OptoNews - November 14, 2007

Hot Tips from Product Support

SNAP PAC System Training—Now on the East Coast

It's Turkey Trot Time at Opto

Hot Tips from Product Support

Opto 22's Product Support Group (PSG) develops some helpful tips as they work with customers calling in for free product support. Here are some more tips from Product Support engineers.

Archive your strategies

PSG engineer Josh says sometimes customers ask how they can get a PAC Control strategy out of their controller, and they're dismayed to find out they can't—unless they've already taken the important step of archiving it.

Archiving is easy. As the PAC Control User's Guide notes, archive files are date and time stamped, and zipped for compact storage. We recommend you archive your strategy to the computer during strategy development and to the controller when the strategy is completed. When you archive a strategy to the controller, you are placing the zipped file in battery-backed RAM. If power to the controller is lost, the archive is still there.

For steps to archive your strategy, see the PAC Control User's Guide. You can look up "archiving" in the index to find the pages quickly.

Check out the new interface for PAC Terminal

PAC Terminal is a handy tool in PAC Project that now lets you inspect several controllers at the same time.

When you launch PAC Terminal, you'll see a list of controllers with multiple columns, including controller name, primary IP address, and secondary IP address. You can choose to inspect one controller, a group of controllers, or all controllers.

If you choose more than one controller, you'll see a table showing the current state of all controllers. If you choose just one controller, you get a revamped status window with more information than before.

A key diagnostic feature has been added as well. When you view messages (the message/error queue), you can now save the list of errors to a file for sorting or future reference.

SNAP PAC System Training—Now on the East Coast

SNAP PAC System training classes at our headquarters in California are already booked up through February.

But if you're lucky enough to be on the East coast of the U.S. this December, you can receive certified SNAP PAC System training from Martindale Associates.

Located in Bradford, Massachusetts, the Martindale facility includes a customer center equipped with computer stations for one-on-one training with a certified instructor.

The four-day, hands-on SNAP PAC System class introduces PAC Project automation software, SNAP PAC programmable automation controllers, and SNAP I/O, including system components and configuration, networking capabilities, diagnostics, troubleshooting, and communication methods, including TCP & UDP, IP, SMTP, SNMP, FTP, and OPC.

East Coast class details:

• Dates: December 10-13, 2007 (Mon-Thu)
• Cost: $1000, including all training materials and lunch
• Location: Martindale Associates, Bradford, MA
• Class size is limited to six people, so contact Martindale today! Email training@martindaleassoc.com or phone 978-372-2120.

You can Lunch & Learn with Martindale as well, at your place of business or theirs. Read Martindale's Lunch & Learn postcard (PDF) for more information.

It's Turkey Trot Time at Opto

Those of you who've attended our free training classes at Opto 22 headquarters in Temecula, California, know that we're lucky enough to have our own nine-hole putting green, right in back of the building.

Students and employees enjoy taking a break once in awhile to line up a shot or three.

But every November, the competition heats up as Opto employees grab putters and golf balls for the annual Turkey Trot Golf Tournament. We choose up partners and engage in an all-out, four-day team tournament.

In honor of the U.S. Thanksgiving Day, turkeys and pies are given as prizes for daily low scores and holes-in-one. Our photo shows Turkey Trot veteran Vieng Viphakone lining up to shoot a hole in one.

Read more about the Turkey Trot in Kristie Allison's latest blog.