emc-users — Messages about installing and using EMC

[Emc-users] Motenc

[andy p. <bod...@gm...>]

Is anyone using the hal_motenc driver with a Motenc card?
I am working on fixing encoder wrapping (Issue #2331) and whilst the
logic is simple, testing on hardware is difficult without hardware.

-- 
atp
"A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is
designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and
lunatics."
— George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1912

Re: [Emc-users] LinuxCNC 2.9.7 has been released

[<mar...@vi...>]

On 2025-10-27 01:05, andy pugh wrote:
> LinuxCNC 2.9.7 released
> 

So many thanks yet again to those who have spent time and effort 
creating this release.

Marcus

[Emc-users] LinuxCNC 2.9.7 has been released

[andy p. <bod...@gm...>]

LinuxCNC 2.9.7 released

26 October 2025.

LinuxCNC 2.9.7 has been released.

This is another bug-fix release to fix an unexpected interaction in a
previous bugfix. (In this case the driver for the popular XHC pendants
was incompatible with changes made to HALUI pin creation)

In addition changes to the CI (continuous integration) in Github mean
that the install debs will be available from the LinuxCNC Github
repository under the "releases tab"

This update is for all users, but especially users of the XHC pendants
and Gmoccapy.

Packages for 2.9-uspace for amd64 (PC) and arm64 (Pi) for Debian
Buster, Bullseye,
Bookworm, Trixie and Sid have been added to the linuxcnc repository.
If you installed
from one of our live images or Pi SD-card images then the update
should be available immediately.

If you installed into a normally-installed Debian from the Debian
repositories then hopefully the new version can be queued up for the
next point release. If you can’t wait then it is possible to add the
LinuxCNC repositories to the apt sources. One way to do this and
install the security keys is via the shell script here:
https://linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/getting-started/getting-linuxcnc.html#_installing_on_debian_bookworm_with_preempt_rt_kernel

This script has been updated to include a new, longer key required by
Debian versions from Trixie onwards.

At the moment the live-image installer and SD card images will install
2.9.4 but update should be trivial (and possibly automatic)

RTAI is still supported, but in the short term building from source is
likely to be the most expedient way to get 2.9.7 on that platform.

Changelog

  * [ci] publish releases with artifacts - GitHub now builds release debs
  * Revert 7d9ee66  to address #3583 - halui functions stop working in 2.9.5/6
  * Merge pull request #3512 from Sigma1912/patch-1
  * Gmoccapy: Fix arrow key up/down bug in tooleditor


Acknowledgements

As always, we couldn’t do this without the contributions from the
community, so many thanks to:

Konstantin Tcepliaev
Sigma1912


-- 
atp
"A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is
designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and
lunatics."
— George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1912

[Emc-users] MESA 7i96

[John D. <jo...@au...>]

Hi all,
Just got a friends 7i96.  He's decided not to do LinuxCNC in the near
future.  Guess I should download the user manual for it. Anyone using one
want to shout out how they have it configured and on what?
Thanks
John

Re: [Emc-users] Got odd problem with my go704

[jrmitchellj <jrm...@gm...>]

What you are saying convinces me that the controller is waiting for a
response from the operator.

--J. Ray Mitchell Jr.
jrm...@gm...

"Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three
decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded
good."

-- Thomas Sowell



On Tue, Oct 21, 2025 at 12:31 AM gene heskett <ghe...@sh...> wrote:

