Free Software Story

[mikkojay]

This one isn't directly laser related, but this section of the forum is a little dead lately- so please let it slide.
Back in 2005/06 (before I started experimenting with the laser stuff), I was really getting into CNC. I bought an older benchtop CNC lathe at a university auction. I saw that it had a serial port, so I set about writing a VB6 app to generate toolpath files and pipe them to the machine. I got a little carried away, and ended up creating a rendering preview feature for it as well. It worked good, but I didn't really have a huge use for it, so I parked it and the source code out on a web page for anyone who wanted it.
By the way, looking at the rendering screen, can you tell how I would have gravitated to laser rendered vector games?

Nearly 3 years later, I get an email from a guy in the Netherlands named Henk Verschuren. He tells me that he is going to expand on the project- I thought it sounded like a great idea. Today I got an email from him, and get this- he created a page for the project called http://www.mikesfreeinterface.com/
What a trip! I was very humbled. It is sort of a natural high though, when you know that something you did made someone's day way around the world, and I had even forgotten about it! Isn't the web something else?

OK, so what's next? I think first up will be a port of LazyMame to the LD2000 SDK. After that, I'm still thinking- if anyone has one of those "you know what would be cool..." ideas, throw it out here!

-Mike

[danielbriggs]

Does your software output G-code or something else?
I'd like to give it a go, but my CNC feeds off HPGL-1

[mikkojay]

Yeah, it is just regular Gcode- you can see some of it in the screenshots on the old website http://members.cox.net/mnorth1b/
-Mike

[buffo]

It is sort of a natural high though, when you know that something you did made someone's day way around the world, and I had even forgotten about it! Isn't the web something else?

Hehe... The web certainly is "something else"! But yeah, I get where you're coming from. Nice to know that something you've done has made someone else smile.

OK, so what's next? I think first up will be a port of LazyMame to the LD2000 SDK.

Oh *HELL* yes!!!! This is going to make a lot of LD-2000 users happy! (Bill has a copy of the original LaserMame, and has brought it out at a couple of our Laser Enthusiast's Meetings. It's always been a huge hit!)

After that, I'm still thinking- if anyone has one of those "you know what would be cool..." ideas, throw it out here!

I dunno - the idea of LazyMame on the QM-2000 board is pretty darn cool in my book! Not sure that I can top that...

Adam