer to start than when they are run again later because they need to make some internal adjustments to compensate for the wide variation in computer speeds between 8088 at 4.7MHz and P4 at speeds of 2GHz or more. After you get the programs to run there are some configurations menus in the programs that you must enter valid values into, particularly in the CAM programs where you must enter measurements and other values relating to the machine's dimensions and maximum motor speeds.
Most current computers will be using the SVGA or VGA video modes, but the programs also have support for older video board types. You should be careful that you do not select video modes that your video board supports but your monitor cannot safely work at, since you may damage your monitor or cause your monitor to start a fire. If you monitor goes out of synchronization, or otherwise does not display properly or makes noises, smoke comes out, smells bad or like something burning or electrical sparks, or gets abnormally hot turn it off immediately and do not use video modes of that or higher resolution with that monitor. Newer video boards may support video modes far higher than older junk monitors can support, so just because my program's report that a video mode is available in the video board you should not assume that that video mode can be used on the monitor you now have. You should turn off your computer monitor when you are not in the room with it, and keep a working fire extinguisher classified for fighting electrical fires nearby at all times.
Steps to carry out to Install and Get started:
Read the current "Terms of Use" and "EULA" then agree to abide in good faith with their "terms and conditions" as a volunteer "Beta Tester".
In order to make full use of my programs you may need to be able to boot your computer using FreeDOS FAT32 (tm) boot CD, Windows ME "rescue" boot floppy (tm), and Windows XP Home SP3 (tm). Since the internal format command in Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) was crippled intentionally by Microsoft (tm) to not allow you to format large harddisks with FAT32 you need to download a third party freeware program called FAT32FORMAT.EXE (tm) from the internet, and use another computer running XP (tm) to format a large EIDE harddrive between about 500GB and 2TB as FAT32, then you will be able to boot the computer with all there of the required OS and have access to the files. If you format your SATA harddrives as NTFS then you would be limited to using maybe just Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) and that could result in not being able to use all of the high resolution SVGA graphics modes that you video boards support. The use of VISTA (tm) is not recommended with my DOS compatible programs at this time. OS above Windows XP Home SP3 are not recommended for use with my DOS compatible programs at this time.
Create a sub-directory (folder) on one of your harddisks that has plenty of space. Because of the heavy harddisk use, a 7200RPM harddisk with a 8MB or larger buffer should be considered desirable, and some program features can use files up to about 2.1GB each, so the bigger and faster the better, but the programs can run with as little as perhaps 20MB of disk space if only small and simple jobs are needed. Disk full error is generally an unrecoverable error, and should be avoided, you may need to re-install the programs after a disk full error so always try to have plenty of free disk space. To keep program distribution updates separate you should use sub- directory names that have the date in them, YYMMDD, like 051223D1 and such, in that way you can tell which distribution is the newer one. For use with the Digital Cinema Kinema commands you would want several harddrives of at least 750GB in removable drawers for frame storage and project folders.
Use the CD command to change into the sub-directory, e.g. CD 051223D1.
Download one of the program distribution files and copy it into the sub-directory you created. If you are going to use the programs on a computer with 16MB or more RAM you would probably use the protected memory program versions in DANCAD16.ZIP (tm). If you are going to use the programs on a computer with only 640KB of memory you would download the DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm) distribution. If you download both distributions you need to put them in separate sub-directories, e.g. 051223D1 and 051223D3.
Extract all of the files in the distribution into the sub- directory you made for that revision. If you are using a DOS UNZIP program you may need to copy that UNZIP program into the same sub- directory as the program distribution ZIP file in order to get the extracted files to come out there.
Run the batch file INSTALL.BAT twice, the first time to read
the messages that it displays, and the second time to install the
files and sub-directories in the right places for use by the programs.
To tell INSTALL.BAT that you are running it the second time put the
command line parameter INSTALL after its name, i.e.
C:\XXXX>INSTALL INSTALL
just like that in all upper case or all lower case. In this example
the XXXX in the prompt path is the name of the sub-directory that you
are installing the program files into. If you do not run INSTALL.BAT
properly the programs may report errors or some features may not
work.
