I’m working on a simple plugin I’ve got the coding worked out but my work flow could use some help.
Is there a way to exit and restart the PathPilot gui without going through the full shutdown procedure?
I’m working mostly from my office upstairs from my shop/machine (until I get to a point where I’m actually doing motion or stuff than I need to be watching).
Right now the only way I have to reload the plugin is to go to the machine and do a full shutdown to power off and then restart it.
I’ve discovered some of the magic key-combos and notice there are more from reading the startup code. Is there a full list of what they are and when they work that can be shared?
I’m aware of the shift-alt key press during shutdown that brings you to a gnome desktop in a state with the GUI and the realtime stuff stopped. Seems like I aught to be able to run the startup script again, maybe just re-login as operator?
I’m also running into python / script environment is not setup when you login as operator - even after starting the venv (tired both). Looks like a lot of environment gets setup by operator_login and/or pathpilot manager.
What’s the best / easiest way to get to a functioning script/plugin environment for independent testing? At this point I’m looking at creating a shell profile/script with the environment settings that are in the log file. I’m sure I can figure it all out eventually.
Any help appreciated, thanks.
-Dave
Run the admin encoder test. It will reboot after the test runs. Well you have to hit the ok button after the test but it restarts path pilot.
I read the code for the encoder test and it looks like it won’t run if you don’t have encoders (didn’t try it).
I also took a good look at the operator_login script. It looks like that’s where all magic key press stuff is checked. It has two routines “shutdown_controller” and “reboot_controller” both call the shift-alt check just abort if shift-alt is pressed.
I think I’m going to make a copy of the operator_login script that will exit the path pilot GUI and not shutdown the controller. That way I think all I need to do is then login as the operator and it will fire everything up again correctly. (This works if you are at the machine and hit shift-alt during the shutdown - the shift-alt trick doesn’t work over a VNC connection)
This did work for me using shift-alt (get to normal gnome session) and then logout and back in. However, it did ask for the Estop when quitting. I think works even if you skip the Estop.
If the Estop is required, then I’m kind of stuck as I’d have to go to the machine each time anyway just to hit the Estop.
I’ll have to figure it out before my next project - which is going to be more involved. I don’t need all the exercise I got today running up and down stairs 
If you use a terminal window you can use sudo reboot.
I tried it on path pilot hub and the admin encoder test reboots the remote session machine. Also when my encoder went out it failed the test and reboots the machine.
My machine doesn’t have a spindle encoder, running the test exits immediately with “Machine does not have a spindle encoder”
Which was my expectation after reading the code for the encoder test.
That works. It does go all the way back to a full boot, however as long as you haven’t hit the ESTOP you can start again with a remote VNC.
I’m still going to look into how to shutdown both the GUI and RT/HAL stuff without rebooting. I’m betting that I can stop the GUI/Userspace side and restart it leaving the rest running.
It’s a pain to have to reconnect my remote shares, terminals and VNC for each debug cycle.
I have my NAS connections persisting across reboots by adding an SMB connection to it. You might also find the PathPilot simulator helpful for your testing if you don’t need to cut anything. Hub.pathpilot.com
Is the simulator different from pathpilot HUB? I did setup an account on the hub and tried out 770 mill and a rapid turn before purchasing. It’s certainly useful for getting experience with PP and full CAD/CAM/MILL pipeline.
Is the simulator different? If I recall correctly it looked to me like it was running on a virtual machine and you would still be stuck with Linux from 2014.
What I want to add is an M16X command that talks to a process that controls my stepper motor driven dividing head. I’m going to use it as an alternative +1 A axis for “static” milling of round work. It won’t be synchronized with the rest of the mill.
It will be really useful for machining flats, drilling holes and other features on round stock, including cutting gear teeth.
Each move of the stock to a new rotary offset will be commanded by an M1XX command for rotation/position. The M command is easily implemented as a script in python. The script will use shared memory or pipes to talk to a background process that controls the dividing head.
I’ve learned enough that I have a workable plan now.
I just need to refine my development work flow so it’s easier to test out. The good part is I can develop the script and controller process independently from PathPilot.
Let me see if I can get this right, I’m sure someone will chime in if I get it wrong. The Sim is part of the Hub. Hub.Pathpilot.com contains the simulator and a file sharing system that you can access from your computer, your tormach machine and from the simulator.
right - that aligns with my current understanding.
I looked at it and it was going to be a reasonable effort to get it setup and at the end of the day, I’d have a virtual machine or docker container or whatever that was running basically an image of my 770M. So it wasn’t a huge win for me.
I already have something like that that I spend time setting up with linuxcnc. A virtual machine running it with one of the UIs (axis? I think). That would actually be a good platform to explore linuxcnc more and get a better understanding of what’s running on my Tormach, but at this point I’m most of the way there just looking at my actual machine.
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There is a simpler solution:
Once PathPilot is loaded up, press the Windows Key on your keyboard.
in bottom left click on the Menu button/icon. From there select Preferences and then Startup Applications. Uncheck PathPilot, check mark Mate Panel and Mate Panel Compiz.
When you want to run PathPilot in the future, open a Terminal windows and type “./operator-login. Exiting PathPilot will not reboot the PC.
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