Hi all, I have not used EtherCAT equipment with LinuxCNC. But I’ve used a Beckhoff PLC running TC/BSD and TwinCAT. Controlling a whole lot of servomotors.
The equipment from Beckhoff is priced quite a bit over the hobbyist budget. But is well worth the money for commercial application. And the wide range of controllers and I/O modules makes it a good choice for any CNC machine. The modules I’ve used clicks together on a DIN rail. They have a buildt in bus for etherCAT, 24V and 5V for the electronics. This keeps the need for additional wiring to a minimum. I would love to upgrade one of my machines to Beckhoff control systems, but it is to expencive for my budget. I could borrow some unused equipment from work to test it out though. That would be fun to try. Beckhoff love to brag about their eqipment on LinkedIn etc. I guess an article about LinuxCNCs support for Beckhoff hardware could both «buy» us good support from Beckhoff, and possible get some more comercial activity with LinuxCNC. I think we all could benefit from that. Cheers! Bernie man. 28. feb. 2022 kl. 20:34 skrev gene heskett <ghesk...@shentel.net>: > On Monday, February 28, 2022 2:03:30 PM EST Steffen Möller wrote: > > On 28.02.22 19:44, gene heskett wrote: > > > On Monday, February 28, 2022 12:53:21 PM EST Steffen Möller wrote: > > >> On 28.02.22 18:40, gene heskett wrote: > > >>> On Monday, February 28, 2022 8:28:36 AM EST andy pugh wrote: > > >>>> On Mon, 28 Feb 2022 at 13:22, Steffen > > >>>> Möller<steffen_moel...@gmx.de> > > >>> > > >>> wrote: > > >>>>>> ie, "rtapi" is relevant to uspace and rt builds. > > >>>>> > > >>>>> Can you guide me (or someone else surfacing) towards what would > > >>>>> be > > >>>>> required to have LinuxCNC readily compatible with that external > > >>>>> EtherCAT package on Debian? > > >>>> > > >>>> Personally I know nothing about EtherCAT. I have always been a > > >>>> little > > >>>> afraid of the licensing complexities mentioned here: > > >>>> > > >>>> https://etherlab.org/en/ethercat/ > > >>>> > > >>>> Etherlab itself is GPLv2, but _using_ it seems to bring a > > >>>> different > > >>>> licensing restriction into play. And I don't know enough about > > >>>> licensing to know if that's a problem. > > >>> > > >>> I followed this link, and couldn't find an obvious link to the > > >>> licensing docs. Am I going blind? Or are they acting like a > > >>> submarine, ala the compuserve debacle from about 25 years back? > > >> > > >> It is in the "Notice" section below that copyright thingy: > > >> The license above concerns the source code only. Using the EtherCAT > > >> technology and brand is only permitted in compliance with the > > >> industrial property and similar rights ofBeckhoff Automation GmbH > > >> <http://beckhoff.com/>. > > >> > > >> Best, > > >> Steffen > > > > > > Yes, I read that too, Steffen, but failed to find a statement > > > describing those rights. > > > > They did not put anything there, I agree. > > > > > Thats precisely why I mentioned the GIF debacle. I'm a > > > genuine old fart, my history starts in late 1934, with a good memory > > > about such dishonest goings on. It took maybe 20 hours for gifs to > > > disappear from the net, totally and completely then, and maybe a week > > > to fine tune png and get the first version out the door. Where is > > > compuserve today? A footnote in history at best, but not remembered > > > with loving thoughts. We invented the distastefull term "submarine > > > patent" to describe what happened. > > > > > > I don't really want to be involved with an entity that references > > > additional rights, but doesn't make those readily available. > > > > > > Maybe I didn't look hard enough but I did look with the idea of > > > learning what those additional rights might cost. > > > > Nothing, so I was assured. > > > I was not specificaly seeking the monetary cost, more the loss of rights, > which could be far more costly than the monetary cost. As always, keep > TANSTAAFL in mind. > > > I propose we describe what we want to do and then they either agree and > > make LinuxCNC.org a member or they don't. > > That is likely the best idea at this time. If their gear is competitively > priced it adds another src of good gear. > > OTOH, Peter has been very good to us and it doesn't bither me a bot to > recommend mesa interfaces. Generally they Just Work which is more than I > can say about others in the field. > > Take care Steffen. > > > Best, > > Steffen > > > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> Emc-developers mailing list > > >> Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net > > >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers > > > > > > Cheers, Gene Heskett. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-developers mailing list > > Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers > > > Cheers, Gene Heskett. > -- > "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: > soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." > -Ed Howdershelt (Author, 1940) > If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. > - Louis D. Brandeis > Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-developers mailing list > Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers > _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