Run the programs and answer the setup prompts. In the CAD programs you would probably be selecting video board type S from the small menu that comes up if your video board and monitor both support VESA SVGA video modes. In the CAM programs you need to go into the configuration menus and enter several values manually to describe the machine being automated, and then run the automatic timing setup command so that the feed rates and motor speeds are adjusted for your computer's speed and the properties of your automated machine.
Once you get the programs installed, running, and configured, you can try loading some of the sample files. Sample files ending with the *.MAC extension are macro programs to run in the CAD programs. Some of the files with the *.ASC extension are tool path files that can be used to test and setup the CAM programs, but you should look at them first in the CAD programs so that you know how the tool will move in the CAM machine, to avoid having the tool crash into things and cause damage, loss, or injury.
This Installing and Getting Started information is not a substitute for the more detailed information elsewhere in "this Web site", it is just a brief overview to give you a general idea about how a "Beta Tester" would get started.
Since "This Web Site" is made up of many files I have added this information to give "Beta Testers" an idea of how to get started. The current v2.7 and v3.7 versions of the CAD and CAM programs have many uses and capabilities, so it is not possible to give you a complete list of what the programs can be used for. I have designed the programs to be adaptable for various tasks and not just one application, so you will need to look over the documentation to get a better understanding of what the limits, if any, might be for your particular goals.
This Web site is mostly about four programs I have written, two CAD programs and two CAM programs, in various revisions and variations. The two CAD or Computer Aided Design programs DANCAD3D.EXE (tm) and DANCAD87.EXE (tm) are the main programs and might be used for creating and editing drawings, tool path files, images, and animations. The difference between DANCAD3D.EXE (tm) and DANCAD87.EXE (tm) is that DANCAD87.EXE (tm) uses the math co- processor and may work a little faster for some tasks, although it may work a little slower for other tasks. The two CAM or Computer Aided Manufacturing programs are DANCAM.EXE (tm) and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) and might be used to automatically manufacture things by turning your computer into a robot's "brain" that can read a tool path file and turn motors that operate the machine tool, that is they make the tool in the machine follow the lines drawn in the tool path drawn and saved to a file. The difference between DANCAM.EXE (tm) and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) is that DANCAM.EXE (tm) is for making 3D parts and parts with contoured surfaces, and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) is for making engravings, doing drilling, and working with other flat parts or 2D parts. The robot or automated machine controlled by the CAM programs can be made by you for making and working various different kinds of parts and objects. The CAM programs can also automatically scan objects, be used in their "teach" mode to create tool path files by entering movements while jogging the machine around making a prototype for play back to then make duplicates, and for use as a DRO for manual or semi-manual operation of the machine. Some other utility programs and ancillary files may also be available for use with the four main programs. The older v2.7 versions of the CAD programs are called DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.COM (tm) the newer v3.7 versions are *.EXE files, but otherwise are similar in operation.
These numbered steps roughly indicate the order of operations you would need to go through to install the four main programs so that you could begin "Beta Testing" them. Since there are now two distribution archives, i.e. DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm) for v2.7 and DANCAD16.ZIP (tm) for v3.7 you will need to decide if you want to install both distributions or pick just one of them. Normally you could pick the v3.7 distribution in DANCAD16.ZIP (tm) unless you have a special reason for needing the v2.7 programs, such as running the programs on an 8088 CPU computer or one with only 640KB of memory. Instructions for installing either the Real or Protected distribution are similar.
Before you begin you must first volunteer to become a "Beta Tester", then read the current "On-Line" "EULA" in Section: 0 and if you are qualified then agree to be legally bound by the current "EULA". If you are not qualified to become a "Beta Tester" or do not agree with, and to abide, all parts, terms, and conditions of the current "EULA" you should leave and not use "this Web site" at all.
