[Emc-users] Setting subroutine path

2012-02-28 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, I am trying to put o-word subroutines in a different folder from nc_files. In the ini file (I tried testing on sim/axis.ini and sim/tkemc.ini) I have: PROGRAM_PREFIX = /home/emcuser/emc2/nc_files So under [RS274NGC] I entered: SUBROUTINE_PATH = /home/emcuser/emc2/subroutines And call

Re: [Emc-users] Setting subroutine path

2012-02-29 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Gene, et al, Is SUBROUTINE_PATH new to 2.5? I just noticed the reference I found was in the 2.5 version of the Integrator manual, but it does not appear in the 2.4 version. I am currently using 2.4.6 (or is it 2.4.7 reporting that it is 2.4.6). At any rate, I found it through a search, but see

Re: [Emc-users] PROGRAM_PREFIX

2012-02-29 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Erik, Thanks for the tip, but ultimately that has the same problem. For now I will just change the file attributes to require a sudo to edit or delete subroutines. The main purpose was to put them some place where they would not get accidentally deleted if someone was over zealous in cleaning up

Re: [Emc-users] Making my own custom gui or controlling software to command emc

2012-03-02 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Bart, Emcrsh is particularly suited for instances where you want to interface with LinuxCNC from non-Linux platforms or at least where you do not want to install other parts of LinuxCNC. It is a good option if you are prepared to write an interface from scratch. If your interface is to run on

[Emc-users] LAMP stack for robotics

2012-03-29 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Just an FYI, This article was recently posted via slashdot: http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2012/03/29/can-willow-garages-linux-for -robots-spur-internet-scale-growth/?single_page=true quote That's one of the main arguments you'll hear from the engineers at Willow Garage, a unique startup

[Emc-users] Time delay on resume

2012-05-02 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, I have a tangential tool application with a pneumatically controlled 2 position Z axis. Thus I control the head up / head down, directly with digital I/O. I also have the head coming up and turning off automatically on a pause, stop or fault. That is all working fine. The one thing I

Re: [Emc-users] linux 10.04 install from usb

2012-05-15 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Dave, How about this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick You should be able to use the Linuxcnc LiveCD as the ISO image. Failing that, install generic Ubuntu 10.04 to the USB, use it to install, then run the Linuxcnc install script as described here under If you prefer

[Emc-users] Setting coordinate systems

2012-05-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, The setting of the coordinate system (G53-g59.3) is not working the way I expected, and I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. I am running linuxcnc 2.5, BTW. After initialization and homing, if I issue: G53 G0 X0 Y0 It will correctly move to absolute machine 0, 0. This

Re: [Emc-users] Setting coordinate systems

2012-05-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, Oops, I think I found it (haven't tested yet). I think I am off by one in P value. I don't understand why it worked the first time however. Regards, Eric Hi all, The setting of the coordinate system (G53-g59.3) is not working the way I expected, and I am trying to figure out what I am

Re: [Emc-users] Setting coordinate systems

2012-05-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, Oops again, just a typo on my part. I was using coordinate system 3, but erroneously referred to it is 2. So the P values are being used correctly and the problem remains. Regards, Eric Hi all, Oops, I think I found it (haven't tested yet). I think I am off by one in P value. I don't

Re: [Emc-users] Setting coordinate systems

2012-05-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Jon, I am using the coordinate systems as a means of getting multiple tools offset in X and Y from each other so they can land on top of each other. IOW, do a pass with one tool, then apply the offsets of another tool but otherwise follow the same tool path. For example: G54 - Null Tool G55 -

Re: [Emc-users] Setting coordinate systems

2012-05-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Andy, You _could_ do that with tool offsets in the tool table. (I think). All tools have spaces for offsets in XYZUVW. Are you talking about tool.tbl in the config directory? It looks to me like you can only set tool length and diameter. Am I missing something? If I could do that this would

