Try Meetup - We are what we do[^] FWIW, when I wanted to learn about Android programming I was recommended to join our local Google Developers Group on Meetup. Just search for your area of interest. This turned out to be a very good suggestion as there were lots of tech talks, introduction to new technologies, study jams, hackathons and to cover your comment about how to join the forces I also met developers from almost all walks of the industry and now have many tech friends that I would not have if I had restricted myself to working in the office. As a result of Covid our meetings are currently virtual events :( (I miss the Pizza, beer and chat that went with the live meetings).

Even more chilling... Russia: tanks: 12,420; armoured vehicles: 30,122; self-propelled artillery: 6,574; towed artillery: 7,571; rocket projectors: 3,391 Britain: tanks: 227; AFVs or armoured vehicles: 5,015; self-propelled guns: 89; towed artillery: 126; rocket projectors: 44. (Don't spread rumours always quote your sources Russia vs Britain: how do the militaries stack up?[^] European Countries have similar number to GB. Why would anyone need that amount of artillery unless the intention is to invade all his neighbours and rebuild the old Iron Curtain? This has been years in the planning and building, lets hope he does start on Poland and the Baltic states or we are all in it like it or not :( Even worse Putin already has its troops in Belarus and Moldovia so there is no need to invade those countries.

Thanks very much, I had not considered that approach and it is serious food for thought! :)

Thanks for tyour comments and links especially the documentation page on the latest hardware (Dated 10/04/2021 for anyone else reading this thread). Lots of homework to do now.

Thanks, I have a Pi 4 and a son who is at a lose end, I will get him to try this. The slight issue is that if it not officially supported we cannot use it in the actual machine but I do appreciate the links.

I had not considered this form factor and it would probably future proof the machine. Thanks very much for the suggestion!

Thanks very much :-D I like that Lenovo what a pity about the supply issue. Your set-up is quite similar to my application, touchscreen, serial comms to the machine and Ethernet for firmware updates so your advice is spot on for me.:thumbsup:

It's is a good suggestion though!

I had considered that but in my mind the Pi3 is on its way to being yesterdays product. I am surprised to see that some of the systems we put in 25 years ago are still in regular use and spares are still being ordered so I am reluctant to put in something that may be obsolete in the near future. Hence the consideration of a generic PC platform and (rather foolishly maybe) an OS that will have a few years of support :laugh:

Thanks for that!:thumbsup:

A couple of serial ports, two USB2 ports and Ethernet, (WiFi is not necessary) I intend to use a touch screen for normal operation so a keyboard and mouse will only be plugged in by a service engineer. Currently a discrete PC that goes with the system uses FTDI USB to RS232 converters.

Thanks very much :thumbsup:. It is an issue because it is not officially supported :sigh: so I cannot expect a service technician to re-install it if necessary.

It has to be Windows because the machine control software and its entire infrastructure has already been developed for a Windows environment and we just maintain it under licence. Porting it to Linux is a different project and for a different team, we are not in charge of those rules, we simply build the system and keep the customer satisfied. Personally I fully agree new developments should be using Linux where appropriate, the modern SBC's pack a punch :) its going to take a while to shake off Windows but it will happen.

Thanks, an interesting link!

I want to upgrade some hardware and one of my requirements is to include a panel mounted touch screen PC for the machine control. Such PC's are advertised as just a base unit and one with 4Gb of Ram and an Atom processor costs over £800. If I want something with a more powerful processor there is a huge price hike and they start at £1800 - both options include Windows 10 IOT in the price. I see there are quite a few single board Windows PC's such as the SEEED Odyssey with Windows 10 Pro [^] costing approx £210 or a Latte Panda with Windows 10 Home[^] at £109. (Amazingly, both of these PC's also include an embedded Arduino with all of its I/O but I don't need this). On paper either would do the job and I am considering giving them a try and see what the pitfalls are. I am thinking that as Windows 10 IOT is specific for machine control and Edge devices I should install that instead of the supplied W10 Pro or Home. It has to be Windows OS and sadly the new Raspberry Pi's no longer offer Windows as an OS. Has anyone been down the route and if so have you any comments on either the hardware or which OS to use?

If I was starting from scratch I'd agree with you :) Sadly in an industry dominated by PC's running customised software there is not a lot of options.

It has to be Windows as the software already exists and the Pi 4 does not support Windows :( as did the Pi 3

Yes, that was exactly my experience, same year and given the same problem :) (different college, and possibly a different country). At the same time we were introduced to the programmable calculator an Olivetti P101 with 240 bytes of RAM and told this was the future so learn to use it. I never did any other exercise on it than solving a quadratic, it kept on breaking down. After graduating we used HP65's and finally in 1975 my bosses wanted data gathered and pre-processed at the point of data collection (underwater for offshore applications) so it was "Hello" to processors like the Intel 8008 and later the Z80. The electronics module of my physics degree came into play and I had to learn to program in assembler, fortunately I was able to get away with integer arithmetic. In my experience maths is an integral part of life, saying you don't need maths IMO is like saying you don't need to be able to write - you can get by but what a hindrance.

That's very useful - Thanks

Wow, I shall do! :-D Thanks very much.