To get the best performance from the programs you should select a computer that is compatible with the programs. As a practical matter the CAD/DI programs should be run on a fast computer such as a 733MHz PIII coppermine or AMD XP 2800+ if you are going to use some of the more advanced features. The CAD/DI programs could run on older computers as well but if a 733MHz PIII coppermine reads 2000 PCs and a 8MHz 80286 reads 4 PCs what takes one minute on the PIII might take eight hours or longer on the old 80286 computer. The CAM programs might still be used on older computers if speed is not an issue, or faster computers might now be used to get very high step pulse rates. The CAM programs now in v2.7 and later have some adjustments to compensate for use on fast computers when you are doing slower tasks, so you might use a 733MHz PIII coppermine to run both the CAD and CAM programs. You should also select a computer that will have a compatible video board and monitor that support the VESA SVGA video modes up to 1600 by 1200, 1920 by 1440, or 2048 by 1536 pixels and color depth up to 24 bpp or 32 bpp to be able to display the tool path files and computer graphics images at maximum resolution by using the 3D stereoscopic depth display options, e.g. anaglyph colored glasses, shutter glasses, and the modes for other 3D stereoscopic display viewing aids. For the CAM programs having a Joy-Stick port can let you try the special handwheel and Joy-Stick jog modes in the DRO jog and teach commands. Since the programs make heavy use of the harddisk using a harddisk that runs at 7200RPM and has a 8MB buffer may be desirable. Formatting the partition the programs are in as DOS FAT use might help the programs run a little faster and let you boot with "DOS 95" to run the CAM programs. The CAD programs may now run under Windows 95 (tm) OSR2 in full screen mode, but the CAM programs should still be run under DOS 6.22 (tm) most of the time, although there may be some other possibilities depending on what performance is required. Check that you are not using an OS or OS settings that interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the CAD programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22 or possibly Windows 95 OSR2 (tm), and run the CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22. See SECTION: 2's FAQ for more information.
Make a sub-directory or folder to put the programs from the distribution archive into. Since you may be "Beta Testing" several revisions you may want to use this date format yymmddDC for the sub-directory name, e.g. 051227D2 for v2.7 or 051227D3 for v3.7, and such. That way you can do a clean install on each new revision or version.
Download DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm) from SECTION: 9.70.51, or DANCAD16.ZIP (tm) from SECTION: 9.70.61 into the sub- directory you made. You may want to download the *.ZIP files twice into different temporary sub-directories and use the DOS command FC, i.e. File Compare, to compare both files to see if there is any difference indicating corruption during download. FC should report files compare OK, or something like that. You should then scan the downloaded files and your system for virus or other issues since you are responsible for protecting your computer system, I do not certify that files are clean or operational.
Unzip and extract all of the files in DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm) or DANCAD16.ZIP (tm) into their new sub-directory (a.k.a. folder). Do not put files from both distribution archives in the same sub-directory (folder) since the files share the same filenames and the files will get mixed up, overwritten, and not work properly.
Go to the DOS prompt and use the CD command to change to the sub-directory the extracted files from the distribution archive are in.
Type INSTALL at the DOS prompt. Read the messages that come on the screen. Type INSTALL INSTALL, that's right type install twice, at the DOS prompt, that runs the install batch file to make the needed sub-directories and move some files around to places they need to be. If you do not type INSTALL INSTALL at the DOS prompt the programs may report error messages and present other issues since INSTALL.BAT relocates files in the distribution and makes sub-directories that the programs use.
Before you try to run DANCAD3D (tm) you should check to make sure that you are not running any TSR programs in background that write to the screen, such as a program that puts a clock in the corner of the screen. If you are going to want to use a printer or plotter that runs off of one of the Serial ports you will need to use the DOS command MODE to setup the serial port BAUD rate, start bits, stop bits, data bits, and such. If you are going to use the digitizer tablet, or in some cases the mouse, you will need to run their drivers before you run my programs. If you are running the programs in a Windows (tm) window the setup must be done from inside that window before you run my programs. Also if you are running the programs under Windows (tm) you should read about other issues in Section: 3.5.20.0, in particular the notes about port access and Windows (tm) printer drivers altering the data stream going to the ports.