Re: [Emc-users] Setting coordinate systems

2012-05-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Andy, No, that does seem wrong and strange. I wonder if it is a synch problem, one part of the code not updating because it thinks nothing has changed on the basis of an internal value but another part of the code getting the information from the not-updated section? I have used this basic

Re: [Emc-users] Setting coordinate systems

2012-05-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Andy, I do need to pay more attention to the change log. I waited for 2.5 for this application specifically for the ability to put named subroutines in their own folder. I did not realize the tool table functionality had changed in the previous version. Thanks, Eric Yes. Which LinuxCNC version

[Emc-users] Tool Offsets

2012-05-21 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, Per the Setting Coordinate Systems thread, I converted from using coordinate systems (G54-G59.3) and setting the offsets with G10 L2, to using the offsets specified in the tool table. Mostly it worked without a problem. The exception is when re-running a program without reloading it. The

Re: [Emc-users] Tool Offsets

2012-05-22 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Terry, I am strongly suspecting that it has something to do with named external subroutines. I have used coordinate systems (G54-59, G10 L2, etc.) extensively in the past without any problems. This is the first time I have used the tool table for X, Y, etc. offsets, but the problems I am

Re: [Emc-users] Tool Offsets

2012-05-23 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Andy, I am not writing to the tool table with gcode, and I can post some code, but I have a question first. I modified the Sim Axis-9 configuration to simulate what I am doing on the real machine. When I run a program using external named subroutines I get one of two errors if I stop the program

Re: [Emc-users] Setting up Hal and ini files for the parport

2006-12-04 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Alex, So you are back to EMC2? :) As I said earlier, a good place to start is the hal tutorial in the user's manual. See: http://www.linuxcnc.org/docs/EMC2_User_Manual.pdf You really need to go through the tutorial to understand how hal works, and in the process how to configure your system.

Re: [Emc-users] Command-line interface to EMC2

2006-12-29 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Glenn, See if this is of any value. I haven't checked the released version lately, so this may only be in head at this time. But do a CVS check out and compile of 'HEAD'. In there you will find a program called emcrsh (in bin). It basically supports the same functions as emcsh only over a telnet

Re: [Emc-users] Command-line interface to EMC2

2007-02-09 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Glenn, There are a number of commands which will give you meaningful status information. They include: get estop Returns On | Off for whether the machine is in estop get machine Returns On | Off for whether the machine state is on or off. get program Returns the name of the currently loaded

Re: [Emc-users] Hardware step generator for 5I20

2007-02-15 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, Great news. Will you be able to intermix steppers and PWMs on a single board? If I understand correctly your statement on PWM, that should be adequate for my needs. For my immediate project, I need three axes of steppers and one unidirectional PWM (no encoder) with a frequency between 5Khz

Re: [Emc-users] Information Display Panel

2007-03-21 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Jack, Can you provide a link to the monitor you are referring to. I looked at the Sharp web site (http://www.sharpusa.com) and was not able to find an 8.4 monitor other than those using standard VGA, etc. inputs, for which no additional drivers are necessary. Alternately, I recently checked into

Re: [Emc-users] Information Display Panel

2007-03-21 Thread Eric H. Johnson
The interface is dependent upon lcdproc, which provides drivers for these and many other LCD displays. Oops, I forgot the link, http://www.lcdproc.org/ Regards, Eric - Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of

[Emc-users] Hexapod questions

2007-03-29 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, What is the maturity of the Hexapod configuration under EMC2? I have never done anything with hexapods, but I was asked about the feasibility of using EMC2 for implementing a control system for a hexapod. I have not seen the actual unit, but what I have been told is that it is from a

Re: [Emc-users] Hexapod questions

2007-03-29 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, I'm sure it would not be a turnkey install but clever enough people could certainly get it working. Things like homing will be the fun parts. Basic hexapod kinematics are in there, and were used back in the NIST days. They'd need some porting effort to interface with the

