Ethercat HAL driver

Thanks for your response sirop. Very helpful. So I can continue this path.

Excuse me for the error I made with "syncmaster". I meant the XML tags "SyncManager"in the hal files of the tutorial docs.google.com/document/d/1GiB065ZIAaoM...xGQl2X9DM9-THNM/edit
or in github.com/sittner/linuxcnc-ethercat/blo...ex/ethercat-conf.xml.
I assume they are from the ESI xml file too. I'll look into that a bit deeper (toil was a new englisch word for me;-)
The ESI xml, I assume it is the correct one, can be found here if anyone comes along this thread: www.beckhoff.ch/default.asp?download/elconfg.htm

Thank you again
Ben

Hi
looking at trying this out,

i found on the wiki how to install so followed this
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EtherCatDriver


create a file "/etc/apt/sources.list.d/linuxcnc-mds.list":

deb repo.modusoft.de/linuxcnc/wheezy ./

# sudo apt-get update
# sudo apt-get install linuxcnc-ethercat

The etherlabmaster should be installed automaticaly.
Currently you will get a warning about missing key.

edit /etc/default/ethercat to match your setup
# sudo update-ethercat-config
reboot
# ethercat slaves

this sould show your connected slaves, which there is 0 and shows its loaded in dmsg

what else does one need todo to get things working in hal? i presume the above has installed everything needed?

i see you need to write a XML file is there any guids to what everything means or how to edit/write one?

looking to maybe end up using some servo drives on ethercat

thanks,rob

the linucxnc-ethercat in the modsoft repo is of 28-Jan-2015 16:03 .
There have been some important updates/commits since then.
So rather install from github sources.

thank you,
take it the instructions in post #82576 are most current then
forum.linuxcnc.org/24-hal-components/223...iver?start=380#82576

well, they at least build from sources in forum.linuxcnc.org/24-hal-components/223...iver?start=380#82576 .

Hi Everyone

It has been a while since I posted on this EtherCAT driver forum and a lot has changed.
Due to recent cyclone here my last linuxnc setup received some terminal damage and now I have a new box
and I have installed the latest release of linuxcnc, I have the etherlab master working, and in the terminal, i can get my slaves
but it's now the linuxcnc EtherCAT HAL setup that is unclear to me previously I had cloned the sittner linuxcnc with the add hal EtherCAT component in it now I believe this is all changed to a deb package, and I am unsure of the correct steps involved
can someone make this a little bit clearer for me I have the linuxcnc-dev package how do I add the Hal EtherCAT component to this

I have looked at the post forum.linuxcnc.org/24-hal-components/223...iver?start=380#82576
And it still seems a little unclear to me the linuxcnc-ethercat.git doesn't seem to be the full linuxcnc?

You can still build from sources:

Hello wazza77

I have attached notes I made when installing the driver recently. I hope you find them useful.

Allan

thanks for the quick reply I will have a crack at it in the next few hours.
I did not get the full force of the cyclone here on the east coast of oz but I can tell you
that over 500mm or 20" of rain in 80 minutes makes things interesting I can tell you

Thanks, guys I have it up and running I had trouble with the concept of it installing the driver in the existing linuxcnc
that came with the setup I have had to change my XML to suit including <masters> <./Masters and I was using roschi's modification for halType="special32"
and i am now using the halType="complex"
e.g.
<pdoEntry idx="607A" subIdx="00" halType="complex" bitLen="32">
<complexEntry halType="float" halPin="poscommand" bitLen="32" scale="1000"/>
</pdoEntry>
but when I started linuxcnc axis would come up and as it was configuring the drives my estun drives would set an alarm complaining
About the electric gear ratio being an unreasonable number or along these lines.
The drives set this via an array as a ratio of pulses a revolution (numerator) and distance travelled a revolution (deviser)
e.g.

<sdoConfig idx="6093" subIdx="1"><sdoDataRaw data="00 80 00 00"/></sdoConfig>
<sdoConfig idx="6093" subIdx="2"><sdoDataRaw data="E2 04 00 00"/></sdoConfig>

the values given were originally from roschi and they worked for my previous setup all I did was change the scale value on the pdoEntry idx 607A

so I recalculated for my setup and ended up with smaller values, so I changed the this allowed me to get to the drives ready stage but
when I toggle the button for machine power, the drives give me the same error meaning I have my scale incorrect.

I have been messing with this all day today, but I am sure I don't understand how the halType complex works and this is truly where my problem is.
Hopefuly someone can give me some incite into this I would truly appreciate this.
This was previously a working set up

Warren