Pokeys Membrane CNC Keyboard and LinuxCNC?

Hello all,

I am building my control panel layout and started adding tons of buttons and it started looking confusing and more like an arcade game rather than a cnc control panel. I was searching for some ideas and ran across the Pokeys Keyboard which is designed i think for Mach3 specifically, but was curious if anyone had used it with LinuxCNC? here is a link to the product page, its a very sweet setup, nice and compact with good intuitive descriptions for the buttons with drawings and very easily packageable on a control panel face. just figured if this could be made to work it is well worth the price of parts as my button tally is getting quite expensive as it is and the wiring that will be required will be mind numbing it feels like.

Any thoughts?

www.poscope.com/product/ponet-kbd48cnc/

Hmm,

It's quite expensive in relation to touchscreen ....


I ordered this touch screen for 255 euro, little expensiver then 169 euro. But i did not get it working on linuxcnc tonight.
I think a touch screen will not be like an arcade game. It will take the machine to the next level.

This is a hanns-g-ht225hpb-touchscreen-monitor and the colors are very good. I only need a way to get the usb touch mode
activated.

Hi, Lcvette,
I used this keyboard a couple of years ago with the Pokeys56E and I controlled it through Modbus TCP, I am very cool since you can handle the buttons and the lights separately, although the keyboard finish is very good I do not advise it for an industrial type workshop, I hope I have helped you.

regards
Chimeno

it has been awhile since I've posted but here is my take on control panel technology based on years working automation.

One - touch screens either suck or are the best thing since slice bread. Engineers have a tendency to throw everything on the touch screen leading to a problematic user interface.

As for custom keyboards like this they also have their good points and bad points. If you can write your own interface software or at least have open source software available there are far fewer bad points. After that the remaining problem is the hard nature of the button functions, such a keyboard is great as long as the key legends match up with your needs.

Often the best avenue is to make use of a standard PC keyboard combined with selective use of industrial push buttons and selectors. The keyboard for easy text entry and push buttons for frequently used functions. Use hard switches for cycle start / stop, emergency stop (this is a given), coolant and air blow off controls, vacuum control and others depending upon your machines use case. Some may see this as old fashion and frankly it does depend upon usage, if you are running a lot of quick cycles it makes more sense to have a cycle start push button than if you machine cycles last for hours for example. In the end it is hard to beat physical switches for certain needs from the users standpoint.

In the end there are no absolutes and I can't comment on personal usage for that keyboard.

wizard69 wrote:

it has been awhile since I've posted but here is my take on control panel technology based on years working automation.

One - touch screens either suck or are the best thing since slice bread. Engineers have a tendency to throw everything on the touch screen leading to a problematic user interface.

As for custom keyboards like this they also have their good points and bad points. If you can write your own interface software or at least have open source software available there are far fewer bad points. After that the remaining problem is the hard nature of the button functions, such a keyboard is great as long as the key legends match up with your needs.

Often the best avenue is to make use of a standard PC keyboard combined with selective use of industrial push buttons and selectors. The keyboard for easy text entry and push buttons for frequently used functions. Use hard switches for cycle start / stop, emergency stop (this is a given), coolant and air blow off controls, vacuum control and others depending upon your machines use case. Some may see this as old fashion and frankly it does depend upon usage, if you are running a lot of quick cycles it makes more sense to have a cycle start push button than if you machine cycles last for hours for example. In the end it is hard to beat physical switches for certain needs from the users standpoint.

In the end there are no absolutes and I can't comment on personal usage for that keyboard.

I agree with you! I have managed with Mach3 and just a keyboard and mouse and estop for many years now and I find it very easy to use. but this machine will have its own control panel and not have the screen and keyboard sitting on a desk so i know it will be easier to fit the panel with a few quick push buttons for common use functions.

I also have a 22" high quality ELO touch screen but have never tried using them before so I am not sure what i'm in for. I suspect I will try it out with minimal buttons and then see what I find would be useful to have and what the touchscreen and keyboard are perfectly ok for. trial and error it is, I just saw that keyboard and though wow if that would easily work with Linuxcnc, it sure would save on a lot of wiring hassle and fab work on the panel face..lol

I appreciate all of your experience and time in replying!

Thank you!

Best Regards,

Chris

@Touch screen update.

The Hanssg touchscreen Euro 255,-- is working on linuxcnc now finally.

I have installed ubuntu forwarding this great example : Kurt Jacobson installing touch screens

After normal install, the touch screen works.
After installing rt kernel, touch screen don't work.

So problem to solve :

copy and past in terminal : sudo gedit /etc/modules
Okey now add this to the text file :

Okey then save and close the text file.
Copy and paste in the same terminal for activating touchscreen : sudo modprobe hid_multitouch

Touch screen is working.

Okey i think keyboard and mouse within machine cabinet is handy.
I think also for embedded system's touchscreen can do a great job. Think about automated band saw project's or
special custom made application's. So that's why i wanted the touch screen application working.