Pathpilot RPI

I am more worried about the PathPilot portion and if any of it is compiled for x86 and would not run on the RPI.
If not x86 specific you should be able to find and move the PathPilot files to the new machine.

There is bin dir most of which are scripts and LinuxCNC binaries but there are some Tormach binaries that I've not seen the souces for. 

Also needs "redis", a database manager, from a net search it appears to run on RPI.

Before investing in hardware to talk to your machine you might try to get a simulator running. 

Thank you again.

I have an RPI4 with 2.8.1 installed on it. I have the thumb drive ordered. So forward and onward.

Jim
 

Any update on your progress?

I'm a little late to this topic but if I was to get PP runing on PI I would do these things

1. Request the PP Source From Tormach, They only charge shipping for it.
2. Install Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa on the PI (this is what PP is built on) but Mint is not available for ARM so heres the full output from uname -a
Linux tormachpcnc 4.11.9-rt7 #1 SMP PREEMPT RT Fri Aug 4 12:03:32 CDT 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

3, PP is based on 2.8.0~pre1 of LinuxCNC
4. install pre-reqs. in V2 it doesn't look like they supply a script to do this anymore
5. build PP for ARM

Alternatively you could get any version of Debian installed
install LinuxCNC sources. copy the PP sources into place and compile and hope it works

Sandra

Hello,

I am interesed in the epic of RPi4->Mint->LinuxCNC->PathPilot stack as a working hardware-software stack system.

I allready have LCNC running (installed, not running a machine yet) on RPi4

For security, relevancy purposes I want to move off Mint (end of ESM coverage period in 4 days) - but that can be a different / v2 / epic / goal / stints

I have the hardware and time to allocate, I also have access to a very experienced Linux Developper.

What I lack is intimate knowledge / internal workings of PP & LinuxCNC

Sandra aka smgvbest you seem to have deep knowledge and I like the approaches you laid out.

I'm ordering some cutting tools and other parts from Tormach tomorrow for my mill, I will order the latest PP Source Code CD as per Sandra's direction.
I already own the v2.0 base imaging usb.

This would be to drive Ethernet Mesa Board to Steppers or Servos....or directly to networked smart servos (Clearpath)

Q - What would entail making Mint 17.3 Rosa work on RPI4 (ARM)?
Q - Current LCNC RPi version is 2.8.1, what would entail making a 2.8.0~pre1 version as used with PP?
Q - How long a list of Pre-Requisites are we talking about? Is there a way to list them so a script can be written?
Q - Are there major hurdles forseen for doing an ARM Build of PP from latest Source Code?
Q - Does the move to Ether control board offloads the requirement for pulse generation?
Q - If I use Servos that have individual control board / encoders and are capable of receiving networked commands vs. pulses & direction, would that control output method be supported by LCNC?

I see another forum thread are working hard on the RPi4+LCNC so some work / knowledge can be piggy backed from them, but the PP variant has its own set of constraints and challenges.

Max

Hi Max

I always say this.   get it working with LinuxCNC first.  in this case get Mint Installed, pre-empt install (RT Kernel stuff), LinuxCNC
get that working on the RPi4 first.   if you can do that getting PP installed should be fairly easy (i say that never having tried to get it to work on a RPi so take it as FWIW).


Q - What would entail making Mint 17.3 Rosa work on RPI4 (ARM)?
you're going to have to compile Mint for ARM yourself as Mint does not offer ARM binaries
you can download the source and compile,  going to take awhile

Q - Current LCNC RPi version is 2.8.1, what would entail making a 2.8.0~pre1 version as used with PP?
you can download 2.8.0.pre1 from web, it can be hard to locate but its out there.   i believe its called linuxcnc-2.8.zip.

Q - How long a list of Pre-Requisites are we talking about? Is there a way to list them so a script can be written?
you have the LinuxCNC pre-reqs which are easy to handle then you have the PP pre-reqs which really aren't many
for 1.8.2 i had this info I posted, I have not done same for V2 yet
forum.linuxcnc.org/pathpilot/29983-notes...-2-source-code#74388

doing same from V2

operator@tormachpcnc:~/Downloads/v2.0.5-BETA-5-source$ make help
Makefile:423: linuxcnc-modules -- Build linuxcnc and all kernel modules
Makefile:479: python -- Copy over all tormach python files to the appropriate folder structure in run.
Makefile:493: build-clean -- Remove all files in the run folder
Makefile:501: clean -- Recursively clean compiled objects and libraries and lint output
Makefile:507: distclean -- Recursively clean all generated files (the nuclear option)
Makefile:514: strip -- Search for all compiled objects and strip out debugging symbols
Makefile:531: resources -- Copy resource files needed for GUI to /home/operator/tmc
Makefile:560: build -- Compile all objects
Makefile:564: install -- Build and install all files to the run directory
Makefile:607: run -- Launch the GUI with the configuration stored in or launch config picker if this file does not exist
Makefile:624: lint -- Run Pylint on all pythong source with results stored in .pyl files


so there is no make depend anymore.  which means you have to find them
a one I recall is
gtksourceview-3.10.2.tar.xz
GladeV3


Q - Are there major hurdles forseen for doing an ARM Build of PP from latest Source Code?
just getting it to work.  its really a mater of either dig through the make files and see what you need or just do a make and fix errors as you encounter them.   keep good notes on what's needed for future reference.
also note you will not be able to directly apply updates to PP once it's working.  the updates are for x86_64 not ARM.  you can copy the python and other changes but not the binary changes from an update.

