MONSTER - A learning experience... pyVCP machine

andypugh said...

In the context of the money you are talking of spending, using the parallel port seems like s false economy.

Yes and no... I understand the parallel port completely as I have been using it for years. I'll get the machine operational and figure out the resolution, maximum speed, acceleration, and other factors. Then, once I have all those configurations saved, I can install and play with a MESA card... something I have never done before.

Better to take one unknown step with five known steps to look for errors than to dive into a totally unknown situation and hope for the best.

I just now pulled the first motor off... the great news is that it has a 2:1 tooth belt in there so I'll double my power and resolution with a lower microstep setting. The bad-ish news is that the plate does not fit the current motor... I'll have to machine a new plate. But... this is a perfect job for the new Frankenlab CNC that I am working on.

Shameless plug and playlist here!

Stay tuned... hoping to get this first motor installed today. (maybe??)

Hi, Jerry

How was your INTRO_GRAPHIC working? Is it showing up every time you start the MONSTER ?


Wenbin

It replaces the stock image and works exactly as the original image does. I have the time set to 4 or 5 seconds.

You can configure it however you like... Or set it to none if you prefer.

Interesting! Mine doesn't work, it shows nothing. I followed exactly what you have configured for this intro_graphic .

What version are you using ? I am on
LinuxCNC 2.7.7 .

Thanks for your reply and sharing, Jerry.

If it shows nothing... it is because LinuxCNC cannot find the file, or the file is in the wrong format.

In the monster.ini file there is a line that defines the graphic...

INTRO_GRAPHIC = ./IMAGES/splash.gif

This starts with the directory or folder that the image is stored in... the dot-slash indicates going from the current location into one level of directories... in this case IMAGES/ folder. Inside of that folder... the actual graphic file splash.gif must reside.

So you have the following tree... linuxcnc\config\monster\images\splash.gif

You must create a sub-directory inside your configuration folder called IMAGES. Then place the graphic inside that sub-folder.

Once you do that... it should work fine... providing you updated the line in the ini file to match.

If you are still stuck... ZIP the whole CONFIG folder and email it to me... I'll take a look and configure it for you.

My Email is: jerryarutherford(at)gmail(dot)com Obviously I replaced the "@" and "." so i don't get hit by spambots.

Thanks, Jerry.

I just made it ! The reason is my previous image is NOT REAL .gif, it was a .jpeg file and I renamed it as .gif.

It can be opened by other software but it seems that LinuxCNC doesn't read this "fake" gif well.

No. A gif and a jpg have different compression routines... and Linux (or any operating software) would fail to properly open it because it was using the wrong method.

I find that LinuxCNC seems to "like" the GIF and PNG format better than others. I use INKSCAPE to create my graphics, then export them to PNG. I find the images look better, have more colors, and the transparency works well.

Jerry

Thank you， Jerry ！