Probe basic lathe vs pncconf setup?

I have my embryonic Colchester Bantam lathe system running semi virtually on the bench (servos turning off the machine etc) using Axis, configured with the pncconf wizard. I have 5i25/7i76, with a 7i85 to be added later.

Just now I followed the instructions for installing Probe Basic Lathe and it went like a dream. kcjengr.github.io/probe_basic/quick_start.html Fantastic, easy to install, no puzzlement. Took me a while to work out what was meant by "after installation probe basic should show up in the linuxcnc launch screen". I finally figured out that the Probe Basic option is only visible if you run the original LinuxCNC installation - I was trying to find and open the existing config from the wizard and of course it doesn't show up there - plenty of VCPs but no PB. So now I have the PB GUI running but it's not configured or connected up to anything yet of course.

The recommended method seems to be to get Axis up and running (which I have), then to install PB (which I have). But how to configure the system with PB so it actually works? The pncconf tool doesn't seem to be able to pick up the PB version for editing and the initial PB config I just created from LinuxCNC is back to vanilla settings. Do I have to manually knife and fork the 2 versions together or manually create the hal and ini files or is there a way to use pncconf?

Things went so smoothly until they stopped and I came to a dead end. Could somebody please tell me how to configure it, ideally using the original configs or the pncconf wizard?

PB is intended for full screen at 1920x1080 resolution. Is it possible / easy to window it or switch tasks so I can do other operations without closing it? As you can tell I am not very experienced with Linux yet.

Thanks!

Muzzer wrote:

I have my embryonic Colchester Bantam lathe system running semi virtually on the bench (servos turning off the machine etc) using Axis, configured with the pncconf wizard. I have 5i25/7i76, with a 7i85 to be added later.

Just now I followed the instructions for installing Probe Basic Lathe and it went like a dream. kcjengr.github.io/probe_basic/quick_start.html Fantastic, easy to install, no puzzlement. Took me a while to work out what was meant by "after installation probe basic should show up in the linuxcnc launch screen". I finally figured out that the Probe Basic option is only visible if you run the original LinuxCNC installation - I was trying to find and open the existing config from the wizard and of course it doesn't show up there - plenty of VCPs but no PB. So now I have the PB GUI running but it's not configured or connected up to anything yet of course.

The recommended method seems to be to get Axis up and running (which I have), then to install PB (which I have). But how to configure the system with PB so it actually works? The pncconf tool doesn't seem to be able to pick up the PB version for editing and the initial PB config I just created from LinuxCNC is back to vanilla settings. Do I have to manually knife and fork the 2 versions together or manually create the hal and ini files or is there a way to use pncconf?

Things went so smoothly until they stopped and I came to a dead end. Could somebody please tell me how to configure it, ideally using the original configs or the pncconf wizard?

PB is intended for full screen at 1920x1080 resolution. Is it possible / easy to window it or switch tasks so I can do other operations without closing it? As you can tell I am not very experienced with Linux yet.

Thanks!

tommylight did a great job explaining that! thanks tommylight!

as for PB lathe, there is a release we are trying to get put out because the lathe version is really outdated and buggy, the version has a myriad of fixes, just an fyi. but we are battling the change from travis which stopped working altogether and transitioning to buildbot for making new version releases. the new probe basic version configs also have some changes so know going forward that you will need to make some changes once that release is done, the changes are to resolve some of these issues with converting pncconfig files more easily, ie less probe basic specific ini requirements and moving them to probe basic specific config files for settings and personalization. hope this helps!

Yes, thanks for the confirmation. That's what I did in the end. It's largely working, albeit with the scaling issues on the backplot screen - not an issue for me at the moment.

I have Visual Studio Code (Linux version) that allows you to compare files in adjacent panels. If I go into PNCConf to make changes to a dummy file, I can easily highlight the incremental changes that happen in the INI and HAL files and implement those in the PB setup. Seems to work for now although it was a little painful initially.

I will look out for the update when it comes. It's looking good so far! Many thanks for the work you have put in.

Muzzer wrote:

Yes, thanks for the confirmation. That's what I did in the end. It's largely working, albeit with the scaling issues on the backplot screen - not an issue for me at the moment.

I have Visual Studio Code (Linux version) that allows you to compare files in adjacent panels. If I go into PNCConf to make changes to a dummy file, I can easily highlight the incremental changes that happen in the INI and HAL files and implement those in the PB setup. Seems to work for now although it was a little painful initially.

I will look out for the update when it comes. It's looking good so far! Many thanks for the work you have put in.

yes it is, i wonder how difficult it would be to make an add on interface that could spit out config files.. maybe in the future or even have the setup and configuration wozard inside probe basic... but for now still nailing down functionality