> On 10/20/25 23:35, jrmitchellj wrote:
> > Did you try an alt-tab combo to check if there was a dialog box open, and
> > hidden?
> I didn't know about that but I'll take a look b4 I reboot it again. The
> row of buttons at the top of its screen continued to work normally, they
> just didn't do anything to the machine, and the keyboard worked also. as
> it was in a safe position to raise the head and a quick bump on page_up
> moved the Z  I also checked F1 & F2 which when F2 is on enables machine
> power, and they both worked normally. I have that enabled on all of my
> machines thru SSR's controlled by LCNC. The mill has a huge capacitance
> in the spindle supply so those SSR's are staged for soft starts, else it
> trips a 30A breaker in the service. With the soft start it runs fine on
> a legal 20, even with the motor stalled.
>
> Thanks J. Ray.
> > --J. Ray Mitchell Jr.
> > jrm...@gm...
> > (818)324-7573
> >
> > "Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three
> > decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded
> > good."
> >
> > -- Thomas Sowell
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 4:29 PM gene heskett <ghe...@sh...>
> wrote:
> >
> >> I see linuxcnc still can't single step a subroutine, so I commented out
> >> those 2 lines making it normal code & put an m2 after it.
> >> Running in g21 I single stepped thru the routine, finding my speeds way
> >> to slow but it worked, but I had a comma in the middle of the last
> >> debug line, so it didn't print the 2nd argument at the end. Now its been
> >> restarted & reloaded several times and while all the mouse buttons
> appear
> >> to work, the machine does nothing, no code executes. Short of rebooting,
> >> I think I've done everything I know how to do. code attached after I
> >> restored
> >> the o100 sub endsub stuff. Ideas? I'm fresh out. It single stepped just
> >> fine once, hasn't moved a motor since.
> >>
> >> Thanks all.
> >>
> >> Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
> >> --
> >> "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
> >> Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Emc-users mailing list
> >> Emc...@li...
> >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Emc-users mailing list
> > Emc...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>
> Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
> --
> "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
> Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>

Re: [Emc-users] Got odd problem with my go704

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

On 10/20/25 23:35, jrmitchellj wrote:
> Did you try an alt-tab combo to check if there was a dialog box open, and
> hidden?
I didn't know about that but I'll take a look b4 I reboot it again. The 
row of buttons at the top of its screen continued to work normally, they 
just didn't do anything to the machine, and the keyboard worked also. as 
it was in a safe position to raise the head and a quick bump on page_up 
moved the Z  I also checked F1 & F2 which when F2 is on enables machine 
power, and they both worked normally. I have that enabled on all of my 
machines thru SSR's controlled by LCNC. The mill has a huge capacitance 
in the spindle supply so those SSR's are staged for soft starts, else it 
trips a 30A breaker in the service. With the soft start it runs fine on 
a legal 20, even with the motor stalled.

Thanks J. Ray.
> --J. Ray Mitchell Jr.
> jrm...@gm...
> (818)324-7573
>
> "Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three
> decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded
> good."
>
> -- Thomas Sowell
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 4:29 PM gene heskett <ghe...@sh...> wrote:
>
>> I see linuxcnc still can't single step a subroutine, so I commented out
>> those 2 lines making it normal code & put an m2 after it.
>> Running in g21 I single stepped thru the routine, finding my speeds way
>> to slow but it worked, but I had a comma in the middle of the last
>> debug line, so it didn't print the 2nd argument at the end. Now its been
>> restarted & reloaded several times and while all the mouse buttons appear
>> to work, the machine does nothing, no code executes. Short of rebooting,
>> I think I've done everything I know how to do. code attached after I
>> restored
>> the o100 sub endsub stuff. Ideas? I'm fresh out. It single stepped just
>> fine once, hasn't moved a motor since.
>>
>> Thanks all.
>>
>> Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
>> --
>> "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
>> Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Emc-users mailing list
>> Emc...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

Re: [Emc-users] Got odd problem with my go704

[jrmitchellj <jrm...@gm...>]

Did you try an alt-tab combo to check if there was a dialog box open, and
hidden?

--J. Ray Mitchell Jr.
jrm...@gm...
(818)324-7573

"Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three
decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded
good."