[Emc-users] Effects of mode changes

2007-04-28 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, I have a couple of questions related to changing modes for various functions in my user interface. These use basically the calls within emcsh. 1 If in MDI mode I issue G92 X0 Y0 Z0, then open a new Gcode file, which also calls TaskPlanInit and sets the mode to Auto, any GCode entered

[Emc-users] Probing

2007-04-28 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, In reading about the probe function it looks to do something close to what I would like to do with a touch plate. This touch plate is put on top of the material and Z is lowered until the tool touches the plate, which completes the circuit and turns on an input. When this occurs, I

Re: [Emc-users] Probing

2007-04-28 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, Yes, I already have a home, and I am trying to do exactly as you say, establish an offset coordinate system using the touch plate. Regards, Eric It sounds like you are trying to home to the touch plate... In that case, what if you wired the touch plate up as a home switch for the Z

Re: [Emc-users] Proper implementation of Estop - was Effects of mode changes

2007-04-29 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Chris (and John), Thanks for the replies, I have rather limited internet access at the moment, so I am a little slow in responding. I don't quite understand what you're saying. When in machine off state, the commanded position tracks the actual position so you can (for instance) use

Re: [Emc-users] hexapod

2007-05-02 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Dirk, As far as I know hexapod code is in EMC2, but does it (still) work? Back in march there where some mails about it. Unfontunately there was no succes story follow up. Is there any way to test the hexapod code without building the real thing? How is the machinecode handled? I

Re: [Emc-users] Soft Limits

2007-05-04 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, Prior to and during homing, the soft limits are set to current position +/- total length of axis (length of axis is the difference between the soft limits in the ini file. That means the home sequence should run into the physical ends of the axis before it hits the soft

Re: [Emc-users] Installing emc2 on Compact Flash drive

2008-01-07 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Chris, I have EMC2 running under Kubuntu and in just under 2 GB, although I used a 4GB flash IDE drive. Very easy install actually. All I did was to temporarily install an IDE CD-ROM drive, do a standard CD install of Kubuntu, then install EMC2 from the network connection (Internet). The only

Re: [Emc-users] Installing emc2 on Compact Flash drive

2008-01-07 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Colin, Oops, sorry, I of course meant Colin not Chris. Regards, Eric Chris, snip - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source.

Re: [Emc-users] Running EMC2 from another, local app

2008-03-11 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Glenn, Do you have the following in one of the hal files for the configuration you are running: loadusr emcrsh If you do not include that, then you will get the indicated error since the application to respond to your telnet session is not running. I don't recall whether the latest thing I have

Re: [Emc-users] EMC list troubles, and thanks, Gene Heskett!

2008-03-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Gary, Some band width providers will block socket 25 as a measure to cut down on spam. When you receive mail, that goes through another service (POP3 is the most common) which is on a different port (110 for POP). This can explain why you are able to receive, but not send. The way to test this is

Re: [Emc-users] EMC with Galil Ethernet motion controller

2008-03-22 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Eduardo, EMC will not work with hardware such as the Galil controller because EMC needs to directly handle the real-time control, including I/O, stepper pulse generation, closed loop servo control, etc. The Galil controller, OTOH wants to handle the real time control to offload it from non-real

[Emc-users] Differental Input to PWM

2008-03-31 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, Note: Reposted with smaller attachment. I am trying to read an RS422 differential input and convert it to an analog based on the duty cycle, using a Mesa m5i20 Anything I/O board. Provided this post is under the maximum size allowed, the schematic is attached. I really only have access

[Emc-users] Mesa 7I33 Aux Power

2008-04-02 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, I am getting a large voltage drop when I connect the analog outputs from the 7I33 to the load. With no load they show the correct voltages. The Mesa manual states Due to power supply limitations, The 7I33 has limited DC output drive capability and should not have loads of less than 5K

