SoftPLC Corporation News

03/01/12

09:35:30 am March 2012 Newsletter Published  

• SMS Read/Write Ladder Instructions
• New Products - Low Cost, Rugged Cell Modems
• Application Story - Flawless PLC-5 Migration

01/21/12

08:55:23 am January 2012 Newsletter Issued  

• Allen-Bradley PLC Migrations - Low Risk, Low Cost
• TOPDOC NexGen Downloadable Demo

01/17/12

09:36:23 am A-B PLC Migration Video  

This short video details how easy and low-risk upgrading older A-B PLC CPU’s can be, when the new controller is a SoftPLC programmable automation controller!

For more details, visit this page.

12/01/11

09:16:06 am November/December 2011 Newsletter  

• Free, Flexible, & Easy Data Logging
• SoftPLC Web Studio Version 7 Service Pack Update

09/19/11

09:19:31 am September/October 2011 Newsletter  

Green Energy Edition
SoftPLC products have been used in many types of clean energy applications, including these examples.

07/15/11

09:26:54 am July/August 2011 Newsletter  

NEW! World’s lowest cost A-B RIO interface now available.
Allen-Bradley Remote I/O Master and Slave Interfaces for Smart SoftPLC

PLC-2 Upgrade Application story

04/28/11

09:32:02 am 2nd Quarter 2011 Newsletter  

Industrial Ethernet Security Issue

• SoftPLC’s embedded firewall/VPN firmware option
• Intrusion Security Application Story

03/24/11

08:28:03 am SoftPLC Version 4.6 /TOPDOC Version 1.6 Now Available  

We’re excited to announce the release of the x.6 versions of SoftPLC and TOPDOC.

TOPDOC version 1.6 provides a number of new features, including:

• Added GUI Smart Tealware I/O configuration editor
• Added GUI Modbus Master/Slave serial configuration editors
• Enhanced ModbusTCP configuration editor to support Smart Adapters
• Updated Detect On Net to recognize Ethernet I/O adapters and display their TCP/IP addresses
• PLC Configuration “Define” supports selection of all SoftPLC models

SoftPLC version 4.6 is a major upgrade that also includes a major upgrade to Gatecraft Linux (the operating system on your SoftPLC’s). The key enhancement was a restructuring of how we build the system, which adds a “Package Manager” capability. This provides an easy remote upgrade capability for your SoftPLC’s. If you are not familiar with Package Managers, you can read about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system. We will be establishing a repository on the internet from which you will be able to get updates to SoftPLC, Gatecraft Linux, and also TLM’s such as drivers and new loadable instructions.

The SoftPLC Programmer’s Toolkit has also been upgraded to support SoftPLC version 4.6.

Note: TOPDOC version 1.6 is required for use with SoftPLC Version 4.6, to support the added communication functions for Detect on Net.

Contact SoftPLC technical support at support@softplc.com for more information on the upgrades and procedures to update your products.

03/02/11

08:58:02 am Read/Write to Disk - New Loadable Instruction  

A free TLI (TOPDOC Loadable Instruction) which allows the saving (write to disk) and loading (read from disk) of a block of data table words to a text file or a compressed binary file is now available from our Knowledge Base. The user guide and sample ladder logic are included in the zip file.

These instructions can be used in many ways. Two examples:

• If multiple machines use the same logic but with different data, the machine specific parameters can be stored in separate files and then loaded when SoftPLC first starts up. This allows the SoftPLC *.APP (application files) to be identical, including the initial datatables.
• Prior to machine/process start-up or shut-down you can save/restore critical or retentive data table values.

(This is an enhanced version of the FloatDisk TLM which only worked with floating point data.)

02/20/11

09:33:18 am February/March 2011 Newsletter  

• SoftPLC and TOPDOC versions x.6 now available
• Parking Lot Information Application Story