-- Thomas Sowell



On Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 4:29 PM gene heskett <ghe...@sh...> wrote:

> I see linuxcnc still can't single step a subroutine, so I commented out
> those 2 lines making it normal code & put an m2 after it.
> Running in g21 I single stepped thru the routine, finding my speeds way
> to slow but it worked, but I had a comma in the middle of the last
> debug line, so it didn't print the 2nd argument at the end. Now its been
> restarted & reloaded several times and while all the mouse buttons appear
> to work, the machine does nothing, no code executes. Short of rebooting,
> I think I've done everything I know how to do. code attached after I
> restored
> the o100 sub endsub stuff. Ideas? I'm fresh out. It single stepped just
> fine once, hasn't moved a motor since.
>
> Thanks all.
>
> Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
> --
> "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
> Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>

[Emc-users] Got odd problem with my go704

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

I see linuxcnc still can't single step a subroutine, so I commented out
those 2 lines making it normal code & put an m2 after it.
Running in g21 I single stepped thru the routine, finding my speeds way
to slow but it worked, but I had a comma in the middle of the last
debug line, so it didn't print the 2nd argument at the end. Now its been
restarted & reloaded several times and while all the mouse buttons appear
to work, the machine does nothing, no code executes. Short of rebooting,
I think I've done everything I know how to do. code attached after I 
restored
the o100 sub endsub stuff. Ideas? I'm fresh out. It single stepped just
fine once, hasn't moved a motor since.

Thanks all.

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

Re: [Emc-users] Suggestions for cheap and simple PLC+HMI

[Chris A. <alb...@gm...>]

There is always JLCPCB.  They will make anything you want for about 40 cents plus parts.

It is not simple to design a microcontroller board from scratch, but what I’ve done is use the Pi Pico as if it was a giant chip.  Make a board that has connectors and optical isolation, and so on, and then the Pico just plugs in.

Here is the first one of these I made, or rather had JLCPCB make for me.   It is a stupid-simple design, as all it adds is some connectors and four mounting holes.   But I think you can see that I could have added more.  I did that for only one pin because I needed more current, so I added a 2N2222.   At their prices it makes sense to mmake an entire PCB, just because you want connectors and mounting holes.   I use KiCAD for the design work.  KiCAD is free and open source.   https://github.com/chrisalbertson/NeatoLidarInterfacePCB


You send in your design files, and they make five PCBs for $2.    They will also solder on parts from a short list for the cost of the part, many parts at less than 1 cent.  (Wholesale prices for components in China are really cheap.). https://jlcpcb.com/


How do they keep the cost so low?    Not by using cheap labor but by using no labor.  

> On Oct 19, 2025, at 3:26 AM, Viesturs Lācis <vie...@gm...> wrote:
> 
> sestd., 2025. g. 18. okt., plkst. 03:24 — lietotājs Chris Albertson
> (<alb...@gm...>) rakstīja:
>> 
>> https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Pico-p-4832.html
>> Raspberry Pi Pico - Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip, beginner-friendly microcontroller, small & flexible design, low power consumption
>> seeedstudio.com
>> 
> 
> Thank you, the price really looks sweet! What I am missing is that I
> was hoping to stumble on some list of compatible accessories - some
> screen (to display 5-6 digits) and some optoisolator / transistor
> shield board for few inputs/outputs. I did find this:
> https://www.seeedstudio.com/Grove-Shield-for-Pi-Pico-v1-0-p-4846.html
> but that seems like a simple breakout board without any protective
> measures.
> 
> Viesturs
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users

Re: [Emc-users] Suggestions for cheap and simple PLC+HMI

[Viesturs L. <vie...@gm...>]

sestd., 2025. g. 18. okt., plkst. 03:24 — lietotājs Chris Albertson
(<alb...@gm...>) rakstīja:
>
> https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Pico-p-4832.html
> Raspberry Pi Pico - Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip, beginner-friendly microcontroller, small & flexible design, low power consumption
> seeedstudio.com
>

Thank you, the price really looks sweet! What I am missing is that I
was hoping to stumble on some list of compatible accessories - some
screen (to display 5-6 digits) and some optoisolator / transistor
shield board for few inputs/outputs. I did find this:
https://www.seeedstudio.com/Grove-Shield-for-Pi-Pico-v1-0-p-4846.html
but that seems like a simple breakout board without any protective
measures.

Viesturs

Re: [Emc-users] auto centering question?

