I attended the Rockwell Automation fair in Boston and thought I'd share some of the things I learned.
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RS Linx and RS 500 will be end of life in 2030. We have a few old MicroLogix and SLC around and have plans for them to be retired or upgraded before then.
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As of Studio 5000 V35, FTLinx is the default instead of RSLinx. Some newer software only works with FTLinx.
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If during the pandemic, you bought an Allen-Bradley PLC off eBay or something, it's possible that you got a counterfeit. If you upgrade to V32 firmware, you should get a warning. If you upgrade to V33+, you can permanently brick the counterfeit PLC. Good idea to flash all PLCs to V32 before going any further with firmware upgrades.
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If you have a Studio 5000 Pro licence, then you have access to the SDK which allows you to automate some Studio 5000 functions like uploading and downloading of the ACD file. In the next release, they plan to have L5X and L5K file access. This potentially opens up making an automated home brew version control where you upload the L5X from the PLC and send it to git where it compares the text with the last version and shows you the changes. I know they sell a version control product (Factorytalk Asset Center), but not every shop wants to fork over that kind of cash.
I'm not sure I'm too happy about the decision to kill off RS Linx. I'd even argue that it's a dick move.
It is a few years down the road but I agree. I talked to a guy at the conference who had only used Studio 5000 for the first time at the conference. The whole plant he supported was running on MicroLogix and used RSLogix 500. Now I think they can keep running even after the software is EOL, but some places will be forced to upgrade to stay in regulatory compliance.
Maybe that's what you do when you want manipulate some more sales.