What was the cost of the Windows Mach4 option?
Dave
On 8/9/2016 8:18 PM, Jeff wrote:
It's been quite a while since I last posted on this topic. This
project was shelved for a while and I just came back to it a few days
ago. I very nearly gave up on this SandyBox/Machinekit option, but
decided to take another run at it when I looked at the cost of the
Windows Mach4 option. I finally broke through today and have all axes
moving and responding correctly. The only thing that's not working so
far is the Charge Pump output, but I haven't had a chance to dig into
that as yet. Fortunately, the G540 will run without it.
The sticking point for me was not understanding that the DB25 cape
pins were "fixed" (hard-wired?) to the BBB expansion connector pins
and that I had to redirect the functions necessary for the G540 to the
right pins on P8 and P9. It seems obvious now, but I didn't make that
connection for a while.
I have attached the .hal and .bbio files necessary for this
configuration. Note that these are Windows files and Linux may not be
happy with the line endings. If you copy these into the Linux system,
you'll may have to clean them up first (sed -i 's/\r//' file.name).
Jeff
On Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at 3:53:55 PM UTC-5, Jeff Pollard wrote:
Hi,
I'm not familiar with SandyBox, but I have run MachinkeKit
through the USB port on the BBB that acts as an Ethernet
connection, to a Windows machine. But the SandyBox may have
startup software in it that I am not familiar with. For example,
at startup, it may read the eeprom on the cape, determine what
board it is, and load up the pin definitions automatically. Thus,
trying to use a different startup method would result in trying to
write over the pin configuration that has already been established.
Since I don't know anything about the specific way in which
SandyBox starts up, I can't give any assistance. The best(worst)
suggestion I can give would be to start with a clean install of
the MachineKit software (as shipped by SandyBox) on the BBB and
the PC, and start from square one. The G540 has a standard
STEP/DIR setup with active high signals, so the G540 in itself
should not be a problem.
Hopefully someone else will have some ideas that can get you
further along.
Jeff
On Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at 10:54:39 AM UTC-8, Jeff wrote:
Hi Jeff P;
If you are familiar with the SandyBox then you know that
different configurations are started from a Windows interface
(see attached). When I put my config files in place, the
LinuxCNC command window just shuts down after a few seconds.
Perhaps if I knew where Machinekit was keeping its log files I
could track down the reason for this shutdown.
Notice in the second screen grab (SandyBox 2...) that I've put
the original files back in place and that the interface is
working, but must have somehow managed to screw something else
up because I'm now getting that "WARNING: GPIO pin not
exported..." message.
As for running the G540 off another PC, I don't have any older
PCs around that have a parallel port. Part of the reason for
going the SandyBox route.
Thanks for your interest.
Jeff L
On Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at 12:24:06 PM UTC-5, Jeff wrote:
Hi. First post to this group.
I've been building a CNC router, from a kit (OpenBuilds
C-Beam
<http://openbuildspartstore.com/c-beam-machine-mechanical-bundle/>),
and wanted to try combining the CoolTool SandyBox and the
Gecko G540. I've never worked with Linux before, but have
always wanted to. I thought this would be a good opportunity.
After a few false starts, plus a little guidance from
Alexander at TheCoolTool, I found my way through to the
proper configuration files (see attached) and have made
the changes I thought were necessary. Unfortunately, as of
this writing, Machinekit won't run this particular setup
and I don't know why. I've emailed Alexander on this, but
I understand that He's a busy guy and he may not have had
the time to respond.
If anyone else has made this configuration work, or has
attempted to do so, I'd really appreciate your input on
this. I think the configuration files are fairly close to
working. Due to time constraints, if I am unable to get
this to work, then I may be forced to go the "plug and
play" Mach4 Windows solution - something I would prefer
not to do.
With thanks to the good people at TheCoolTool,
Jeff
Please note: the "(G540)" addition to the file names is
only for identification purposes. When attempting to run
them on the SandyBox, these extensions are removed.
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