Threadjack> Why did I get into CNC was ...What is hal?

Hi Rodw,

Yes. Once you have a little knowledge of the "hello world" program, Dinuka or Tommy can start expanding the code step by step.
I advise Dinuka and Tommy to start directly in QT C++. You can install it for free. It's about 7gb mentioned Phill before.
It's also full C compatible to write components.

Starting with Glade and Geany is not a good idea. Then you miss the automation steps of C++, used for easy text output etc. And you miss everything about full option compiler arguments.

And question's can be solved very quick, because i have little experience now.

Btw, the "hello world example" is included in QT.

you will be able to learn any new programming language fairly quickly.
That is certainly true.
I found some Csharp C# code. And i can translate it from Csharp to C++ within a few second's. And it works nice, no problem.
csharphelper.com/blog/2014/08/determine-...ines-intersect-in-c/

Python is not my language.... Glad that i now can use QT with opengl. Draftsight and Freecad are also written in QT.

Dinuka,

I want to build an Indexable tool changer.
First I want to know basic programming

Ai ai... a tool changer is quite difficult to start with.
Do you want a connection to the user interface screen? If yes, you need to know much more code, like python on top of c.

To learn Python, the best tutorial is the one Google put together for their own staff. Make sure you watch the Lecture Videos.
developers.google.com/edu/python/

Force yourself to work through them all and you will also do great things with Python too!

I am no expert with Python but it is really amazing how efficient it is. Plus there is a library for almost anything.

The first problem I wanted to solve with Python was a to retrieve a product record using an API from a cloud based inventory management system, format a label in Zebra ZPL format and send it to a Zebra label printer on the network using LPR to print my label.

I did this in about a 100 lines of code. To do it in C would have been 1000's of line!

Subsequently wrapping a GUI around this using TTK was really hard work. I think now I need to redo it using the screen libraries you guys are using. But which one?

I taught myself Python for this task specifically so I could understand how to modify LinuxCNC when the time arose as I knew we used Python but at that time had no idea how or where!

Pretty good advice rodw
I appreciate your help
Thank you

Dinuka,

You can investegate the following code example, investegate the .comp file
wiki.linuxcnc.org/uploads/toolerator.zip

andypugh wrote:

rodw wrote:

In fact Grotius is an excellent example. A few months a go he knew nothing about C but he has a problem to solve and is now quite advanced with his programming skills.

Not just him.

I wanted to make a clock. I decided I needed CNC. I installed LinuxCNC.

I wanted to use a Mesa 7i39, but there was no driver. So I learned C.

10 years later, I have written a lot of C. But I still haven't started the clock.

Hmm I ended up with some steppers out of a scrapped photocopier. I wrote a rotary table controller in C using the Arduino. I blew up a stepper driver waving some bare wires around. So I decided to buy a cheap Chinese 4 axis stepper driver kit and wondered what to do with the other 3 drivers. So then I got intrigued about CNC plasma cutters when I saw a used THC on eBay. So 5 years later the rotary table controller has never been built but plenty have with my script. And I still have not finished my plasma machine...

but I had everything mounted before I applied any power...

Pretty cool posts, Rod and Andy. Bad thread jack (we should do a thread on what got us into CNC and never got done thread):

I wanted to build a homebuilt plane, but didn't have a garage. >> Figured I could get started working on the inner city balcony, making the instrument panel . Decided I wanted to integrate a bunch of gauges into an integrated engine display like the old 737...



... figured I needed a CNC router to make the housing. Had a chinese mini lathe, so learnt CNC by converting that with TurboCNC.

Somewhere along the way I bought a Mustang II kitplane kit, and moved to a house with a garage. Never built the plane. Never finished the CNC Router...
www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop-machines...um-cutting-mill.html

Never made the engine gauges. Sold the plane kit, but have a basement full of Maho mill, lathe, Clarkson tool grinder,etc and half finished CNC projects.
Mark