I mean yes, but updates can also break scripts. I'd say less likely, but if the automation solves an annoying issue, just go for it. It's good to understand though that the automation needs adjustment from time to time

Python can do it quite well. Look for certain pixels, click if they have a certain value.

As others have said it's better to use other methods like apis where there is context but it's definitely doable.

If it's on the web, I've used selenium for years to get around apis and websites that don't support it.

You can also use OCR libraries to read text or match colors.

As others have said - automating something with a GUI can get nasty. That being said, PowerAutomate isn't terrible, nor is UiPath. I've also used Autohotkey, but it has a steep learning curve.

but im lazy and I dont want to have to manually do it every time 😅

I wouldn't personally

What if your automation clicks the wrong button after an update? GUI is for humans not scripts.

Its been quite a few years, but used Selenium to interact with GUIs for these kind of things. This included onboarding/offboarding tasks.

Api if it has one. Otherwise AutoIt or Autohotkey

Rock and roll. I've seen bad things happen when someone decides it's a good idea to modernize a PC based CNC control. (I hate PC based controls). They get their own little fence to live inside where it's always 1999.

I've got it covered :) - whole duplicate set of hardware & drive image. Recapped the board last year & replaced PSU too.

I won't touch the DOS software it uses to actually run the plant, the lads can have at that.

At least the lathe isn't running punch tape.

Don't upgrade or mess with the control. Disconnect from the network if it's on it. It should have RS-232. Throw a Pi or other SBC that does serial and a 12V level shifter; use that to feed it programs.

Also, make an image of the hard drive if it has one and start looking for a spare drive on ebay.

It's pre terminated pure copper direct burial cat6 from Amazon. I don't have access to a real tester, but my cisco switch has some built in test capability and I'm not sure I fully understand the results, but it's assessment of the cable length is pretty close and, more importantly, it shows all the pairs are the same as each other. I think that if there was some damage to the cable, it's unlikely that it would affect all the pairs in exactly the same way. I have other weird grounding issues - like 20V between neutral and ground, even though it's a new house and they're properly bonded at the service entry. I had a really old transformer on the street feeding the two buildings and the power company recently replaced it - I was disappointed when this didn't resolve all my issues.

What type of cable did you use? Water could have seeped into which cause a bunch of weird issue because the resistance on the wires goes all wonky. I’m not sure if you have access to a cable certified like a Fluke, but if you do I would use that to test and it will most likely tell you your issue. I highly doubt it’s a grounding issue because you’d issues like that in large buildings where the power is on different phases or technical power.

"In the wall" is an exaggeration. It technically was behind a massive desk that tool a group to move.

Basically in a wall. At that same place I also found a consumer router and a switch in the ceiling handling everyones traffic. It was toasty up there.

Well, there was air in the gaps? We "volunteered" to move them onto a couple vms on server19 just so we could sleep at night.

Earth

We had a section of comptuers that would not properly image. Come to find out that there were actual cat 3 cables mixed in randomly across the floor. That was the year that I bought several hundred new ethernet cables and we replaced every last one of them to be sure.

I've used one of those before!

I guess that's what I haven't figured out yet - it's about 200' and I don't have 200' of wire laying around. I'm thinking of making dummy terminations for each end of my cat6 cable and stripping each of the pairs and twisting them together so it works as a single conductor and using that to measure.

[I am not an electrician, so this is not a recommendation and I would not be qualified to make one] With that out if the way, what I would do to test this theory is to measure the voltage between a ground pin in each house, using am extension cord or similar to bridge the distance. A decent multimeter should do the job. Note that the cord itself would cause a voltage drop, but the ethernet cable would too so I think that'd if you can't measure a difference with the extension cord (which should have less ressistance than the ethernet one) then it shouldn't matter(?)

Note that while ground is normally "the safe pin" (not really a thing I guess but..) in this case, where the suspicion is a differential, then it should be very much considered live. And that means all precautions should be taken, such as not following a random stranger's advice.

It might be worth looking into those plugin-sockets with ground fault protection in both ends (not sure if they'd do anything in this case), if the ethernet cable is shielded, maybe removing the shield in one end (such that the cable is grounded only to one house) could make things better (or maybe even worse?),

and while maybe not feasible: fiber wouldn't be affected by this as it's just light, and likewise WiFi or other wireless tech could be feasible. with clear line of sight, 5GHz can provide very good speed and latency.

That 3com hub was new in the late 90's

Design/machine people are a wholly different breed of user...

CS1.6, beige boxes, CRTs and sweat. A different time.

I am yet to see load bearing cat in person. Plenty time yet though!

When you tug the unusually weighted cable and you hear metal scraping in the wall 10 metres away 😬

Hope it wasn't too much of an arse to fish out. Or did you let sleeping switches lie? :)