Re: [Emc-users] Mesa 7I33 Aux Power

2008-04-02 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, I think that agrees with what I am seeing. I measured the load and in fact it is 20K ohm. I also tried an AUX 5 V supply, and as John said, it made almost no difference (went up by about 1/2 mA). The 5V looks to be good, there is other general I/O which all are working fine. I also

Re: [Emc-users] Another Mesa question

2008-04-04 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Steve, How would an external pull up and pull down resisters work? What differentiates the startup state from a controlled assertion of the output? Thanks, Eric You can use external pull-up and pull-down resistors to set pin state. I'm pretty sure that is the only way to set outputs the way

Re: [Emc-users] Vital System Error

2008-04-16 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Glenn, The VTI configuration is for the Vigilant Technologies Inc (Vigilant Products) board. I believe you will find the Vital systems configuration under motenc. Regards, Eric I have loaded my box with Ubuntu and EMC2 following the instructions provided on the download page. I was able to

Re: [Emc-users] Manually loading motmod

2008-05-08 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Alex, John, Ok, it is obvious now. The missing symbols were kinematicsType, kinematicsInverse, and kinematicsForward, which all are defined on the subsequent line when exported with halcmd save. Specifically: loadrt trivkins Thus one can't do a halcmd save and then load the saved text with

Re: [Emc-users] Mini-itx Control

2008-05-30 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Kirk, I have had trouble getting Linux to run on my C3 ITX board, but that was quite a while ago. I would be interested in knowing if anyone has gotten EMC2 or Linux to run on one of these. It would make a nice low power router/gateway or EMC2 remote. I have had good success using the Via C7

Re: [Emc-users] Pendant with LCD display

2008-05-31 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Andrew, It does basically work, but there are some issues with the lcdproc software which it uses. What is checked in works with the curses driver. I have just recently worked out the bugs with the Matrix-Orbital driver, but it requires patching the MO driver in the lcdproc software. The main

Re: [Emc-users] SheetCam TNG V0.0.24 for Linux released

2008-06-20 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Les, Sorry to report, but loading sheetcam seems to have severely affected packaging functions (apt-get, synaptic, etc). Both the packages sheetcamlibs and sheetcam installed with errors, but sheetcam itself seems to be working. The problem is, synaptic, apt-get, etc. now do not. I am running a

Re: [Emc-users] SheetCam TNG V0.0.24 for Linux released

2008-06-21 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Les, The new sheetcamlibs package did the trick. Both sheetcam and the packaging system seem to be working fine. Thanks, Eric I replied before but it didn't seem to get through. I think I have found a problem with the sheetcamlibs package. Try downloading and installing the sheetcamlibs package

Re: [Emc-users] SheetCam TNG V0.0.24 for Linux released

2008-06-21 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, It is my development system which is used for more things than just EMC. In fact I don't run EMC from this machine other than testing, it is only used to compile from source. Regards, Eric Why did you install the workstation version vs the standard one that comes packaged with EMC2?

Re: [Emc-users] EMC Telnet Troubles

2008-08-08 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Andrew, The telnet interface protects against multiple clients having control at the same time. You must be the 'enabled' session in order to use the set command. Use: set enable EMCTOO To enable the current session, and: set enable off To release the current session. Setting enable will

[Emc-users] Stepper configuration

2008-08-08 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, I am trying my first stepper configuration, but also need a 5khz pwm, so I am using the m5i20 controller rather than the other more typical stepper configurations. I created a hybrid configuration which mostly works, except the stepper motors are running much to slowly and stop moving

Re: [Emc-users] Stepper configuration

2008-08-08 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, Something does not compute here. If scale is 1280 (that means 1280 counts per inch), then at one step per millisecond, you should get 1000/1280 = about 0.8 inches per second, not 2.5. Yes, I realized it as soon as I posted it, but the error wasn't big enough to matter so I did not post