Type DANCAD3D at the DOS prompt, when the program runs the first time it will ask you to select the video mode. Be sure you only select a mode that is valid for your computer, video board, and monitor. If your computer is a new one with VESA SVGA video and a color monitor you would usually select video mode type "S" by pressing the [S] key on your keyboard. If your monitor loses sync at any time while running my programs turn it off immediately to try to reduce the risk of damage or fire. Do not select video display modes that your video board and monitor can not display safely. When the programs run for the first time they measure the computer's speed which takes some time, on subsequent start-ups these measurements may be skipped by the programs so that the program starts faster, so if you do something to your system to change its speed or throughput you may need to reinstall the programs from scratch in order to have them calibrate to the computer's new speed.
If you want the draw workspace file on another harddisk to get more free drawing lines you can use the Workspace option in the small menu that comes up over the CAD/DI program opening screen, for now you can just press [Return] to continue to the Main Menu. Changing the workspace drive from the program drive might only help if there is less than 2.1GB free on the drive the program is on.
Once you are in the Main Menu press [D] to go into the Drawing editor. The program will ask you if you want the automatic output macro turned on to log your drawing into a macro file, and the CAD/DI program will ask you to select the view for the drawing editor display. You would normally answer Yes to making a macro, and pick the Front view.
A blank workspace should be displayed, if not you can press [I] to initialize the workspace. You can change the background color by going into the Setup sub-menu and selecting the Palette command. Color zero, i.e. 0, of line colors 0 to 127, is the background color, which is black when equal to 0 and can be set to 1 through 15 for other colors. Note that if you set drawing lines to the same color as the background you will not see them.
When you are back at the Drawing Editor root menu press [D] to go into the Drawing sub-menu of the Drawing Editor. You should be able to move the drawing cursor around with your mouse or the cursor keys, if the mouse does not move the drawing cursor but the cursor keys do then you will need to install a mouse driver before you run my programs. The right mouse button marks the starting point of a line to draw, the left mouse button draws a line and marks that point as the next starting point automatically. If you want disconnected lines you will need to move to the starting point and click the right button again. The [./Del] key works like the right mouse button, and the [0/Ins] key works like the left mouse button. Pressing the [SpaceBar] toggles the menu selection highlight bar for the menu on the right side of the screen, this shifts the mouse and cursor keys from controlling the drawing cursor to selecting commands from the menu, you can select commands by their letter key with the cursor in either mode. To redraw the drawing editor screen press the [*] key. To zoom in or out press the [+] or [- ] keys. To interrupt the re-drawing of the drawing editor screen hold down the [Ctrl] or [Ctrl] and [X] keys. To change the line color to draw press [L]. To undo a line press [U]. To begin a new drawing element press [B]. Press [M] to set the amount the drawing cursor can move by, i.e. 0.001 for thousandths of an inch, or 3.125 to move three and an eighth of an inch and so on. Press [V] to select the display view point type e.g. Front, Side, Top, Perspective, and such, and display mode, e.g. wire frame or hidden line and such. You only draw in the Drawing sub-menu of the Drawing Editor, the other sub-menus of the Drawing Editor are for editing the drawing elements and other functions.
You can save or load drawings from the Main Menu Files Save and Files Load sub-menus, or from the Drawing editor's Files sub-menu. There are more save and load options in the menus off the Main Menu than in the Drawing editor. For saving tool path files for use with my CAM programs save them in the ASCII file type. For saving tool path files for use with other CAM programs look into using the G code, HPGL, and other file types in the Main Menu's Files Save Industry sub-menu.
Turn off the output macro if you like by pressing [O] while in the Main Menu, and Quit out of DANCAD3D (tm). When you Quit the CAD program you have two options to save the drawing in the workspace so that you can work more on the drawing in the workspace later. Remember to turn the output macro back on if you want to make more changes to the drawing later. The reason you should normally turn the automatic output macro off before quitting the program is that you might forget the output macro option is on when you run the program the next time and start appending your new drawing's macro codes into the macro file you used for your preceding drawing or editing.