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

On 10/18/25 17:10, andy pugh wrote:
> On Sat, 18 Oct 2025 at 20:25, gene heskett <ghe...@sh...> wrote:
>
>> I have about half the code written & to implement the results, so the
>> question is: which of the G10 codes is the equ of a touch off for the
>> named axis's?
> There are two ways to do this.
> The simplest is probably to calculate your centre point, move to that
> point, and then.
>
> G10 L20 X0 Y0
Exactly what I had in mind. Thanks Andy.
>
> Or you could calculate the position of the centre in _machine_
> coordinates and then set the offset directly with G10 L2.
> (To probe in machine coordinate space you could zero the current
> offset with G10 L2 X0 Y0)
>
> As you probably want to go to the centre anyway, I would advocate the
> simpler G10 L20 way.
>

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

Re: [Emc-users] Suggestions for cheap and simple PLC+HMI

[Chris A. <alb...@gm...>]

Sorry about 404.   It works here.

The RP2040 Raspberry Pi Pico is very common.   The Raspberry Pi Foundation makes it.  The same people who make the Pi5.

This is a 32-bit dual-core microcontroller that uses the STM32 instruction set.   What makes it good is the large set of on-chip peripheral hardware.

They have also made it VERY EASY to program.  You do not need special software.  The device looks like a mass storage thumb drive when plugged into a computer.   You simply drag and drop the program to the “Pico” like you would to any external disk drive.  Then when the Pico power cycles or resets, it runs whatever it finds in its memory.   Price is right: $4.
   There are newer versions for a couple of bucks more that have features like being faster, having more memory, and WiFi.

Here are a few links:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4864
Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040
adafruit.com

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/raspberry-pi/SC0917/16608257
https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico/
Buy a Raspberry Pi Pico
raspberrypi.com



> On Oct 18, 2025, at 12:25 PM, gene heskett <ghe...@sh...> wrote:
> 
> On 10/17/25 20:20, Chris Albertson wrote:
>> Working on robotics but the same requirements.  I have a high-speed BLDC motor and a 1024-count sensor.     Some math…. 10K RPM is (rounding up) 200 revs per second or 200,000 pulses per second. And then there are several of these encoders.
>> 
>> The solution is to spend $4 on a Raspberry Pi Pico.  The PIO lines can handle a million+ pulses per second while tracking the quadrature counting.    It is a dual-core microprocessor. I typically use one core for real-time work and the other for communications.   You can program it with Arduino IDE or MicroPython.   The latter is quite a lot better.   How can it handle so many pluses?   The PIO is a hardware state machine and each chip has 8 of them.
>> 
>> https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Pico-p-4832.html
>> Raspberry Pi Pico - Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip, beginner-friendly microcontroller, small & flexible design, low power consumption
>> seeedstudio.com
> is a 404 here in US.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Emc-users mailing list
>> Emc...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
> 
> Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
> -- 
> "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
> Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users

Re: [Emc-users] auto centering question?

[andy p. <bod...@gm...>]

On Sat, 18 Oct 2025 at 20:25, gene heskett <ghe...@sh...> wrote:

> I have about half the code written & to implement the results, so the
> question is: which of the G10 codes is the equ of a touch off for the
> named axis's?

There are two ways to do this.
The simplest is probably to calculate your centre point, move to that
point, and then.

G10 L20 X0 Y0

Or you could calculate the position of the centre in _machine_
coordinates and then set the offset directly with G10 L2.
(To probe in machine coordinate space you could zero the current
offset with G10 L2 X0 Y0)

As you probably want to go to the centre anyway, I would advocate the
simpler G10 L20 way.