Q - Does the move to Ether control board offloads the requirement for pulse generation?
yes

Q - If I use Servos that have individual control board / encoders and are capable of receiving networked commands vs. pulses & direction, would that control output method be supported by LCNC?
yes.,  expect to really learn the HAL and INI files used to make it work though

simplyfast wrote:

[code][code][code]Hello,

I am interesed in the epic of RPi4->Mint->LinuxCNC->PathPilot stack as a working hardware-software stack system.

I allready have LCNC running (installed, not running a machine yet) on RPi4

For security, relevancy purposes I want to move off Mint (end of ESM coverage period in 4 days) - but that can be a different / v2 / epic / goal / stints

I have the hardware and time to allocate, I also have access to a very experienced Linux Developper.

What I lack is intimate knowledge / internal workings of PP & LinuxCNC

Sandra aka smgvbest you seem to have deep knowledge and I like the approaches you laid out.

I'm ordering some cutting tools and other parts from Tormach tomorrow for my mill, I will order the latest PP Source Code CD as per Sandra's direction.
I already own the v2.0 base imaging usb.

This would be to drive Ethernet Mesa Board to Steppers or Servos....or directly to networked smart servos (Clearpath)

Q - What would entail making Mint 17.3 Rosa work on RPI4 (ARM)?
Q - Current LCNC RPi version is 2.8.1, what would entail making a 2.8.0~pre1 version as used with PP?
Q - How long a list of Pre-Requisites are we talking about? Is there a way to list them so a script can be written?
Q - Are there major hurdles forseen for doing an ARM Build of PP from latest Source Code?
Q - Does the move to Ether control board offloads the requirement for pulse generation?
Q - If I use Servos that have individual control board / encoders and are capable of receiving networked commands vs. pulses & direction, would that control output method be supported by LCNC?

I see another forum thread are working hard on the RPi4+LCNC so some work / knowledge can be piggy backed from them, but the PP variant has its own set of constraints and challenges.

Max

 

[/code][/code][/code]

Thank you Sandra, I placed the order for the latest PP Source Code along with my regular tool order wtih Tormach.

Ok I will get my dev person to compile Mint 17.3 (full?/bare?) for ARM as first step. Do we include latest versions and ESM's?

I'm assuming then is to get complied OS onto a RPi4 bootable image and test as follow on step?

Thank you again for sharing your experience.

Max

Hi,

I've done a bit of research of the build in more details
Mint is built from Ubuntu, duh

here's /etc/os-release
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="14.04.5 LTS, Trusty Tahr"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS"
VERSION_ID="14.04"
HOME_URL="www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"

you might search to see if there is a Ubuntu PI image for 14.04.5 LTS available.
if so you're on your way. there is a Ubuntu 20 Desktop 64bit for PI available.

Mint is ubuntu with packing changes and PP is running mate desktop not cinnamon which I believe is the default mint desktop.

Probably doesn't help you out just something I found in digging more

BTW: I run a VMWare image of PP with dev tools installed to play with it.
thats were I get most my info from.

and FWIW, I found out that if I build PP from source and it fails. I need to restore my vmware image so I keep a backup just in case.

I'm surprise a simple make installs things, i'm not doing a make install
need to dig into the make file and see if its doing it under the covers

Great info Sandra,

- My dev person just finished making from original sources a full Mint Kernel Linux 4.11.9-rt7 #2 SMP PREEMPT RT x86_64 (matches what I have on my Tormach Mill and Lathe) so we have an x86_64 Gold VM Image

- Next step is to make the same but for ARM_64, to have a Gold VM image for RPi that is hopefully friendly to PP.

When I look at downloads for LinuxCNC.org for RPi, it's already using a newer version of Linux/Debian with RT 'Patches' as you mentionned, but I'm trying to keep everything as close to original to increase chances of success on compiling PP for ARM 64 (RPi) as you highlighted earlier. (As Is Currently by Tormach, but ported to RPi4)

On dev Stream #2 (Latest Stuff/Stack), We will make a full Kernel on 5.15.x using latest stable 'RT' patches in the process to make it 5.15.x 'RT' both as a x86_64 and ARM_64.

Then we'll have the VM Gold Images to build x86_64 and ARM_64 from both dev streams.

5.15.x 'RT' is newer then what is inculded in the latest RPi LinuxCNC.org downloads so I'm assuming we'll have to also make LinuxCNC from sources for 5.15.x RT x86_64 & ARM_64 (phew!)

Once I receive the PP Source Code CD it will be to see if we are sucessfull at compiling it onto Mint x86_64 Kernel first, then Mint ARM_64 after as we will run into those dependencies you talked about and I want to script that stuff... the first time (can you help with that part?).

Then we'll attack the 5.15.x 'RT' make PP in x86_64 and ARM_64 as the 'bleeding edge' stream.

I'm now interested in knowing more about PP and how it can be modified, (graphical, functions, macros/subroutines). I can smell a Python sligning around lol

Let me know?

Maxime

What python I know I've learned from modding PP.
I use Pycharm and/or WIngIDE. Tormach seems to use WIngIDE as it's got the stubs inplace for debugging.

It's not really hard to do. I've adding buttons, changed existing ones etc. fixed the VM detect to detect VMWare which is where I run my dev environment.

I have installed in it.
WingIDE Pro.
Pycharm (yes both)
Glade
Visual Studio Code for C/C++ and Shell Scripting
Blender (thought I might need it but not so far)
GIMP (for image editing, used for creating new buttons)

I think that's the big ones I used

What version of PP did they send you on the Source Code Disk?
I have 2.0.5 on mine.

Learn LinuxCNC, while you can play with buttons and simple things understanding LinuxCNC will help more than you can imagine if you really want to go at it.

Do be carefull and keep backups of your system.
I did a simple make on PP and it overwrote my PP system, it's why I use VMware to develop in. Before any major changes I backup my VMWare image incase I screw it up again (and I have)

Sandra