If you have a computer with a math co-processor chip or a "DX" type CPU with the math co-processor built in you might next try to run DANCAD87.COM (tm) or DANCAD87.EXE (tm) by typing DANCAD87 at the DOS prompt as you did above for DANCAD3D.COM (tm) or DANCAD3D.EXE (tm). DANCAD87.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.EXE (tm) are very much like DANCAD3D (tm) but some of its file types will not share because the math co-processor uses a different binary real number format, so if you use both CAD programs you should generally save the drawings as the ASCII file type which is not binary and may be compatible for file exchange between the CAD program types. Unlike DANCAD87.COM (tm) the newer DANCAD87.EXE (tm) may run on computers that do not have a math co-processor chip or CPU with a floating point unit, but it may run slower than DANCAD3D.EXE (tm) on such computers.
If you had problems running the CAD programs v2.7 under DOS 6.22 and the programs report that more DOS memory is needed, you may need to edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files to REM out your CD-ROM and Sound Board drivers, and move things to LOADHIGH and such to free up more DOS memory. Version v3.7 of the CAD programs should use less of the DOS 640KB memory on computers with plenty of other RAM, e.g. 16MB or more RAM, and so should leave enough memory free for the mouse, sound board, and CD-ROM drivers to be loaded when the CAD programs are running. Under Windows 95 (tm) the default DOS window running full screen should leave enough free memory for the programs to run in with the CD-ROM and Sound Board drivers loaded when Windows 95 (tm) booted. I am not sure what problems you might encounter under newer versions of Windows (tm), if you have problems try running the CAD programs under Windows 95 (tm). Some newer OS versions may interfere with direct Port I/O so, check that you are not using an OS or OS settings that interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the CAD programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22 or possibly Windows 95 (tm), and run the CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22. See SECTION: 2's FAQ for more information.
The CAM programs come in two versions now, v2.7 for real memory mode and v3.7 for protected memory mode. If you are running the CAM programs on a computer that only has 640KB of DOS memory you should use v2.7. If you have a computer with a 80286 or better processor and about 2688KB or more memory you might want to download and try v3.7 of the CAM programs. Version 3.7 is in file DANCAD16.ZIP (tm), and v2.7 is in file DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm). Do not install v2.7 and v3.7 in the same sub-directory, put them each in their own sub-directory. The v3.7 protected memory mode program versions may run some tasks somewhat slower than the real memory mode v2.7 program versions on older computers, such as 80386, perhaps because the computer memory access is not as good as it is on newer PIII class computers, so you may want to test both program types on your particular computer hardware if your application is speed critical, e.g. high motor RPM on the motion control portion of your CNC machine. Be sure to check the settings for the P.W.F. (Pulse Width Factor), the Pulse Rate Multiplier and the P.W.F. Increaser in the CAM program configuration menus if you are testing to find the maximum step pulse rate for your particular computer hardware. You can try the RPM test in the motor calibration configuration sub-menu to find the maximum step rates. If you do not have the motor's step rate settings set properly the motors may not turn at all, just make a faint high frequency buzz, or make no sound at all, since step rates might be set at ultrasonic frequencies by mistake, i.e. you need to change the settings so that the computer does not run the step pulses faster than your machine's motors can keep up with.
If you are going to use the CAM programs you just type DANCAM or DANPLOT at the DOS prompt when you are in their sub-directory. The CAM program will display some messages that you need to read. When you run the CAM programs the first time you need to select a password. Each time you run the programs after that when you have just turned the computer on you will again need to enter that password. If the computer is on and you have run the CAM programs already once since booting you should be able to enter DANCAM SKIP or DANPLOT SKIP to bypass the password prompt. If you are going to be away from your computer you should turn the computer off in order to reset the password request so that it cannot be skipped.
When the CAM programs are run for the first time there is a long timing calibration that takes a couple of minutes, this does not happen every time you run the CAM programs, it is just so that the CAM program can make fine timing adjustments for your particular computer hardware. Further timing calibration needs to be selected after you enter the various dimension and other values particular to your machine, e.g. by using the CAM program's configuration sub- menu. The timing calibration should be done when the CAM program is the only program running on the computer. Do not copy the program files from one computer to another since the configuration files are only adjusted to the computer the programs were originally installed on, if you need to install the programs on more than one computer unzip and install the programs from the current original *.ZIP distribution archive.
