LinuxCNC HAL #2: INI improvements

[@billstrahan4791]

Having started with LinuxCNC about a year ago, I can say that your videos are making it MUCH easier for a newcomer than it was for me. And even though both my mills have been controlled by LinuxCNC for a year I've learned some new stuff from your vids. Super awesome work!

[@geekoid183]

Really appreciated from someone who is doing he's second grbl cnc router retrofit and looking into adding a parallel port to learn LinuxCnc. I've not even installed LinuxCnc yet, but it's super important for me to understand first how the system parts and bits interact to each other's. That gives me an opportunity to really understand what is possible with LinuxCnc. So yeah, great contribution to the community !

[@roborat179]

Thanks for these videos, they are right where I'm at in trying to get started and really speed up the process.

[@DPTech_workroom]

Very useful videos!

[@darwinwandler9136]

I understand your HALline for lesson 1 a LPT port. What would a HAL line look like for the MESA 7i76 ethernet board.

[@swolebro]

Haven't used that one, so I can't say specifically, but you'd want to use the PNCConf Wizard to establish your baseline, instead of the StepConf Wizard. That should fill in most of the blackmagic voodoo parts of things. I might find some time to mess around with the Mesa hardware later this year. In the process of moving right now, and losing my shop (boooo), but it means I'll have more time to mess around with proofs of concept for software/electronics. Then when I get another shop and rebuild the plasma, I can give it all the fancy upgrades.

[@TheFeralEngineer]

Any suggestions for writing hal to toggle between continuous and all of the incrementals with a gamepad button? Basically emulating the I keystone. I can't install qjoypad.

[@swolebro]

If you look at the manpage for halui, there's a couple jog pins. I'm guessing halui.jog..increment is what you want, and based on the code in /usr/bin/axis (a Python script), it looks like 0 means continuous. Hope that gets you on the right track.

[@TheFeralEngineer]

@@swolebro every time i try to use halui.jog.0.increment or even gmoccapy.jog.jog.increment (both being float values), I get a does not exist error... I wish there were a way to just map keystroke I to a button without using qjoypad... I'm running Debian 7 on a pc not attached to the internet 😑

[@swolebro]

@@TheFeralEngineer Did you include the settings for HALUI and POSTGUI_HALFILE in your INI, and then only reference the halui pins in that postgui file? The way halui loads is a bit of voodoo blackmagic (not using loadrt or loadusr) because it has to happen after the rest of the GUI stuff has launched. Also, if not having internet on the LCNC box is the only holdup from installing QJP, that shouldn't stop you. You have to download and install that package manually anyway, since it was never available for Debian 7 (on which LCNC 2.7 is based). So you can just download the .deb file, transfer it via a USB stick, and then install it with dpkg. Details/commands for that are in the write-up here: github.com/swolebro/swolebro-youtube/blob/master/linuxcnc/misc/xbox-controller.rst Let me know if either of those things works for you - or if they don't!

[@TheFeralEngineer]

@@swolebro yeah i have halui called and the halui.jog.0.increment called in postgui. Still getting does not exist for some reason. I'm using halhi components for my other buttons, but it seems like the float ones don't want to cooperate

[@swolebro]

@@TheFeralEngineer Weird. If you don't try hooking up the pin at all (so that the controller starts up properly), and then you launch halmeter, can you at least see the pin listed in there? Might be time you throw your configs up on GitHub and ask around on the forums, since I'm not sure what's going on here.

[@mattivirta]

my first time i use linuxcnc, debian 10 preem rt. and i not understand motors working but how can make E-stop and probe working i has open hall- meter but not newer come true/false i test whit NC button to pin 10 is E stop and pin 15 probe. and step conf wizard have pins setting ok. motors move, XYYZ have wizaerd make XYZA config. end stop pin 10 and probe pin 15. why hall meter not show newer true/false, what need do next can make working. brealout board is connect wires gnd, probe, and gnd to e-stop, and buttons have NC. help please. i not understand good english.this is first time i use linux and linuxcnc. last night can make motors first time run both Y axist run, wizard make A axis pins same setting what have Y axis setting. but why e⏹ stop button not working or probe why hall meter not show if button is on or off.what need do ? help please.

[@t2pranks801]

i want to oprate EMCO PC Turn 55 turret tool changer with linexcnc can you plz help me.

[@swolebro]

Sorry mate, I really don't have any experience with the industrial stuff. For that, you're better off searching/asking on the LinuxCNC forums.