Re: [Emc-users] Stepper configuration

2008-08-09 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Thanks. A couple more questions. 1 I assume I will have to build from source to use hostmot2? 2 On an m5i20, how do you use the general purpose I/O? I don't see, for instance, the equivalents of: addf m5i20.0.misc-update servo-thread 1 addf m5i20.0.digital-in-read servo-thread 1 addf

Re: [Emc-users] Stepper configuration

2008-08-12 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, I updated to the latest release, and started playing with hostmot2. I ran the following commands under halcmd: loadrt hostmot2 loadrt hm2_5i20 config=firmware=hm_5i20 num_stepgens=2 num_pwmgens=1 num_encoders=0 I then did a show pin, which returned no pins. Shouldn't I be seeing pins

Re: [Emc-users] Stepper configuration

2008-08-13 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, I am getting close. I generated a single hal file for a two stepper and one pwm configuration. Currently in the ini file I have it configured for only 2 axes and references only the single hal file. The error I am getting is a following error any time I try to move an axis. I have

Re: [Emc-users] Stepper configuration

2008-08-13 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, I commented them out because it generated an error. I do not see pins for maxaccel with hostmot2. # set stepgen module accel limits - get values from ini file # setp hm2_5i20.0.stepgen.00.maxaccel [AXIS_0]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL # setp hm2_5i20.0.stepgen.01.maxaccel [AXIS_1]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL

[Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, I am getting following errors on my axes testing the hostmot2 driver in a 2 axis stepper configuration, and am trying to determine if it is a problem in the configuration, or a problem with the hostmot2 driver. The hostmot2 configuration is specified as: loadrt hostmot2 debug_idrom=1

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, Hmm, I am not showing them (Sebastian's post or Peter's reply). The last post I see from Sebastian was at 1:10 AM EST. I also don't see them in the deleted items tagged as spam, which happens occasionally too. Thanks for the information. Thanks, Eric Didn't you see Sebastian Kuzminsky's

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, It must have been filtered out upstream. All of my stuff is registered through GoDaddy so I guess I need to check my spam filter settings and make sure posts from this list are on the white list. Regards, Eric Hmm, I am not showing them (Sebastian's post or Peter's reply). The last post I

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, That is interesting. I just checked my settings. The spam setting is set to allow everything through, but to tag what it thinks is spam. I already added sourceforge.net to the white list. I don't see how to get your email address from the posts, but I can try added yours to the white

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, One more quick question. When you say the pinout is written to the system log, which log is that? I don't see it through dmesg or by setting debug to the maximum value. Regards, Eric - This SF.Net email is

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, I replied off list because the log files were too large for this list. At any rate, I captured the dmesg log by running dmesg dmesg.txt Right after running EMC. The syslog file looks like everything since I first booted the system this morning. The last entry is at 13:10 (1:10

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, I will send it to you in a couple of hours. I have another commitment for the next hour or two. Regards, Eric Hm, and the hostmot2 pins functions stuff were all available in EMC when you ran it? There really should have been something in the logs. Or wait, is RTAPI_MSG_INFO

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, So the PWMs appear on the P2 connector, but the Step generators appear on P4? I have the P4 connector going to a 7i37 to handle the high voltage I/O. So I guess I have to move that cable to P3 and remap the I/O. It looks like the TTL I/O can map to either P2 or P4, but it does mean I

Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 configuration - was Stepper Configuration

2008-08-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, For this project, using all three connectors is fine, it was already wired that way because of the pinout of the standard m5i20 driver. I was just hoping to eliminate one cable and the associated termination. For my next project it would be really nice if I could get all of the I/O onto

Re: [Emc-users] emc2 2.2.6 hostmot2 stepgen bug workaround

2008-08-16 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Thanks. I will test it with hardware on Monday. Please see post in emc-developers. Regards, Eric EMC2 2.2.6 included the new hostmot2 device driver, with support for the Mesa 5i20 and 7i43 boards. Unfortunately, due to a bug in the driver, stepgen didn't work on the 5i20 (though

