Gscreen - a GTK / Glade / Python based screen

BigJohnT wrote:

Chris,

I fired up gscreen for a bit today and a couple of things I noticed... not show stoppers but surprises.
No indication in the axis box if it is homed or not, I did see a homing icon show up after all axes were homed.
I can't read the tiny green numbers, I changed them to black and much better and now I see the * that must indicate the axis is homed.
The huge rel number draws my focus from the other numbers. I did find the toggle readout button
In jog mode I'd prefer a plus and minus button in the axis box.
When you press the spindle the fwd I don't see how to set the spindle speed and if you press the spindle button again the spindle keeps running but you can't turn it off.
So far I've not figured out how to open a file... but I've not read the manual yet just seeing how intuitive it is to me.

Quite an undertaking, my hat's off to you.

And take all this with a grain of salt as I've never used the "industry standard" fanuc... even though I don't think there is such a thing as "industry standard" when it comes to a CNC control.

Thanks
John

Hey John thanks for the feedback. I like the fact you tried it without reading the (sparse) docs.
I have worked on it so long its all too familiar to me to be objective.

Homing indicators - yes that could be improved - I considered things like the axis letter changing color or having an * on all the readouts still not sure.

yes toggling the readout button changes which DRO is large it also changes the reference markers in the graphics window.
I can see that having a different kind of DRO and axis buttons may be a common customization. I'd actually like to build a generic readout gladeVCP widget for this - just haven't got there yet.
The best color of the readouts really depend on the theme you are using and if you are using the default Ubuntu theme it sucks.

The spindle - I am not happy with the controls on this either. right now this is how it works in manual mode
select jogging
select spindle
select a direction and the spindle will start ( by the way the starting RPM is now configurable I just haven't exposed that yet)
pressing the same direction should stop the spindle and also the red stop button will stop the spindle
using the + and - button increases decrease the RPM
using the 'set rpm' button will set the spindle at the value of the entry box

I have three ideas about this:
1 have the fwd and rev buttons not start the spindle only to select direction the +- or set rpm button would start the spindle
2 have the fwd and rev buttons only as indicators and use the +- and set rpm button as a bidirectional (eg -100 give you ccw direction)
3 I guess I could add some buttons like start Fwd and start Rev

to load gcode you must be in auto mode press the mode button (botton right) twice.
then click the file folder icon bottom left

Chris M

Jayson

What setting did you change ?
I know Gscreen can fit a smaller screen - if I load it with out connecting it to linuxcnc it is much smaller.
So this means i have some settings wrong in the glade file.
But it is SO hard to figure out which one as one setting wrong can affect the whole screen...

I will investigate that in the future.
Please be careful when testing.

Chris M

Chris,

one idea I had was to have the dro's grey'd out until the axis are homed or even a ticker tape message saying axis are not homed may be simple enough , or the dro's as black on white then go to colours once homed etc ,
keeping our original idea that functions cant be used until previous steps are completed . and keeping the simplistic look ( I see John having a nudge at me here haha )

regarding spindle i'm still not too sure as you are too on the best approach , again I cant see the reason to have to set a spindle speed manualy , as this is usualy in the gcode .
however I do see a reason to be able to trim the spindle speed during operation . so i'd go with along the lines of first push of the button gives cw ( ccw ) then the spindle speed can come into operation as + - buttons
and perhaps say a long hold or long touch period on the button then stops the spindle ( maybe getting querky here ) .. , as I cant see you wanting to go from cw to ccw instantly without stopping first .

yes perhaps we should have a few more icons on buttons if it's not immediately obvious or led's on switches etc this is becoming more complex every month !

Dave

Dave

I may experiment a bit with colors - I don't want the DRO hard to read as some people need it while manual homing.

As for the spindle we are talking about in manual mode.
In MDI or auto the only spindle adjustments you can make (aside for s commands) is spindle override.

I can't tell from your message if you are being sarcastic or not about the icons
I'm actually having a hard time getting icons with text on toggle buttons...

Chris M

yes Chris i'd agree keeping the dro's easy to read , overall I think the look and control is good , and perhaps people are expecting the same operating sequences as Axis .
rather than look at it in a totally different light , perhaps we could look at using the message area ticker at the top to show any major startup or missed sequences such as homing ,

i'm not worried over icons , visualy I feel it looks about right , and not swamped with information you don't need .

getting the intuitive feel right is the difficult part

Yes I see what your saying - you can almost do this now.
I will change the fwd/rev button to just select the direction not start the spindle.
Then you can start the spindle by either pressing the set rpm button or pressing the +- keys
The set rpm button sets the rpm at the number in the entrybox. (if you double click the entry box the calculator pops out by the way)

I'll try that then see what people think. If needed I will move the fwd/rev buttons to the vertical button box

Thanks
Chris M