The Kearney and trecker On Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 5:33 PM Feral Engineer <theferalengin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The pay walls, axis limits and markups on accessories are the reasons I > avoided centroid. > > The thing I love most about Linuxcnc is the flexibility, reliability and > yes, classicladder - or at least ladder based plc in general, which makes > it incredibly easy to figure out for someone with an industrial electronics > background. I do miss some of the functionality of industrial controls > inside of LinuxCNC that I think should be implemented, but all in all, it's > an incredible tool. > > I do think that in order for it to gain traction, it needs some more "black > box" usability, though. As an example, an input sniffer to assign hal pins > to button presses on a game controller or hardware buttons on a Mesa card > would be kinda cool to implement. > > Phil T. > The Feral Engineer > > Check out my LinuxCNC tutorials, machine builds and other antics at > www.youtube.com/c/theferalengineer > > Help support my channel efforts and coffee addiction: > www.patreon.com/theferalengineer > > On Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 4:38 PM gene heskett <ghesk...@shentel.net> wrote: > > > On Sunday, December 26, 2021 1:30:42 PM EST John Dammeyer wrote: > > > Hi Mark, > > > I'll summarize your basic premise here that all machines are different. > > > That's true! > > > > > > And MACH2/3/4 has a huge user base without ever needing a command line > > > editor. So if it can be done for Windows then certainly it can be done > > > for LCNC. > > > > > > Having said that I'm also not suggesting we do away with the underbelly > > of > > > what is LCNC. Please recall my original post in this subject. The > > > ACORN based system cannot run an old iron system with existing servo > > > drives. It's likely it can't even run a system with a STMBL drive that > > > faults on low power supply voltage which mine does because I have a > soft > > > start delay on mine so ENABLE shows up before the Voltage is there. > > > Doesn't look like it can even do step/dir for the spindle (which MACH3 > > > can). So there is a place for the 'raw' LinuxCNC install and HAL/INI > > > file model. > > > > > > But that user I mentioned wasn't interested in learning a new OS and > the > > > ACORN was a one stop shop for the Ethernet controlled step/dir/VFD/IO > > > board and windows CNC software. He went with Clearpath Servos so he > > > wasn't adverse to spending money. He could just as easily have > installed > > > LCNC 2.8.2 and the MESA board with terminal strips and used the config > > > screens in AXIS and I suspect for less money. But the LinuxOS itself > > > appeared to also scare him away so he likely would never be a user. > > > > > > I think everyone who likes using an editor for configuration and > issuing > > > multiple commands with a command line interface has already been > brought > > > over to the dark side so to speak. They aren't the market for > expanding > > > the LCNC user base. > > > > > > I've attached a screen shot of something I've been playing with. Took > > > about an hour to write using a modern GUI based software development > > > tool; in this case Lazarus Free Pascal. The TCanvas Property has all > > > sorts of drawing tools so I thought I'd take a quick look at the Axis > > > source code. To see how easy it would be to port over the Preview > screen > > > to Pascal. > > > > > > I was immediately reminded of something I written many years ago by > > > Nicholas Wirth the author of Pascal. "Those who learn Fortran as their > > > first language are brain damaged for life". Rather harsh actually and > > > taken out of context appears elitist . OTOH, 4195 lines of essentially > > > undocumented python code does look like a lot of the Fortran code the > > > Electrical Engineers were writing in University while we in the Comp > Sci. > > > stream were writing in structured languages Algol-68. And those were > not > > > for GUI type interfaces which add to complexity. > > > > > > For example: > > > if o.canon: > > > x = (o.canon.min_extents[0] + o.canon.max_extents[0])/2 > > > y = (o.canon.min_extents[1] + o.canon.max_extents[1])/2 > > > z = (o.canon.min_extents[2] + o.canon.max_extents[2])/2 > > > o.set_centerpoint(x, y, z) > > > > > > If you go searching for o.cannon you find: > > > o.canon = canon = AxisCanon(o, widgets.text, i, progress, > arcdivision) > > > > > > Search for AxisCAnon and we find the object definition: > > > class AxisCanon(GLCanon, StatMixin): > > > > > > Now we're into the include side of things where the rs274 library is > > > needed: from rs274.interpret import StatMixin > > > from rs274.glcanon import GLCanon, GlCanonDraw > > > > > > which takes us to here: > > > https://github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/blob/master/lib/python/rs274/ > > glcanon. > > > py which is another 1886 lines of undocumented code. > > > > > > The excuses that will be made for no documentation will be the same > ones > > > given for command line operation of Linux and LCNC. It's much better > > > than windows or it's self documenting. You just have to learn a few > > > commands and you can do so much more than with windows........ > > > > > > I believe we need to step outside the box and ask ourselves this > > question. > > > How can we attract more people who just want simple CNC (maybe without > > > limit switches even), a VFD and encoder on the spindle and possibly > > > coolant or a few other outputs. > > > > > > One really simple way is that the companies (or people) building the > > > intelligent CNC controls like the MESA change their web sites to have > at > > > least one menu choice for "SimpleCNC". > > > > > > I went here: > > > http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxCNC_Supported_Hardware > > > > > > Eventually with more Google searching I ended up here: > > > http://store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=product/ > > product&product_id=290&se > > > arch=7i76e > > > > That is a very nice board, I use 2 of them myself, but not in the E > > version. I use the much cheaper parport version. Why? I refuse to give up > > my only ethernet port just to carve metal. The net access is much much > > more > > useful to me. > > > > > That link to the page I think would be best right at the top of the > MESA > > > site. And on that page should be a link to a page with a pictorial > > > connection diagram like: > > > https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_diy/acorn_cnc_controller.html > > > > For the basic, get you hooked, system that's not a bad price. But some of > > the accessories clearly have a 10,000% markup. Why should a conductive > > touch probe cost $800 when I can make one with 50 cents worth of wire, a > > 1/2" square piece of PCB material worth a dime and 1/4" of solder? And > its > > repeatable to .0002" or better. Boggles my mind. > > > > > And a link to a version of LinuxCNC 2.8.2 (or latest) with a HAL/INI > file > > > specifically set up for that hardware. Literally install OS from .iso > > > and there's a desktop ICON to run LCNC for that hardware. > > > > > > But going back up to the LCNC supported hardware link it turns out > > there's > > > almost nothing available for LCNC Ethernet control other than the MESA > > > boards. So maybe that's also why MACH3/4 and the ACORN are so > > > successful. > > > > > > Anyway, something to think about for the new year. > > > John > > > > 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-users mailing list > > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