Re: [Emc-users] emc2 2.2.6 hostmot2 stepgen bug workaround

2008-08-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, et al, The good news is, the patch seems to work. The bad news is that at other than very slow speeds (25-50 IPM) I keep getting following errors. I have played with the MAX_ACCELERATION and STEPGEN_MAXACCEL (which I suspect does not apply with Hostmot2), but that seems to have almost

Re: [Emc-users] emc2 2.2.6 hostmot2 stepgen bug workaround

2008-08-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Any idea what is causing the following errors? I suspect it is the feedback, because as I make the servo period faster, I can then have the motor go faster. I am probably missing something obvious, but it seems like it needs a dead band or something like that, except I tried setting a

Re: [Emc-users] emc2 2.2.6 hostmot2 stepgen bug workaround

2008-08-18 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, I think I got it, at least it is working much better now. I was trying to adjust FERROR, and when that did not work, thought DEADBAND or something like that might apply. What I did not adjust was MIN_FERROR, which the doc says applies only for very slow speeds. I was not having a problem at

[Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-09 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian et al, I had just got the stepper outputs working before I went on vacation and am just now getting back to it. I am using Hostmot2, the m5i20 board and SVST8_4 configuration, configured for 2 steppers, 1 pwm and no encoders. I am also using just the patch applied to the most recent

Re: [Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-09 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, I presumed the selecting of one PWM in the configuration set the direction of the GPIO, as it does for the step and direction outputs for the two steppers in the configuration. Regards, Eric Sebastian is probably the one to ask, but, did you have the driver enable the PWM0? Not the HAL

Re: [Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-10 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, The enable pin for the PWM is getting set. If I set the enable to true, and then set the value to say 5.0, when I do a show pin I do in fact see that the enable pin is true and that the pwm value pin is 5.0. Per your other email, I would think that this also proves that the scale is

Re: [Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-10 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Yep, sounds like all the HAL pins params are set right. Just to make sure, you've added the hm2_5i20.read() and .write() functions to a realtime thread, and you've started the realtime kernel, right? Yes. If I had not, then I don't think anything would work. As it is, my steppers

Re: [Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-11 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Next I'd want to check the electrical state of the IO pins. With SVST8_4, pwmgen.00 appears on pins 15 (PWM), 19 (Dir), and 23 (Not Enable). Bust out a voltmeter and carefully hook it to pin 23. Then twiddle pwmgen.00.enable high and low and see if the voltage on pin 23 varies as

Re: [Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-11 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, The dir signal appears to be working properly as well. If .value is 0 or positive, pin 19 is low, if .value is negative then pin 19 is high. As for the PWM, I am measuring it with a meter, not a scope, but it does not change (the voltage measured will typically be proportional to duty

Re: [Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-11 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, You can find the dmesg output posted here: http://pastebin.com/mfae4a88 Regards, Eric Well that's very odd... Try loading the hostmot2 driver will all debugging enabled: loadrt hostmot2 debug_idrom=1 debug_module_descriptors=1 debug_pin_descriptors=1 debug_modules=1 Then

Re: [Emc-users] Another problem with Hostmot2 and m5i20

2008-09-12 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Can you tell me what run-time file or files changed? My target machine was built from precompiled packages so it doesn't have the development tools loaded. I will need to compile on my development machine and then transfer the binaries. Thanks, Eric I squished a silly bug with the

Re: [Emc-users] Latest hostmot2 drivers for m5i20

2008-09-15 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Thanks, this really helps. It shows that the stepgen.enable pins are set to FALSE, thus disabling the stepgen outputs. I added the .enable pin fairly recently. Try adding them to your Xen and Yen nets. Ok, that makes a lot of sense. I guess I need to check the pins after every

Re: [Emc-users] stepgen pwmgen fixes

2008-09-22 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, I am not sure what you mean by the FPGA register. Do you mean the interface register between the driver and the m5i20, or the register actually handling the PWM within the FPGA? As I said in an earlier email (off list), I concur that the value being sent to the FPGA through the