-- 
atp
"A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is
designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and
lunatics."
— George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1912

Re: [Emc-users] Suggestions for cheap and simple PLC+HMI

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

On 10/17/25 20:20, Chris Albertson wrote:
> Working on robotics but the same requirements.  I have a high-speed BLDC motor and a 1024-count sensor.     Some math…. 10K RPM is (rounding up) 200 revs per second or 200,000 pulses per second. And then there are several of these encoders.
>
> The solution is to spend $4 on a Raspberry Pi Pico.  The PIO lines can handle a million+ pulses per second while tracking the quadrature counting.    It is a dual-core microprocessor. I typically use one core for real-time work and the other for communications.   You can program it with Arduino IDE or MicroPython.   The latter is quite a lot better.   How can it handle so many pluses?   The PIO is a hardware state machine and each chip has 8 of them.
>
> https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Pico-p-4832.html
> Raspberry Pi Pico - Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip, beginner-friendly microcontroller, small & flexible design, low power consumption
> seeedstudio.com
is a 404 here in US.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

[Emc-users] auto centering question?

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

Hi all;

I have about half the code written & to implement the results, so the 
question is: which of the G10 codes is the equ of a touch off for the 
named axis's?

I am probing the outside edge of a disc so the error will be measured by 
subtracting the x left value from the x right value found by g38.2 and 
the correction being that result /2. Ditto for y in and y out, drive 
machine to found values and issue the g10 equ to 0.000 touchoffs Repeat 
till the error is essentially zero. Correct? Or is my thinking duff?

What I want to do then is power the probe to do EDM and make an odd 
shaped center hole in a fabric cutter disc that is about 5mm in diameter 
now, out to 16mm in diameter. disc is .3mm thick. Using deionized water 
as dielectric, works great in previous work, rc arcing at 42 volts.

Thanks all.

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

Re: [Emc-users] Suggestions for cheap and simple PLC+HMI

[Chris A. <alb...@gm...>]

Working on robotics but the same requirements.  I have a high-speed BLDC motor and a 1024-count sensor.     Some math…. 10K RPM is (rounding up) 200 revs per second or 200,000 pulses per second. And then there are several of these encoders.

The solution is to spend $4 on a Raspberry Pi Pico.  The PIO lines can handle a million+ pulses per second while tracking the quadrature counting.    It is a dual-core microprocessor. I typically use one core for real-time work and the other for communications.   You can program it with Arduino IDE or MicroPython.   The latter is quite a lot better.   How can it handle so many pluses?   The PIO is a hardware state machine and each chip has 8 of them.   

https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Pico-p-4832.html
Raspberry Pi Pico - Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip, beginner-friendly microcontroller, small & flexible design, low power consumption
seeedstudio.com

Re: [Emc-users] Suggestions for cheap and simple PLC+HMI

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

On 10/17/25 02:29, Viesturs Lācis wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I would like to ask if anyone has some experience (and hopefully some
> suggestions) to share about cheap PLC+HMI combination.
> What I am looking for is capability to count encoder pulses, read
> thermistor signal, 2-3 more digital inputs and 2-3 digital outputs.
> And showing some values as well as few buttons on screen.
> I looked at aliexpress and found this one - description matches what I
> have in mind:
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009551998203.html
404 from here in the US.
> And then there are some even more attractive pricewise:
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008850308591.html
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005744854905.html
> But for these latter examples description is lacking details and what
> I see about the programming cable - seems like having serial port on
> PC is a requirement which is show-stopper for me.
>
> So I have a lot doubt about these devices NOT being PITA to program and set up.
> Any stories of experience with similar items and suggestions what to
> choose are kindly welcome!
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Viesturs
I didn't yet check the other links.  But if looking for speed, I have a 
1000 ppr $22 omron balanced output encoder on the rear of the go704 
motor which turns about 21k rpms feeding thru a bypassed bob to a 5i25 
AB encoder to read spindle speed & feedback to the spindle PID with some 
math. WOT that spindle can hit 3k revs where high gear is slightly over 
7/1. That's about 21k rpms at the motor, so the encoder is  seeing 1000 
pulses per motor rev. My tach is dead on when the motor is doing the 21k 
revs.  It amazes me that its working, but has been for about a decade.
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
> .

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

[Emc-users] Suggestions for cheap and simple PLC+HMI

[Viesturs L. <vie...@gm...>]

Hello!

