GNserver (GrecoNet Server) is the heart of all PC-based machine tool communications for Greco Systems products. Whether you use WinDNC, WinDCS or some other program to select a part program file to send to a control, it is GNserver that does the actual communications work.

	runs in the background, even when WinDNC is not running
	on Windows NT, GNserver can run as a service, so it starts automatically at system boot time -- no need to log in to start it
	can serve as many machine tools as the computer's capacity will allow, simultaneously

Network Client/Server Support

monitor and control GNserver machines running on a different computer across the network (WinDNC/WinDCS/redirection/etc on computer A can see status and issue commands to machines defined on computer B)

Communications Support

	any RS-232 comm port or multi-port board that supports standard Windows function calls
	Greco NIU Controller card and NIU's
	Greco High Speed Communications Card
	all Greco Systems DNC devices, such as Minifile, MTIC and DL-1020
	advanced PC communications cards, such as High Speed Card
	file transfer to and from controls that use FTP over Ethernet

Control Support

	supports the most commonly used communications protocols and tape drive emulations, including Fanuc Cassette and Mazak Conversational..
	Greco BTR devices
	see Application Note list for controls we have already connected to
	more controls are being added all the time.

Advanced Features

	Remote Calldown feature allows commands to be issued directly from most controls
	runs at higher priority than most programs, so you can run other programs on the server without impacting communications
	Directory Search: give it the base file name, and all subdirectories under the download directory will be searched until the file is found
	Local Copy: if the file is located on a network file server, GNserver can copy the entire file to the local disk before sending to the control. If the server fails after that point, the download will not be affected. Very useful for long drip-feed downloads.
	AutoPrint: a copy of the file can be sent to a printer prior to being downloaded

On-The-Fly Translations For Text-Based Files (most work on download, in some cases the reverse conversion applies to upload)

	comment stripping, with configurable comment start and end characters
	end-of-line character translation (crlf to cr only or lf only)
	character set translation (ASCII to EIA)
	add leader and trailer characters (spaces or nulls)
	looping: send same file repeatedly, either N times or indefinitely until closed
	restart in the middle of a file, with control code replay
	String Search: can skip file contents until a specific string is found, can also stop sending after a specific string is found. This allows extraneous text at the beginning or after the end of the actual part program to be automatically skipped during download.

Published Software API

Prefer to use your own user software? To find out how to connect your own application software to GNserver, contact Greco Systems for information about the API documentation. Also, an ActiveX control is in development, which will make it simple to connect GNserver to any Visual Basic or other ActiveX container applications.