In order to test the CAM programs the pins on the parallel port must be connected to your machine, the CAM programs are designed to report an error if the parallel port is an open connection. Do not connect the parallel port from your computer through a parallel port pass through device such as a scanner or video capture device, since the parallel port pass through device may give false signals to the CAM program, so always connect the cable from your CAM machine directly to the parallel port connector on your computer. Do not change the setting of the Turbo switch on your computer while the CAM programs are running, or between times that you run the CAM programs.
The CAM programs are designed to be compact and run under DOS on older "junk" computers or on newer "bear bones" computers when higher step rates are needed. If you want to execute tool paths from G code, HTML, or BMP files and such you need to use the CAD programs to convert those file formats into an ASCII type tool path file that the CAM programs can read. The programs may not be able to be run at all on newer OS versions that might not allow direct Port I/O, so try them first under a compatible OS so you can see what they do when working properly. Always inspect the ASCII tool path file with the CAD programs before you execute the tool path with the CAM program. The stereoscopic display modes in the CAD programs might help you discern features in the tool path motions. Before displaying the tool path lines by using the stereoscopic display modes use the Mutate command to convert the tool path lines into 3D triangles for the stereoscopic display. Do not save the mutated triangles as a tool path.
There are various other *.ZIP files with utility programs, fonts, symbols, and example files that you can download and extract into the same sub-directory as the CAD/DI or CAM programs are in. Some of these are for you to learn from, others may be of practical value in generating your own drawings and tool path files, see the local Download links in SECTION: 9 for links to the current files. In some cases the new files you unzip may be in the program's sub-directory rather than in the special directories off of that sub-directory setup by INSTALL.BAT, so look in both places. In the programs you can usually get a file directory by entering DIR at a filename prompt, or by entering a name with "wild cards" in it, such as ASCII\*.ASC. If you need to enter a filename without an extension be sure you end the filename with a period, or the program will think you are entering the name of a sub-directory you want a file directory of.
You will need to read all of the *.TXT and *.BAT files that got unzipped with the programs, and also read everything in this Web site before you try to get serious about testing all of the features in the programs. Many of the commands are listed in the menus on the program's screens, and the program's menu commands tend to talk you through each step, so you get some reminders of what to enter next some of the time. You do however need to have a general idea of what you are trying to do, and what commands might be useful for doing it. Try looking in Appendix: B for some clues as to which commands to try, you can get there by clicking on the KEYWORDS link at the top and bottom of each page in this Web site, the keywords are the macro language equivalent of some of the menu commands. At the top of the description of each keyword is the approximate location of the corresponding menu command, if there is one. Some macro commands do not have a menu equivalent menu command and some menu commands do not have a macro command, but most do. Be sure to watch all of the video clips, and look at the many photos, and illustrations, in SECTION: 4 to get a better idea of how this unique CAD and CAM system works.
In order to make full use of my programs you may need to be able to boot your computer using FreeDOS FAT32 (tm) boot CD, Windows ME "rescue" boot floppy (tm), and Windows XP Home SP3 (tm). Since the internal format command in Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) was crippled intentionally by Microsoft (tm) to not allow you to format large harddisks with FAT32 you need to download a third party freeware program called FAT32FORMAT.EXE (tm) from the internet, and use another computer running XP (tm) to format a large EIDE harddrive between about 500GB and 2TB as FAT32, then you will be able to boot the computer with all there of the required OS and have access to the files. If you format your SATA harddrives as NTFS then you would be limited to using maybe just Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) and that could result in not being able to use all of the high resolution SVGA graphics modes that you video boards support. The use of VISTA (tm) is not recommended with my DOS compatible programs at this time. OS above Windows XP Home SP3 (tm) are not recommended for use with my DOS compatible programs at this time.