Why I went with PathPilot over Axis and others...

Thought I would start this thread as a way of explaining why I like PathPilot over the standard Axis interface, Gmoccapy and others.

In one word, usability. Coming from the Mach world where screens are alot prettier (and sometimes way uglier) PathPilot presented a really user friendly interface. One thing I really like is the ability to jog my machine while any of the screens are active. The only thing I can't jog within is the MDI line. Why do I like this? My machine is 2400x1200 and when you need to sight X0Y0 somewhere within the table, working from the computer is not feasible. I don't have to worry if the interface is on the main screen, the conversational screen, the offset screen or anything else (apart from the MDI line), I just take my wireless keyboard, plunk it down on the machine and jog to where I want.

Another thing is some idiot proofing. For example, touching off to set Z zero. If you forget to set the search speed to slow PathPilot will set it to a slow default speed automatically before the cutter takes off at 5400mm/pm or whatever speed was last used.

However there are things I don't like, like being limited to having my config files be in imperial settings. I did try to set things like scale in metric but that threw out all sorts of things within PathPilot as, for metric, they convert everything on the fly depending if G21 is set by the incoming gcode.

Now if I could have PathPilot's pretty face on a standard LinuxCNC install where I could easily replace parts, like cutter touchoff and toolchange, I would be a really happy man.

Now I must say that at this moment I have returned to Axis due to problems with my PathPilot install but would return to it in the blink of an eye if could get it working again, too damn nice to let go!

So, why do others want PathPilot over the usual LinuxCNC interfaces?

I have no problem interfacing pathpilot gui to linuxcnc , However their is one small BUT problem to overcome for the masses
Tormach in their wisdom have copyrighted the images and buttons etc ( which is why the source code disk has a different set of images than the real thing .

that amongst a couple of smaller niggles is stopping me releasing to the masses

Ah, I wondered why the source was missing the real images, damn copyright stuff. Having said that I would love to be a beta tester seeing as I have the real images in my restore disk .... just kidding

If someone made open source images, a pilot path type screen could be made with the gscreen infrastructure.
I am not a good artist

I tend to agree about mode switching (your comment about jogging anytime) - I am not sure we need to reinforce all three modes which is a throe back from old controls.
In fact in the background linuxcnc often needs mode changes to do things such as touch off which should not be needed...

Chris M

When I first started with LinuxCNC I wanted to do a custom screen to mimic Mach stuff. Had a fleeting go at it then found PathPilot. Like you Chris I am hopeless at graphics so my screen would not have been pretty anyway

I can just see PP not being released as part of Linuxcnc purely because no one can agree what colour the buttons should be

I paid Tormach for my copy of the Pathpilot install disc. That must mean I have bought the right to use the contents of the disc including the copyright images. All I need is some help to use Pathpilot as the GUI for my Linuxcnc.

help is not a problem ,
just ask , but to use the pathpilot gui with the current version of linuxcnc , is another matter , and something which i am working on , for just about everyone here

to use pathpilot as pathpilot is delivered is fine .
everyone has different machines , so without knowiing , i'd need a crystal ball

it is not as simple as loading a gui in linuxcnc , and i think this is what people expect .
i'm happy to help anyone , get pathpilot runing for them , and my goal is to get it into mainstream linuxcnc
in some or or another .

pathpilot has different guis for lathe & mill , and some modifications .
the right to copyright whatever will not be discussed , as thats a personal matter .
however i am working my way through over 60 images .

if you have a problem feel free to email me , and we can work through any problem you get
it's also a way for me to collate what everyone wants , and to come up with a " how to "

my major problem at the moment is waiting for 5i25's , as is everyone else on the planet .
changing to a parallel port is simple enough , as a standard linuxcnc config will do
the path and name of this file needs to be placed in a a txt file named config_file.txt
in your home directory
configs them selves are saved in /tmc/configs
the major concern is the startup that is by a script called operator login
this check for the presence of a 5i25 , if it cannot find one it will abort , if it finds one , it then checks what config is loaded
if theirs a problem with the file , and error or whatever , it will copy and overwrite this file with a tormach one . hence whay when an error occours , your config goes out the window , it will even go as far as to re-flash the 5i25 with a tormach bit file
so again another area to watch for . all this requires certian things to happen in a certian order or , it trys to essentially repair it's self .

hope that helps some of you , understand whats going on in the inside .
and theirs a few other gotcha's too , but i wont go into detail yet .
oh and it also runs in server mode too , and uses Redis which is going back about 18 months , is also runs on Ubuntu
and not debian , and uses RTAI only .
most of the problems of rebuilding under the latest version of Linuxcnc i have done ,

so thats where we are at .
feel free to email me regarding pathpilot , and we should be able to come up with a detailed how to , given some time .

hope that gives an insight

Sarah

the xhc-04 is integrated into my version , but is missing from the pathpilot , as are a few other anomalys
however i do have it available