I was blissfully ignorant of operational differences before I read the thread on "patterns changers." I tested several JD and Cat excavators over the past several months, for some reason I do not remember any differences in the operation. I have operated JD backhoes many a time for personal use and currently have a Kubota L45 backhoe; I just purchased a Link Belt 330, so what are the difference between them? I am a nub when it comes to operating large machines, so being is part of the fun. My only large equipment experience is that I tried to drive my grandfathers Steiger Panther tractor across a 5 acre catfish pond but that may a story for another thread on what is the stupidest thing you ever done in on a piece of equipment.
In this generation there are pretty much only two patterns used; ISO and SAE. I may have this wrong, but I believe that ISO and JD are thought of as the same with swing and boom on left joystick, stick and bucket on right. SAE, or Cat are swing and stick on left joystick, boom and bucket on right. Now, if you want to go back to the old P & H, Warner Swassey, Bucyrus era there are any number of patterns. P & H was similar to cranes in that you had swing on the left, boom on the right, stick on one pedal and bucket on another (I can't remember which was which now). Others had an air over hydraulic sideways tilt action for the bucket and stick where the boom and swing were straight forward or back, and one tilted the handle on the top of the swing/boom levers to activate bucket and stick. I don't know how true this is, but I heard that the difference in JD vs. Cat patterns began in the unions, where excavator operators used SAE and backhoe (rubber tired) operators used ISO. The story was that one group didn't want the other to be able to take their job away. Again, I have no idea if this is true or not, and I am not trying to bash the unions. Fortunately, most all equipment now has pattern changers. Everybody in our company runs SAE, so we don't have any issues!