I would like to ask if anyone has some experience (and hopefully some
suggestions) to share about cheap PLC+HMI combination.
What I am looking for is capability to count encoder pulses, read
thermistor signal, 2-3 more digital inputs and 2-3 digital outputs.
And showing some values as well as few buttons on screen.
I looked at aliexpress and found this one - description matches what I
have in mind:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009551998203.html

And then there are some even more attractive pricewise:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008850308591.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005744854905.html
But for these latter examples description is lacking details and what
I see about the programming cable - seems like having serial port on
PC is a requirement which is show-stopper for me.

So I have a lot doubt about these devices NOT being PITA to program and set up.
Any stories of experience with similar items and suggestions what to
choose are kindly welcome!

Thanks in advance!
Viesturs

[Emc-users] Printing gcode docs

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

This was !fun. To the printing utilities, the 57 pages of roman numeral 
index at the beginning have to be added to the page selection numbers 
the print utilities display. Okular failed, sent it to the wrong 
printer. Evince worked once I grokked the pages offset. But I got it 
done, which is what counts.

Thanks guys.

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

Re: [Emc-users] doc request

[Robert S. <rm...@un...>]

Am Donnerstag, dem 09.10.2025 um 15:19 -0400 schrieb gene heskett:
> Would it be possible, as an aid to those of us who write their own 
> g-code, to break that section of the main docs out into a small
> manual? 
> One that could be easily kept at the machines keyboard area? Trying
> to 
> use the full 1200+ page manual, a printout of which needs a 4" D-ring
> binder with over a ream of paper in it isn't very practical.  Doubly
> so 
> since wayland has disabled X11 forwarding.
> 
> The xorg fork called XLibre may be our salvation there. He who forked
> it, promises to fix its security holes w/o disabling its features.
> And 
> we should support that effort.

Why not just print the chapter on g-code programming on it's own? No
ned to print the whole manual :-)

X11 forwarding via ssh -X to a wayland machine should work. Check
/etc/ssh/sshd_config for "X11Forwarding yes".

If you want to forward a wayland program, install "waypipe" and use
"waypipe ssh _destination_ _command_". Depending on network and spare
CPU cycles it may help to enable compression: "waypipe -c lz4 ssh ..."


I would not bet on Xlibre, modern GUI toolkits, graphics hardware and
untrustworthy networks tend to be a bad fit for the original X11
paradigms; all the major players more or less abandoned development of
and for X11.

-- 
Robert Schöftner <rm...@un...>

Re: [Emc-users] Failure to Load of Pi4+MESA 7i92 system

[John D. <jo...@au...>]

It's Alive! It's Alive!
With some off list help from Peter I have the Pi4 original HAL talking to
the 7i92 again.  

Seems back in May (which I totally forgot) I'd tried to get Path Pilot on a
PC working with this test bed since they had a version for the 7i92H. 
However, it only used 1 of the two parallel ports and there were other
issues that weren't compatible with my existing hardware so I set it all
back on the shelf.  Should have first set the FPGA back to what it was for
the Pi.

John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Wallace [mailto:pc...@me...]
> Sent: October 9, 2025 1:01 PM
> To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)
> Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Failure to Load of Pi4+MESA 7i92 system
> 
> 
> 
> I should note thats it's always a good idea to disable hardware that's
unused
> (with num_stepgens=N, num_pwmgens=M etc etc) as it wastes time doing
> data
> transfers that are unused if more hardware is enabled than required.
> 
> Peter Wallace
> Mesa Electronics
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users

Re: [Emc-users] Failure to Load of Pi4+MESA 7i92 system

[Peter W. <pc...@me...>]

I should note thats it's always a good idea to disable hardware that's unused
(with num_stepgens=N, num_pwmgens=M etc etc) as it wastes time doing data 
transfers that are unused if more hardware is enabled than required.

Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics

Re: [Emc-users] Failure to Load of Pi4+MESA 7i92 system

[John D. <jo...@au...>]

> From: Peter Wallace [mailto:pc...@me...]
> 
> Excuse the top posting but this small text might be lost
> 
> GPIO-00 (pin 1)is assigned to enabled steggen 04 so is unavailable
> as a GPIO output.
> 
> If you are not using stepgen 04, set num-stepgens to 4 so only
> stepgen 00,01,02,03 are enabled leaving GPIO 00 free for
> input/output use
> 
> On Thu, 9 Oct 2025, John Dammeyer wrote:
> 
> > From: John Dammeyer <jo...@au...>
> > Plugged in the cables, powered it up and this time if failed where
before it
> > always worked.  As in it was running when I shut it down, disconnected
the
> > cables and put it on the shelf.
> >
> > Here is the line that causes the problem:
> > setp hm2_7i92.0.gpio.000.is_output true
> > net machine-is-enabled => hm2_7i92.0.gpio.000.out
> >
> >
> > BTW, I have that exact same line in my PC based system running a real
> > machine.  Something else must be doing this but what?
> >

Thanks Peter,
I would have sworn that the 7i92 in the Pi4 system had the same firmware as
the PC based 7i92 system.  Seems not.   On the PC that pin is set as IOPort
while on the Pi, as you correctly stated it's StepGen 4 (used as ChargePump
output).  On the PC system that PPort-1 Pin 000, IOPort is Machine is
enabled which is part of the original intelligent BoB I was using.

Changing the two lines in the Pi4 HAL file to use 017:

setp hm2_7i92.0.gpio.017.is_output true
net machine-is-enabled => hm2_7i92.0.gpio.017.out

puts the Machine Enabled to the second parallel port pin 1 and now it runs
LinuxCNC.

So I think I need to figure out what I have in the PC system for 7i92 code
and put the same version into this test bench play toy.  Silly to have two
different versions.

John

[Emc-users] doc request

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

Would it be possible, as an aid to those of us who write their own 
g-code, to break that section of the main docs out into a small manual? 
One that could be easily kept at the machines keyboard area? Trying to 
use the full 1200+ page manual, a printout of which needs a 4" D-ring 
binder with over a ream of paper in it isn't very practical.  Doubly so 
since wayland has disabled X11 forwarding.

The xorg fork called XLibre may be our salvation there. He who forked 
it, promises to fix its security holes w/o disabling its features. And 
we should support that effort.

Thank you.

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.

Re: [Emc-users] Failure to Load of Pi4+MESA 7i92 system

[gene h. <ghe...@sh...>]

On 10/9/25 13:58, John Dammeyer wrote:
> Hi all,
> I took this setup off the shelf yesterday to demonstrate to a friend how
> simple a small LinuxCNC system can be:
> Pi4+MESA 7i92H, two breakout boards, power supplies, Logitech keyboard and
> mouse and touch screen.
>   
> Plugged in the cables, powered it up and this time if failed where before it
> always worked.  As in it was running when I shut it down, disconnected the
> cables and put it on the shelf.
>   
> Here is the line that causes the problem:
> setp hm2_7i92.0.gpio.000.is_output true
> net machine-is-enabled => hm2_7i92.0.gpio.000.out
My first guess since its happened to me 2 or 3 times, John, is a failure 
of one of the IDC connections since I see several of in the pix.  I 
originally made all those using the blue AMP brand connectors and I've 
slowly over the decade or so since I first wired up the go704 a decade + 
ago, have replaced them all with some made with grey plastic, which 
seems to make a better cable.  I don't recall the actual brand I'm using 
now.  I did make sure they were gold flashed, the originals were not.

