CB Tech

If you move to a distance sensor, you will have to have an analog input to read it in.  You could use a few non-contact optical limits set at different distances to detect if things are moving, but if you should happen to get multiple boxes riding one side of the conveyor, you may get a false jam signal.  If you want a single sensor that can do either, look into the IFM O1D laser sensors, they can be used as a discrete programmable distance sensor, or you can use the analog signal to get actual distance from the sensor face.

You are the second person to suggest VMWare.  I have been using Oracle VM VirtualBox.  I am currently having trouble getting my USB ports to behave properly.  They don't like to share between the host and VM.  Is VMWare free?

Thank you for the response.  I do understand the time suck that is configuring a new laptop, but I have never used the virtual machine method before.  I tried it on my current laptop which is more than capable of handling all the requirements, but I have not had too much luck making everything work smoothly.  I can get the VM running, but it seems sluggish and I was hoping for a better feel to it.  I have not taken the chance on installing all the rockwell software on it yet as I have a new toolkit package and was waiting to get a well operating machine before installation. I was thinking about getting a laptop with Windows 10 Pro and using the retrograde rights to load Windows 7 on it in hopes that the native platform might be smoother.   Thoughts?

I would like to resurrect this old thread to get current input.  My old machine is struggling with the Rockwell toolkit.  What new laptops are working well for you guys and do you have to run a VM?