Here is my current attempt to have a fanuc like gui
github.com/cakeslob/regularmac_800
I dont have all the controls mapped to the Tab/arrow keys yet, or a softkey menu
What would be a short list of requirements for an industrial screen?
No axis movement without START button?
No graphics?
Mostly text styles or more modern graphical elements?
Multi function soft keys? Hardware only keys.
What target monitor size?
Etc.
Fanuc has a nice workflow because you dont have to screw around with a mouse and find buttons and stuff like that.
- Not everything needs to be on the screen at the same time.
- I dont think people have a problem with graphics, most stuff is crude text shortforms.
- It uses a combo of hard keys for each menu -(some multi press buttons, ie press offset for tool, press offset again for work offset) and soft keys that change with each menu
- you can load/setup/run the program with like 5 buttons(some soft) + arrow keys
- some modes (ie edit/MDI/Jog/pendant/auto) disable other features , so you cant run a program from edit mode, you can edit a program in MDI mode, you cant jog in auto, etc
-the whole gui is bacically controlled by pg up/down, arrow keys, and function keys
- monitor aspect is usually 1:1 square, but thats uncommon in consumer stuff, so 4:3 is closest
- no axis movement until start button. so any probe routines or toolsets, you need to press cycle start.
Not sure what GUI you are using but it seems to me that you might not have given the existing GUIs much consideration other then the fact that it does not look and feel like the controls you are used to.
External buttons can be implemented with most GUIs. Start/stop/pause, jogging, overrides, homing, etc. with physical buttons, encoders and potentiometers. This has been possible for a long time.
None of my machine refits use screen jogging buttons and _certainly_ no keyboard shortcuts.
Also tool and work offsets pages have been around for years.
As an example, Gmoccapy which I use, but there are others:
linuxcnc.org/docs/html/gui/gmoccapy.html#_hal_pins
I have tested out every gui to find the most similar one. All the GUI could be made to be like fanuc style, The cloest ones to fanuc style workflow were keystick and mini, but its been a long time since I was able to use those so maybe its nostalgia. Qtdragon or the smaller one could be made to work like fanuc style with not to much changes, but it would be more python backend behavior for keyboard behavior/navigation (no mouse needed), and softkey stuff than actual GUI organization, the layout of the small one (woodpecker?) is pretty close to what fanuc stuff looks like .