I'm not saying that's what it is, but its the first thing I'd check.  If 
the retainer caps are loose enough to see a gap, hit them with a vise to 
restore a tight crimp.  You might save time by constructing a set of 
mating connectors that makes the whole cable a series connected jumper, 
so you can test every wire in the cable in one test.  And put the test 
jig where you can find it next time. With IDC connectors in the mix 
there /will be/ a next time.
> BTW, I have that exact same line in my PC based system running a real
> machine.  Something else must be doing this but what?
>   
> Here's the log with error message:
>   
> Error report created by /usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc/show_errors.tcl:
>   
> Print file information:
> RUN_IN_PLACE=no
> LINUXCNC_DIR=
> LINUXCNC_BIN_DIR=/usr/bin
> LINUXCNC_TCL_DIR=/usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc
> LINUXCNC_SCRIPT_DIR=
> LINUXCNC_RTLIB_DIR=/usr/lib/linuxcnc/modules
> LINUXCNC_CONFIG_DIR=
> LINUXCNC_LANG_DIR=/usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc/msgs
> INIVAR=inivar
> HALCMD=halcmd
> LINUXCNC_EMCSH=/usr/bin/wish8.6
> LINUXCNC - 2.8.4
> Machine configuration directory is '/home/pi/linuxcnc/configs/G3616-Pi4'
> Machine configuration file is 'G3616-Pi4.ini'
> INIFILE=/home/pi/linuxcnc/configs/G3616-Pi4/G3616-Pi4.ini
> VERSION=1.1
> PARAMETER_FILE=linuxcnc.var
> TASK=milltask
> HALUI=halui
> DISPLAY=axis
> COORDINATES=XYZA
> KINEMATICS=trivkins coordinates=XYZA
> Starting LinuxCNC...
> Starting LinuxCNC server program: linuxcncsvr
> Loading Real Time OS, RTAPI, and HAL_LIB modules
> Starting LinuxCNC IO program: io
> Starting HAL User Interface program: halui
> Found file(REL): ./G3616-Pi4.hal
> Shutting down and cleaning up LinuxCNC...
> Running HAL shutdown script
> hm2: loading Mesa HostMot2 driver version 0.15
> hm2_eth: loading Mesa AnyIO HostMot2 ethernet driver version 0.2
> hm2_eth: 192.168.1.121: INFO: Hardware address (MAC): 00:60:1b:12:07:93
> hm2_eth: discovered 7I92
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0: Low Level init 0.15
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0: 34 I/O Pins used:
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 000 (P2-01): StepGen #4, pin Step (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 001 (P2-14): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 002 (P2-02): StepGen #0, pin Direction (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 003 (P2-15): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 004 (P2-03): StepGen #0, pin Step (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 005 (P2-16): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 006 (P2-04): StepGen #1, pin Direction (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 007 (P2-17): PWMGen #0, pin Out0 (PWM or Up)
> (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 008 (P2-05): StepGen #1, pin Step (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 009 (P2-06): StepGen #2, pin Direction (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 010 (P2-07): StepGen #2, pin Step (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 011 (P2-08): StepGen #3, pin Direction (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 012 (P2-09): StepGen #3, pin Step (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 013 (P2-10): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 014 (P2-11): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 015 (P2-12): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 016 (P2-13): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 017 (P1-01): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 018 (P1-14): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 019 (P1-02): StepGen #5, pin Direction (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 020 (P1-15): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 021 (P1-03): StepGen #5, pin Step (Output)
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 022 (P1-16): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 023 (P1-04): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 024 (P1-17): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 025 (P1-05): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 026 (P1-06): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 027 (P1-07): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 028 (P1-08): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 029 (P1-09): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 030 (P1-10): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 031 (P1-11): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 032 (P1-12): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0:     IO Pin 033 (P1-13): IOPort
> hm2/hm2_7i92.0: registered
> hm2_eth: in hm2_eth_reset
> hm2_eth: HostMot2 ethernet driver unloaded
> hm2: unloading
> Removing HAL_LIB, RTAPI, and Real Time OS modules
> Removing NML shared memory segments
>   
> Debug file information:
> Note: Using POSIX realtime
> ./G3616-Pi4.hal:98: parameter or pin 'hm2_7i92.0.gpio.000.is_output' not
> found
> 19765
> Stopping realtime threads
> Unloading hal components
> Note: Using POSIX realtime
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"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
Don't poison our oceans, interdict drugs at the src.