On Fri, 2011-04-29 at 17:52 +0100, Kev James wrote: > Thanks Kirk - I really appreciate the help. > > I've put my .hal file here: http://pastebin.com/Zx7x0h6F
Thank you, I don't use Stepconf so this gives me some insight. In the old days the net command structure and parameter order was more rigid. I think now, net is smart enough to figure out what parameters are input or output or signal names. I'm finding it a little hard to get used to, but I think your original enable commands are okay. I tend to analyze your .hal file this way. A signal name was created and called xenable (line 27), so I do a search on xenable to find every occurrence, or lines 27, 28, 35 and 48. Of all the parameters, only one is a master "axis.0.amp-enable-out" and the rest are slaves "parport.0.pin-04-out" "parport.0.pin-05-out" "parport.0.pin-17-out" and "stepgen.0.enable", so everything looks good. The fault must be somewhere else? One way to double check is to use HALmeter to see if all of the slaves follow the one master. The master follows the Machine On/Off button, so you can invoke EMC2, then HALmeter and check that the four slaves toggle with the toggling of the On/Off button. If you can confirm that EMC2 is toggling the proper pins, then look into checking the voltage On/Off voltage on the pins 4, 5 and 17. You may need a buffer or driver (such as a 74AC241) to beef up the signals. > <http://pastebin.com/Zx7x0h6F>According to the line numbering in pastebin, I > commented out lines 27, 28 and 35, and added the line you suggested in at > line 36/37 (the gap). That didn't change anything, I also tried changing > line 28 from xenable to zenable and 35 from xenable to yenable, but no dice > there either. If you add a new signal name, you will need to make sure you have a master to go with each different signal name, in other words, add a line or add to an existing line with the new name "axis.0.amp-enable-out", but since your original file should be okay it's a moot point. > Two things occur to me: > 1) Is there a section of the manual on this manual tweaking that I should > have read? I'm quite happy to RTFM if I should have done.. This might help, especially Chapter 2: http://www.linuxcnc.org/docs/HAL_User_Manual.pdf but there is a chicken/egg issue because much of the manual is easier to understand if you understand most of the rest of the manual, which would be easier, if you understood the part you are trying to study. In other words, you may need to read most of the manual a couple of times before each section starts to make sense. Also try in a terminal, "man halcmd net" (I may have this wrong, or try "man halcmd" and go from there, remember "q" to quit man). man will sometimes provide information that may not be available anywhere else. "info" is also supposed to be man-like. (see: http://www.linuxcnc.org/docview/html/common_Linux_FAQ.html ) Also "halcmd -h" or --help or -? I don't recall which works. Try -h, --help or -? with any command you need information on. > 2) When I load the modified profile into stepconf, it tells me that it's > been modified outside of stepconf, and that any changes will be overwritten > if I save. Does this mean that (a) it doesn't use the modified settings > during stepconf or (b) it will use the modifications during stepconf but not > save them? What I think this means is that there is another file that Stepconf uses in order to create your .hal file. If you change your .hal file, EMC2 will see your changes since it uses only .ini and .hal files, but the next time you invoke Stepconf, it will go back to a saved Stepconf file and recreate the old configuration, then overwrite your manually edited .hal file when you hit "Save". If you want your manual edits in the .hal file to persist, you will need to save the edited lines to your own file. Then when you run Stepconf and save, you can copy the edits to the new Stepconf file. Again, this is moot, because your existing Stepconf file should work with your axes enable scheme. It does become an issue if you want to add a feature to your .hal file that Stepconf does not understand. -- Kirk Wallace http://www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/ http://www.wallacecompany.com/E45/index.html California, USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WhatsUp Gold - Download Free Network Management Software The most intuitive, comprehensive, and cost-effective network management toolset available today. Delivers lowest initial acquisition cost and overall TCO of any competing solution. http://p.sf.net/sfu/whatsupgold-sd _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
