PathPilot V2 with 7I80DB-16 + 7i76

Thats a good idea, I’ll give that a try this morning.

As has been said PP is just a UI, and any issues with getting it going will always be a LinuxCNC issue.

I’m only using PP because it has a nice interface. I actually hope to create my own UI. Just need to learn more first.

Mike

So using a newer bit file has got me past first issue.
Now I think I have adjust the hal file to match the board.
see
'tormach_mill_mesa.hal:248: parameter or pin 'hm2_7i80.0.gpio.005.is_output' not found'

Everybody seems to get this wrong when trying to get PP2 to install. Please read Brianbone's thread from The Industry Arena forum. The key is to make the PP base file point to your .ini file. The following explains this.

I'd figure I would start a new thread for folks trying to upgrade from 1.9.x to PP 2.0 - and here are my thoughts and what I went through:

1. I had to change my motherboard because PP 2.0 didn't like my GPU which was an old GeForce 610 (Old mobo didn't have built in video). I probably could have figured it out, but I am no linux guru and couldn't even see anything on the screen - it was totally garbled. I ended up buying an old Gigabyte GA-41 with built in video, and it worked without any trouble (I wanted to still use my old E2200 dual core pentium chip that I had been using). I doubt most people will need to do this.

2. Please use a separate SSD drive, and unplug your PP 1.9.x drive for obvious reasons. Backup all settings in PP 1.9 "admin settings backup" save to thumb drive. this saves all your offsets and stuff.

3. PP 2.0 installs pretty easily from the thumb drive.

4. To get to the desktop, the Left Shift-Alt keys are supposed to work (it says so in the PP 2.0 operator_login script) but I couldn't get mine to work. So I hit Ctrl-Alt X to get to a terminal prompt. Then type in "mate-panel" This is the new desktop in PP 2.0. gnome is not installed.

5. Next go to system preferences - startup applications and deselect the PathPilot. This prevents the auto start of PP. This is important because now if PP errors out, it shuts down the computer and takes a long time to fix each error.

6. PP 2.0 still runs from the "operator_login" script. If you click that and run "in terminal" like before then you can debug it more easily.

7. When debugging, in PP 1.9.x you could look at the terminal screen to find your errors, now the terminal screen closes, so you have to open the pathpilotlog.txt which is located in the gcode folder in log files folder.

8. Also in PP 2.0, if you edit the tormach_1100-3.ini then PP 2.0 will RE-WRITE it upon any error. So instead I created a "novakon_mill_base.ini" file. Then I edited the "tormach_1100-3_specific.ini" file to point to the novakon_mill_base.ini file. This tricks PP into using the novakon file to build the new ini file in case of an error. So all edits to the ini file should be to the novakon_mill_base file. If anything messes up, you can delete the tormach_1100-3.ini file and PP 2.0 will create a new one from the mill base file.

9. Everything else is pretty similar to before. I posted all my novakon files that should get you going on a Pulsar.

10. To install Dropbox in the MDI window type "Admin dropbox" and it will prompt you to set that up.

11. Restore your old settings by "admin settings restore" and this will import your old tool table and settings.

*Just a side note: I had to re-write the Charge Pump code in the hal file. I am not sure why the old code worked in PP 1.9 but didn't in 2.0. I used PCW_Mesa's example somewhere in linuxcnc forums and now the charge pump works fine **

Attached Files Attached Files
I'd figure I would start a new thread for folks trying to upgrade from 1.9.x to PP 2.0 - and here are my thoughts and what I went through:

1. I had to change my motherboard because PP 2.0 didn't like my GPU which was an old GeForce 610 (Old mobo didn't have built in video). I probably could have figured it out, but I am no linux guru and couldn't even see anything on the screen - it was totally garbled. I ended up buying an old Gigabyte GA-41 with built in video, and it worked without any trouble (I wanted to still use my old E2200 dual core pentium chip that I had been using). I doubt most people will need to do this.

2. Please use a separate SSD drive, and unplug your PP 1.9.x drive for obvious reasons. Backup all settings in PP 1.9 "admin settings backup" save to thumb drive. this saves all your offsets and stuff.

3. PP 2.0 installs pretty easily from the thumb drive.

4. To get to the desktop, the Left Shift-Alt keys are supposed to work (it says so in the PP 2.0 operator_login script) but I couldn't get mine to work. So I hit Ctrl-Alt X to get to a terminal prompt. Then type in "mate-panel" This is the new desktop in PP 2.0. gnome is not installed.

5. Next go to system preferences - startup applications and deselect the PathPilot. This prevents the auto start of PP. This is important because now if PP errors out, it shuts down the computer and takes a long time to fix each error.

6. PP 2.0 still runs from the "operator_login" script. If you click that and run "in terminal" like before then you can debug it more easily.

7. When debugging, in PP 1.9.x you could look at the terminal screen to find your errors, now the terminal screen closes, so you have to open the pathpilotlog.txt which is located in the gcode folder in log files folder.

8. Also in PP 2.0, if you edit the tormach_1100-3.ini then PP 2.0 will RE-WRITE it upon any error. So instead I created a "novakon_mill_base.ini" file. Then I edited the "tormach_1100-3_specific.ini" file to point to the novakon_mill_base.ini file. This tricks PP into using the novakon file to build the new ini file in case of an error. So all edits to the ini file should be to the novakon_mill_base file. If anything messes up, you can delete the tormach_1100-3.ini file and PP 2.0 will create a new one from the mill base file.

9. Everything else is pretty similar to before. I posted all my novakon files that should get you going on a Pulsar.

10. To install Dropbox in the MDI window type "Admin dropbox" and it will prompt you to set that up.

11. Restore your old settings by "admin settings restore" and this will import your old tool table and settings.

*Just a side note: I had to re-write the Charge Pump code in the hal file. I am not sure why the old code worked in PP 1.9 but didn't in 2.0. I used PCW_Mesa's example somewhere in linuxcnc forums and now the charge pump works fine **
File Type: txt novakon_mill_base.ini.txt (7.5 KB, 3 views)
File Type: txt novakon.hal.txt (23.0 KB, 3 views)
File Type: txt postgui_tormach_mill.hal.txt (6.4 KB, 3 views)
File Type: txt tormach_1100-3_specific.ini.txt (150 Bytes, 3 views)

Hi Mike

Did you ever get the 7I80DB working with PathPilot?

No I gave up, I did not (and still do not) know enough about the configuration of the HAL files to make the changes needed.
I'm working on getting the machine going with source code install in a seperate forum post right now.

Ok Thanks for the reply.