Re: [Emc-users] stepgen pwmgen fixes

2008-09-22 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, It is specified as a parameter to the driver, up to 33Khz IIRC. I was setting it to 5Khz. Regards, Eric Does anyone know what the PWM frequency of the old m5i20 driver is? - This SF.Net email is sponsored by

Re: [Emc-users] stepgen pwmgen fixes

2008-09-23 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Can you check to see that the pwmgen.enable is working properly. I was running samples all day (which looked great, btw, after resolving a very odd problem) so I did not have a chance to do much testing. I am now dropping the enable when the shutter closes, however the pwmgen.value is

Re: [Emc-users] How does axis communicate with emc?

2008-10-04 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Alan, Are you trying to directly send motion commands to EMC or just want to write your own .NET based custom user interface? If the latter, there are much easier ways than going through NML. Regards, Eric I am interested in understanding how Axis communicates with emc because I want to try

Re: [Emc-users] How does axis communicate with emc?

2008-10-05 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Alan, In addition to what Stephen said, see if emcrsh does what you want. Take any one of the sim configurations (tkemc is a good one) and add: loadusr emcrsh to one of the hal files (servo_sim.hal for example) Run EMC, then open a terminal session and enter: telnet localhost 5007 After it

Re: [Emc-users] Problem after installation of EMC2 on Ubuntu 8.04

2008-10-06 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Alex et al, I just tried to install EMC to Hardy and am getting a similar if not the same error. This is what appears to be wrong: insmod: can't read '/usr/realtime-2.6.24-19-generic/modules/rtai_hal.ko': No such file or directory There is no /usr/realtime-2.6.24-19-generic folder. I checked

Re: [Emc-users] Problem after installation of EMC2 on Ubuntu 8.04

2008-10-06 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, Found it. With the Hardy install, it does not set the rtai kernel as the default kernel. So by default it is booting the ...-19-generic kernel. The rtai kernel must be explicitly selected at boot time in order to run EMC. Regards, Eric I just tried to install EMC to Hardy and am

Re: [Emc-users] New Guy help with EMC2 and Sherline Mill

2008-10-15 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, The first thing to do is to just see EMC in operation. Select one of the Sim configurations, Axis and TkEMC are good choices. As the name implies these configurations use simulated I/O, so it will not do anything as far as controlling a machine. It will just give you a feel for what it

Re: [Emc-users] Ubuntu related question

2008-10-15 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, Go to System | Administration | Networking to set up your wireless parameters. Note that the rtai kernel (so I understand) does not include the wireless drivers. So if you install EMC which includes the rtai kernel, you will have to boot back to the generic kernel to use the wireless.

Re: [Emc-users] Problem with RTAI on Ubuntu 8.04 HH and new EMC2 2.2.7

2008-11-14 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Roberto, I suspect what is happening is that the real time kernel is not the default kernel and the errors you are seeing are a consequence of not having a real time kernel loaded. You can select the kernel on boot, on some systems you may need to hit escape while grub is loading in order to

[Emc-users] Cable recommendations for Mesa boards

2008-11-20 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Hi all, I am running into a small problem with dropped / excess steps using the m5i20 board and Hostmot2 driver. The problem appears to be with the 50 pin cable connecting the m5i20 with the TB. The quick form of my question is, are there any recommended cables / manufacturers of cables to use

Re: [Emc-users] Cable recommendations for Mesa boards

2008-11-20 Thread Eric H. Johnson
John, Sebastian and Peter, Here is a combined reply, using John's post as the basis. What kind of stepper drives? In particular, I'm asking about the inputs. Optocouplers, or non-isolated? Do they have any filtering? I am using an IM483 micro-stepping driver, the manual can be found here:

