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RobertL

RSLogix500, RSLogix5000 and Factory talk

13 posts in this topic

Hi Folks, I have a tough decision to make. In my facility I have three PC's running Windows XP with RSLogix500, RSLogix5000, Factory Talk ME, and Panel Builder 32, and my employer wants me to upgrade these PC's with Windows 7 or Windows 8. They also want me to upgrade RSLogix500 V7 to RSLogix V8, RSLogix5000 to Studio5000 RSLogix5000, and Factory Talk ME V5 to Factory Talk V7. My questions to you guys: Which OS is better Windows 7 or 8? 32 0r 64 bit? Service Pack 2 or 3?. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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im not truly sure but i think the newest is better, because in my experience win 8 work smoothly with another PLC programmer like CX programmer and S7 , but i think you should check compability issue especially in hardware

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Microsoft is not longer supporting Windows XP and I heard some people having isssues with Windows 8 or Wndowa 7 when running RSLogix500 or RSLogix5000.

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Rockwell aren't supporting XP either. You're right, you need to get away from it as soon as you can. Windows 8 is not supported for the majority of Rockwell software. Much of it will work, but if you ever have issues you won't get any help out of them if you're running an unsupported OS. I run almost all my rockwell software on Window 7 64 bit. Works really well. Studio 5000/RSLogix 5000 is only supported on Windows 7 from about v17 (I think?), but works all the way back to v13 with no issues. If you have any PLC's with earlier firmware versions than that, you're going to have to hold onto an XP machine or plan a time to flash the firmware. But as long as you're running reasonably new versions of firmware in all your PLC's, you should be fine. RSLogix 500 is now up to version 9, not version 8. Version 9 is rock steady on Windows 7. And this platform is not firmware dependant so you should be fine with RSLogix 500 on a windows 7 machine. FTView is now up to version 8, although I haven't tried it yet. Version 7 works fine on W7, I can't see any reason version 8 wouldn't. The only issue is with some older FTView ME projects that were created on a 32 bit version of windows - you have to open them on a 32 bit version of windows to convert them to 64 bit, so if you only have 64 bit, you can get stuck there. There are ways around that though. I'd definitely be going for W7 64 bit. And if you're concerned about the FTView issue above come back with some specifics about your situation and we can probably tell you how to cover your bases before you make the leap. One other thing...I'd highly recommend investigating virtual machines for your new setup. It's really the way of the future for automation programming and there are 100 different ways it will save you time/money/headaches. I've had very good results with VMWare, and Paralells is another VM platform which I haven't used but by all accounts seems to be worth a look as well.
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Thank you very much, ASForest.

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Yes, get on Win 7 64bit. If you have issues with the software you will get better help from tech support. It is also more likely that Win 7 64bit is where the majority of development/testing/patches are being used, which gives you better future support. You will need to be careful on how to update your FTView projects to 64 bit. Shawn has a good write up below, and you can also search the AB knowledgebase http://www.theautomationblog.com/how-to-migrate-factorytalk-view-projects-to-windows-7-64-bit/ FTview 8.0 is a good upgrade, especially from v5. If you use security then you definitely want to be using v8 (ever try to move a project from one PC to another? v8 fixes the security problems). If you are cautious, wait until the next patch roll up is released. Or check the knowledge document for the latest https://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/621996 Going from v5 to v8 will also change your tag database to SQL, but the install should walk you through that. I completely agree with ASForrest, use virtual PCs. Rockwell supports using VMWare. If you want to try something different use Oracle VM VirtualBox (free). That makes it very easy to save a snapshot of a PC, or create multiple PCs. You could have one virtual PC for your old software versions and one for the new.

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Oh and one other thing I just found out yesterday isn't supported on W7 64 bit. The USB driver for a SmartGuard 600 safety controller. So if you need to talk to those, you need the version with an ethernet port, or else you'd have to connect via a devicenet interface.

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Lack of support, with XP operating system, in my opinion only means that if your PCs took a bit crap that they would be difficult to rebuild exactly. What is the business case to justify upgrading the PCs and development software? There are a number of obstacles with upgrading each program application, so unless you have a lot of free time, take the upgrades with baby steps first. One such obstacle I know for a fact is upgrading to Studio5000 Ver. 21 requires you to flash the CPU firmware to a newer version (as well as flashing the Kinetix 350 servo controllers to a newer version). Unless you are a new machine builder or you have new processes coming into your facility, upgrading to latest version development software typically does not yield any performance improvements. Another issue to consider is, especially with Rockwell software products, that the latest version sometimes comes with a whole new set of issues that the older version did not. Consider setting up the first upgrade PC with latest versions and take the learning curve as you go. In migrating firmware and PLC programs and HMI applications to the latest version, one can often make the process inoperable due to compatibility issues. This possibility often scares production managers into sticking with what is and has been working very well. That last suggestion is to consider virtualizing your development computers. Same, exact computer running on a new PC hardware platform...and old OS running inside of a new OS. Upgrade your development applications on a separate Virtual Machine; if the upgrade requires risky firmware flashing, you research the roadblocks and build this into your production plan. I have been using VMWare VirtualWorkstation for this function for years with great success. Virtualizing also comes in very, very handy when duplicating identical PCs.

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Thanks a lot guys.

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Can someone help me reset an alarm my system is not operating .

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ochoya, start a new thread with your question. Also, provide more information. What do you mean your system is not operating? What kind of alarm? What kind of system?

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Mr Automation,my system is a sodium hypoclorite plant, Q: 1794 -AENT network status indicator is off? ,and this affects the controls of all peripherals output controls on it. This happened during normal operation.

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I agree with ASForrest. Virtual machines will save a ton of time and headaches. I would just add using VmWare or another virtual software to first create a virtual machine of the current systems. That way you still have them to refer to and use while going through the upgrade process and as needed for legacy hardware. We have used virtual machines almost esclusivly for roughly 5 years, our Rockwell VM is now on Win7 64bit as is our Omron. I've not used Siemens in a couple of years so it's still in a WinXP VM. My host OS is now Windows 8. We keep an archive of past virtual machines as well for legacy support.

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