> And I wrote that because of all the pie in the sky whining about what this > set of programs needs to be, and no one stepping up to make the effort to > do something like that. The vast majority of LinuxCNC users are quite > happy with what our developers write for us to use. It's open source > software. If you don't like the direction LinuxCNC is going, fork off, > write your own version so that it does what you perceive to be the next > golden goose, thump your chest and tell the world you now have the latest > and best CNC machine controller. > > Otherwise, lets stop flogging the deceased equine. Unless all you guys > that want this kind of stuff take the bull by the horns and start writing > the code for it, it ain't gonna happen. > > Mark > Hey Mark, Indirectly I've already done some of that over 10 years ago when many of the naysayers on the CNC groups insisted that an Electronic Lead screw project was a useless waste of time.
And now, my ELS, with a full keypad and function buttons has been derided as old fashioned because it has too many buttons. I think mostly because adding that many extra to an Arduino suddenly runs into code space limitations but that's a different story. If I want ball turning and other automation features on my Lathe I unplug the parallel port cable from the back of my ELS and plug it into a PC parallel port. In this case I can only run MACH3 because my ELS runs 1PPR spindle sensing while Linux needs multiple pulses. The Arduino based Electronic Gearing systems misnamed as an ELS use the high res 1800 PPR spindle encoder to directly run the stepper motor creating ratios by dividing/multiplying those counts. And many of them still require a close watch to release the half nut. Their advantage is they can turn the spindle by hand and the lead screw tracks just like the gears. The disadvantage is they won't work on a Sherline or other small lathe because they have a 1200RPM or so top spindle speed. In either case though, and this is the important point, none of those users want CNC or they'd just go that way. One friend of mine started converting his lathe to use my ELS but never bought one. He continued straight on to MACH3. Loves it. On this group, I suspect over 90% of the members are already running LinuxCNC. Unless you are just into playing with electronics and software why would you even change to something different? So like the creation of the E-Leadscrew yahoo group after lack of interest on CAD-CAM-DRO and DIYCNC a separated Control Box and multi-user platform CNC system for mills probably won't happen on this group. For example, most of the Linux people I know rave about Python as the best thing to use. Personally I can't stand it. Best kept secret is actually Delphi now sold by Embarcadero. But it's become very expensive and the latest version 10.4 of RAD Studio forced users to upgrade to WIN-10. But, with the Firemonkey library one program can be compiled with the appropriate end target look and feel for PCs, Macs, Tablets and phones. And now also Linux. IMHO, that is the correct vehicle to use for developing a new graphics oriented CNC user interface that talks to a dedicated open source hardware module that does the Real Time work. An alternative but not yet targeted at tablets or phones is Lazarus with Free Pascal. I've been working on a CANopen project for the last few months that compiles and runs on PCs, Pi3, BBB and LinuxCNC. To access the CAN bus the PC uses the USB port and the Lawicel CANUSB (www.canusb.com). In fact the Beagle and the Pi can also use this dongle. I've also got a cape for the Beagle with a CAN driver and I'm working on using the CAN library to access that from this same program. Also a HAT for the Pi that has a MCP2515 SPI based CAN device. The whole point of the project is a CANopen Lite project that will allow someone to create CANopen Lite conformance testing) and interface to COTS CANopen modules like step/servo drives etc. I don't believe CANopen is suitable for real time CNC control for mills or lathes. For all the slow hardware yes. Some sort of high speed controller with an RTOS probably is still needed for the main system. Because I'm using Lazarus and Free Pascal I'm also designing this CANopen Lite program in such a way to hopefully easily port back to Delphi. And with that to tablets etc. In either case, this is just the start. And it will all be open source. To sum up the market for this is not existing LinuxCNC or MACH4 users. It might well be existing MACH3 users or people who want something more than a manual mill but less than full CNC. Path Pilot was mentioned with no need to know about the HAL. But that's a dedicated machine. I don't think there's Python code or access available for my Blue Ray disk player. Although I'd love to be able to change the code to skip over all those stupid promos and copyright warnings. Anyway, rant_mode := OFF; John Dammeyer _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
