Beginner HallUI question

Hi all,

a bit background: I did set up 2 machines with LinuxCNC both are running great. Awesome software. Now I want to get a bit deeper into LinuxCNC and try to set up an Axis User Interface. Following this example linuxcnc.org/docs/2.4/html/hal_pyvcp_examples.html#r1_3_1

When I used Stepconf, I didn´t know what HalUI was and didn´t check the checkbox. I added it manuall and tried to add it in the INI as well as the hal file as described here linuxcnc.org/docs/2.6/html/gui/halui.html

I am using Axis as my gui.

Now my problem is: I see in the halconfig that halui was loaded, but non of the pins is connected to any of the pins in axis. In fact the pins from the first example halui.jog.0.minus is not existing at all. I used hallui.joint.0.minus but it is not working. If I watch the hallui pins, non of those pins has any reaction if I click on any Axis button.

What am I doing wrong?

halui and axis both allow jogging, but they do not interact with each other.

halui allows you to jig using external hardware buttons. Axis only supports keyboard / mouse jogging.

You can use both at the same time, and many users do, but they do act independently, and don't interact with each other.

So, basically, you wouldn't necessarily expect axis pins to be linked to halui pins. The exception to this would be id you wanted to use the Axis axis-select buttons to control which axis a halui button was jogging.

Thanks for helping me with this!

Ok, so I am having really trouble understanding that. I thought any GUI which runs ontop of linucCNC is sending it's commands to the HAL. From there the HAL takes over and sends it to the hardware.

For example, if I use Axis as the GUI and look at the Z Jog button. I should be able to find this button somewhere in the HAL Configuration.
If I look in the HAL Configuration I see that there is a section axis and axisui. If I follow those trees to the Z axis and watch all signals I don't see the jog button. So how is LinuxCNC moving the axis if I click on the Z Jog button? I see that the axis is moving, because the machine is moving, but I don't see the signal flow on the computer.

Then I tried to add a Jog button using a custom pycvp and connected this button to the halui. I see that the connection works, but the axis is not moving.

This is my postgui.hal file.

# connect the Z pyVCP buttons
net my-jogzminus halui.axis.z.minus <= pyvcp.z-minus
net my-jogzplus halui.axis.z.plus <= pyvcp.z-plus

What I don't understand: If I click the jog button on my panel, the signal gets in the halui.axis.z.* I see that this works when I watch the signals on the hal configuration. But how does LinuxCNC know that halui.axis.z.minus means that the z axis should move down. Do I need to configurate that??

Also the halui.jog.* section is missing completly.

Both HALUI and AXIS (and anything else) actual tells linuxcnc's motion component to jog by using special messages, unrelated to HAL.

All screens have their own idea of jogging - linuxcnc has no internal record of jogging rate.

My guess is you have not set the jograte pins in HALUI.

Ok, since I haven't checked the check box of halui when I used the stepconf and added halui manually to my machine, you might be right. I might not have set the jograte pins.

I tried to Google how to do that, but couldn't find anything. So my questions are
1. How to set the jograte pins?
2. Anything else to do to set up halui after I used the stepconf wizard?

For halui jogging of an axis to work you need to set:

( linuxcnc.org/docs/2.8/html/man/man1/halui.1.html )

halui.axis.jog-speed to a suitable speed. A very simple example In a common application you would jog with a game controller, with different combinations of back-buttons giving different jog speeds. See a more extensive example here: wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Simple_Remote_Pendant

(FWIW when I used a joypad I didn't use the OR2 blocks shown there, I had left=slow, right=medium, both=fast by wiring to the sel bits directly.)