Re: [Emc-users] Cable recommendations for Mesa boards

2008-11-21 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Matt, (and everyone else) Thanks, I think you are right. I won't get a chance to test it until Tuesday, but will let you know. Regards, Eric I don't think 3.3 Volts will be enough because the recommended R_series in Figure 7.7 is 0 ohms for 5 Volts, meaning there is either an existing series

[Emc-users] Using hostmot2 for 7i43

2008-11-24 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, et al, I recently got a 7i43 (7i43-U-4 to be specific) and am getting an error loading the firmware. I load the drivers / firmware as follows: Loadrt hostmot2 debug_idrom=1 debug_module_descriptors=1 debug_pin_descriptors=1 debug_modules=1 Loadrt hm2_7i43

Re: [Emc-users] Using hostmot2 for 7i43

2008-11-24 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, I changed the parallel port mode to EPP, no difference. How does one tell what the interface version is? It is not listed in the BIOS. The BIT files I am using are dated 11/11/08. Regards, Eric Parallel _Downloading_ firmware to the 7I43 requires: 1. Parallel port with _EPP_ interface,

Re: [Emc-users] Using hostmot2 for 7i43

2008-11-24 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, Install the parport drivers how? I thought they were disabled in the rtai kernel so they would not conflict with EMC. The cable is a factory made cable and rings out. Regards, Eric The error you're getting is indicative of a low-level parallel port communication error. You should

Re: [Emc-users] Using hostmot2 for 7i43

2008-11-24 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, The Parport is at the normal address of 0x378. I did not do a loadrt probe_parport. I have now added it, but still get the same error. Regards, Eric They are disabled, but you can force it. Try this: 1. Stop realtime 2. sudo insmod /lib/modules/$(uname

Re: [Emc-users] Using hostmot2 for 7i43

2008-11-24 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, When I connect the USB cable, one LED (left most) flashes momentarily and goes off, the second red LED and the yellow LED are on steady. After trying to download, there is no change. Regards, Eric First off it would help me to know whether the firmware download succeeded This is

Re: [Emc-users] Using hostmot2 for 7i43

2008-11-24 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, Yep, that was it. Set it to parallel port and it basically worked. Thanks, Eric That to me indicates that you have the 7I43 in USB config mode, this wont work for EMC... When the 7I43 is on EPP mode and first powered on, all three status lights should be on

[Emc-users] Write error with hostmot2 and 7i43 board

2008-12-04 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Sebastian, et al, I am getting a strange error using the hostmot2 driver and the 7i43 board. The error is hm2/hm2_7i43.0: TRAM write error! (addr=0x1000, size=8, iter=68373). The error occurs when running a g-code program but not while jogging, at least initially. If I bring the system up from a

Re: [Emc-users] Write error with hostmot2 and 7i43 board

2008-12-04 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, What EPP mode are you using and what type and length of cable do you have between the 7I43 and Parallel port? The available parallel port modes in the BIOS are Output only, Bi-directional, EPP and ECP. It is set to EPP, but I do not see a further selection for mode of EPP. I think we

Re: [Emc-users] Write error with hostmot2 and 7i43 board

2008-12-05 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, I found something interesting while checking to get your answers. Presiously I was only jogging X and Y, and did not get any errors. This time I tried Z as well. When I jog the Z axis I get the TRAM write error. That would explain why I get the error when running a G-Code program, but

Re: [Emc-users] Write error with hostmot2 and 7i43 board

2008-12-05 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, At this point I am just working out the configuration. I am not connected to anything as far as hardware. There is nothing connected to the P3 and P4 connectors. Regards, Eric Well thats fairly weird. If there is no configuration difference, Is it possible that there is a electrical

Re: [Emc-users] Write error with hostmot2 and 7i43 board

2008-12-09 Thread Eric H. Johnson
Peter, That is good news, at least as far as finding a problem and having a probable solution. What do I need to do from here? Please feel free to contact me off list. BTW, regarding the EMC 2.3.7 + 7i43... thread, I also have a box with a VIA mini-ITX motherboard

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