Re: [Emc-users] Bug in stepconf?

[Peter b. <p.b...@dr...>]

Hello Alex,
thank you for the thorough explanations.
><snip lots of impressive testing>
I did this for the reason of anger - I had intended doing great things with 
automatization of my machines and got stuck at the very first step, so I 
decided to get to the bottom of things eliminating every cause but stepconf.

> > Note that I did all this with the "test axis" function of stepconf because
> > this is a very convenient way to see the result of parameter variations
> > immediately.
>
>Well, that wasn't the intent of test axis, at least not for some parts of 
>what you did.
>Stepconf is a helping tool that helps new users come up with a stepper
>configuration.
Still, the test function should not present a 5/4 beat, discouraging the 
beginner!

>By all means you don't have to use stepconf to run emc2.
It was the first thing I tripped over after installation and it seemed an 
easy to use access to EMC2.

>There are also (a lot) of sample configurations which you can adapt to your
>system,
Now that I have dealt a lot with EMC2 I begin to understand them.

>or you can always write a configuration up from scratch (this is
>probably a tedious task, and few people actually do it).
I surely will, and if it's only for the effect of learning.

>Test axis is a way to test the numbers you entered and pins you selected in
>stepconf, to see if everything is set up right and the motors are moving.
Moving all right, so I know the pins are functional, but the terrible 
performance let me, being unexperienced, think there must be errors or 
mistakes in what I did, so I didn't dare to go on.

>If you change a configuration (the ini and hal files) generated by stepconf,
>then there are some cave-eats:
>* you can't run stepconf again on that configuration, or your changes will
>be lost
I found that in the manuals and somone told me on the mailing list in February.

>* if you run stepconf on that configuration, it won't pick up the changes
>you made to the ini and hal files, so you won't notice any improvements
>* if you change the .stepconf file, then stepconf will see the changes
>you've done, but it's probably hard/not really usefull to do so.
I've learned this the hard way.

>The best way to go on about this is:
>1. generate a new configuration with stepconf (or copy a sample config
>provided with emc2)
>2. once the configuration is somehow working (and you are not satisfied with
>it), you can start changing things in the ini and hal files
>3. tweak the config (also observe the results via halscope & similar
>helpers - physical scope, etc) until it does what you want
That were my plans from the beginning and that's what I'm going to do now, 
but I first wanted to have the stepper motors run smoothly.

>Maybe these things will need a better description in the User Manual.
Could even better be on the entry mask of stepconf. There is an old german 
saying: By the time you have learned to operate the thing by trying, you'll 
understand the instructions manual, too. In January, I have printed about 5 
cm of manuals, double sided, read across them a little and then started 
system installation. I guess now I'll be able to understand the terms of 
EMC2 and I'm going through the books once again, this time with more likely 
success.

>Can you check the docs for 2.3 and see if they represent the ideas presented
>above?
>Maybe you have some suggestions where we can improve things. (big warning
>signs, etc ;)
I feel very honored by this proposal and will use part of my Easter 
vacation to do this.

>I think the main warning sign should read: Stepconf is a helper program that
>(for some cases) generates a usefull configuration for emc2.
Put it on the entry mask!

>If you're not lucky enough to be inside those general cases (maybe 80% of
>users should be), then you'd have to set up your configuration the
>traditional way (which implies reading and understanding a lot of things in
>the ini file).

This reading and understanding is what I intended (I don't want to earn 
money with my machinery). I was going to write my own software when my son 
told me about EMC2.  Before this, I had good success with a very primitive 
setup: modified EAGLE files (with MS Word), read into Excel to take care of 
the scale factors and the trajectories and succession of the axis 
movements, back into Word for the command syntax, then read into a 
DOS-based demo program that came with the EMIS driver card, and the home 
made coordinate drilling machine produced a PCB board at the rate of a hole 
in about 3-5 seconds. With my other little table top mill, I made dozens of 
perfect gear wheels in just the same manner and then extended this to the 
"large" mill, milling a superb set of change gears for the lathe.

I haven't heard of people using "test axis" to test the functionality of an
>emc2 config.
I didn't even come to test the EMC functionality, but got stuck at the 
motor hookup.

There have been some fixes for stepgen for 2.3 (for example it can generate
>non-double step configs, like the one you needed).
I am eager to try it out.

> > I am aware that expositions now have caught all the attention of the gang.
> > But when NAMES and EMC expo are over, please someone would have a look at
> > this?
>NAMES is really unrelated to this topic.
Just look at the sheer number of postings! I would surely also attend this 
meeting, too, if it wasn't a bit far from here. I understand very well that 
this presentation and also the EMC Fest get the attention of all personnel 
at this time.

Please don't take my posting as evel criticism, I rather see it as a 
contribution to improve stepconf. I still consider it a very useful tool 
for the beginner being unable to write instruction files himself. If I were 
able to I would have tried to get into the stepconf source myself and make 
some changes.

Be assured of my great appreciation for the work that you and the other 
developers do for the community. Maybe I'll get so far one day that I can 
make contributions other than critics (wrote my first Fortran 4 programs in 
1966 at the Sealed Power piston ring factory in Muskegon, Michigan, but had 
lots of detractions since then, which is a different thread).

Best greetings from springtime
Peter Blodow