GE LM90

[nalahim 0]

I'm working with a GE 90-30 cpu311 (v4.40) system. I am trying to work with the LM90-30 software (v9.05). I have been working with PLCs since he mid 80s but my expertise is not in the GE product line so I could use some help here. I have searched but could not come up with any answers. 1) Does the LM90 software have a mode that shows the entire page? I'm getting a half page, displaying one or two lines of logic at a time. This is workable, but a real pain in the butt. How to setup for full page display would be great. Anyone know how to do this? 2) I do not have a dot matrix printer, but a LJ2200D to work with. How can I set up to print with the LJ2200D? Is this doable or must I get a dot matrix? My PC is a P4/3.0ghz/1gb ram/XP Pro Any help would be greatly appreciated. thnx nalahim

[Steve Bailey 118]

You have to realize that Logicmaster was a DOS application, subject to the 80-column wide by 25 row high restrictions and before the days of scalable fonts. You can run it fullscreen, but it's always going to be 25 vrows, 80 columns. That said, there are a couple of things you can do to increase the amount of logic displayed. Displaying more logic comes at the expense of displaying less documentation. Press ALT + N repeatedly to scroll through the display options. You can display logic with addresses, logic with nicknames, logic with addresses and reference descriptions, logic with nicnames and reference descriptions, and logic with no addresses, nicknames or reference descriptions. Press ALT + E to make the three rows of information at the bottom of the screen go away to be replaced by a little more logic. Press ALT + E again to restore the three information lines. For printing, you can direct the output to a text file that you can then open with any word processor and print on whatever printer is available to you. Be sure to select a fixed width font like courier when you open the text file so the vertical characters will align properly. Hope that helps.

[nalahim 0]

Thanks, that helps. The print to txt is fine, certainly something I can work with. The ALT-E gives me another rung or two to view, but the bottom half of the screen is still unused. Why can't I get a full screen of rungs to view? Is that the best it gets or am I still doing something rung (wrong). If I may ask for more help here - I can edit the rung and any elements on it, but what about editing nicknames. I'm a bit stumped on that. thnx again, Al

[RussB 22]

When teaching LM90 I used to tell everyone that there are just two things to remember, 1. Esc backs you up a screen. Alt-H brings up the online help system. HTH

[Steve Bailey 118]

I have one XP laptop that fills up the screen and one that only uses half just like you're seeing. In both cases, the number of rungs displayed is the same. That's because Logicmaster is a twenty year old DOS application.To edit your nicknames and reference descriptions, cursor to the "Variable Declarations" rung at the beginning of the program block and hit F10 (zoom). That will get you to the declarations where you can edit the text. When I was doing PLC training with Logicmaster I used to tell my students the same thing Russ did, but I added that ALT K brings up a list of all the hot key combinations. You really ought to consider getting Proficy Machine Edition, although it might have some problems with that old firmware version. You will be able to import your Logicmaster projects into PME.

[nalahim 0]

Thanks Steve and Russ for your responses... both very helpful. VersaPro may be a possible option for me (as in a borrowed laptop), but there is no money in this project for new software like PME. If I can actually get my hands on that borrowed laptop, is it something you would recommend? ... for ease of programming, the GUI, or w/e? And once I use the VersaPro, can I go back and forth with either software to support this PLC. I think what I'm asking is if everything I need to view and work on the program is retained in the PLC, especially nicknames. I know I can import it all into the VersaPro and save those files, but what if later, I no longer have access to the VersaPro. If so, then I'm not so sure I want to go down that road. Any thoughts? Much thnx, Al

[Steve Bailey 118]

Migration from old software to new is a one-way street. The new software can import files created with the old, but the old software can not import files from the new. If, in the long term you will only have Logicmaster available, then make your changes with Logicmaster. You will have the fewest frustrations with Logicmaster if you have a PC with a real serial port. It is possible for Logicmaster to communicate with the PLC through a USB/serial converter, but in my experience it has an annoying tendency to drop communications briefly and then reconnect.