#linuxcnc Logs
Jun 17 2025
#linuxcnc Calendar
12:27 AM roycroft: i know how that goes
12:41 AM * roycroft has a question
12:41 AM roycroft: if a person pronounces "chamfer" as "shamfer", is that person still separated from the animals?
12:41 AM xxcoder: dunno since "sham" is in shamfer
12:41 AM roycroft: which maks "shamfer" a sham pronunciation of chamfer
12:41 AM xxcoder: makes sense
12:49 AM Deejay: moin
04:16 AM Tom_L: morning
06:17 AM lcnc-relay: <TheMightyFozz> Hi. Now gnome is removing x11 support, is linuxCNC going to move to weyland?
06:38 AM jpa-: probably some guis will, if they don't already (e.g. Qt-based ones might support it already)
06:38 AM jpa-: and besides, you can run x11 apps on wayland
07:29 AM Tom_itx is now known as Tom_L
10:18 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
10:18 AM Tom_dev: pcw--home, what does this mean?
10:18 AM Tom_dev: unable to set bpw32, fallback to bpw8
10:18 AM Tom_dev: No 7I90HD board found
10:24 AM lcnc-relay: <voiditswarranty@> TheMightyFozz: been running it on wayland for probably a year now on my dev machine, no changes required
10:37 AM pcw--home: "unable to set bpw32, fallback to bpw8" I think is normal for the RPI spidev
10:38 AM Tom_L: i get that on the pi4 but not pi5
10:38 AM Tom_L: i used one of your premade spi bit files to be safe
10:38 AM Tom_L: pinout doesn't matter for this
10:39 AM pcw--home: "no board found" could be a lot of things, cabling, SI issues, etc
10:39 AM Tom_L: pcw--home, can i switch to the fallback on epp and recover?
10:39 AM Tom_L: iirc something about moving a jumper after connecting....
10:39 AM Tom_L: or maybe i'm remembering wrong
10:39 AM pcw--home: if the other EEPROM has a EPP config, yes
10:40 AM Tom_L: should be
10:40 AM Tom_L: connect, then move the eeprom jumper and flash right?
10:41 AM pcw--home: Yeah mover the jumper, power cycle, move the jumper back and program the SPI config via EPP
10:41 AM Tom_L: i used this cable before but i'm gonna pin check it again
10:42 AM pcw--home: just don't program both EEPROMs for SPI configs until you get SPI working...
10:43 AM Tom_L: no
10:43 AM Tom_L: :)
10:43 AM Tom_L: i'm playing this as safe as i can
10:43 AM pcw--home: there's no way currently to force the fallback config on the Xilinx based cards
10:44 AM Tom_L: i thought i remembered that little trick.. glad i did if i need it
10:45 AM Tom_L: and i've got 2 spi devices to test on
10:45 AM Tom_L: pi4 & 5
10:45 AM pcw--home: (But I have cheated by shorting out the EEPROM data or clock lines briefly at power up which generates a CRC error in the primary config load)
10:45 AM Tom_L: i'm not gonna dig for those
10:46 AM pcw--home: the Efinix cards have a jumper option for fallback
10:49 AM pcw--home: Probably could be added to Xilinx based Ethernet cards but the ICAP stuff is probably a pain to implement on non-cpu based configs (like EPP/SPI)
11:13 AM lcnc-relay: <voiditswarranty@> Does anyone have any linuxcnc 2.10 debs published anywhere?
11:13 AM lcnc-relay: <voiditswarranty@> can't seem to access the build bot from hwere, don't know if it's a me problem or a documentation problem
11:14 AM lcnc-relay: <voiditswarranty@> I can build from source but I'm setting up a new dev vm and I'm lazier
11:14 AM Tom_L: gawd that's some old stuff
11:14 AM lcnc-relay: <chefnoob.3831@> hi i have problems with lcec_conf, where is that file located?
11:15 AM lcnc-relay: <chefnoob.3831@> which lcec_conf
11:15 AM lcnc-relay: /usr/bin/lcec_conf
11:16 AM lcnc-relay: <chefnoob.3831@> hi i have problems with lcec_conf, where is that file located?
11:21 AM lcnc-relay: <roguish> voiditswarranty@: look here: http://buildbot2.highlab.com/debian/dists/
11:21 AM Tom_L: bb2 are gonna be newer files
11:22 AM Tom_L: the older builds are on buildbot
11:24 AM lcnc-relay: <voiditswarranty@> roguish: thank you! my browser was forwarding to https, resetting to http was the key
11:24 AM lcnc-relay: <roguish> those are the latest, newest debs, from Seb.
11:25 AM lcnc-relay: <roguish> looks like bookworm, master branch is good togo
11:25 AM Tom_L: i need new glasses... i was looking at that as debian 2.10 :)
11:25 AM Tom_L: sorry
11:27 AM Tom_L: ones like wheezy etc are still built on the old buildbot though
11:27 AM Tom_L: and i forgot it's link
11:29 AM lcnc-relay: <roguish> http://buildbot.linuxcnc.org/
11:33 AM Tom_L: pcw--home, do i need a chip enable signal or just MOSI, MISO, SCK, GND?
11:33 AM pcw--home: Yes, chip enable is needed
11:33 AM Tom_L: this cable has a CE0 on 17 of the 7i90 plug going to the rpi
11:33 AM Tom_L: ok
11:34 AM Tom_L: this all beep tests ok then
11:35 AM Tom_L: http://paste.debian.net/1380337/
11:35 AM Tom_L: pinout i have
11:37 AM lcnc-relay: <voiditswarranty@> yup, my sources.list worked:
11:37 AM lcnc-relay: deb http://buildbot2.highlab.com/debian/ bookworm master-uspace
11:38 AM pcw--home: Note that you should use several grounds in the cable
11:39 AM Tom_L: yeah probably so
12:48 PM roycroft: serendipity is the word of the day
12:48 PM roycroft: i was short a 2-pin aviation connector for my project, and was going to proceed without it for now until i had a chance to order some more
12:49 PM roycroft: i was going through a box of office supplies looking for something that i did not find, but i did find a 2 pin aviation connector in that box
12:49 PM roycroft: how/why it got there i have no idea - it came out of my old office, and was full of stuff like cellophane tape and paper clips and post-it pads
12:49 PM roycroft: nothing electronic or shop related, except for that one connector
12:51 PM xxcoder: nothing like searching for something else to find what you also need
12:53 PM roycroft: while i did not find what i was looking for, i'm not at all unhappy with the effort expended
01:08 PM pcw--home: Things like that make me think the Gods are playing with us...
01:08 PM Tom_L: well it appears both images may be spi :)
01:09 PM Tom_L: kinda forces my hand to make spi work then
01:10 PM JT-Mobile: Fun
01:12 PM pcw--home: Do you have a JTAG cable?
01:13 PM rdtsc-w: keep in mind you can decrease the SPI rate in .hal for testing... https://linuxcnc.org/docs/html/man/man9/hm2_spi.9.html#SPI%20CLOCK%20RATES
01:13 PM Tom_L: i think i got one but i'll have to do some digging
01:13 PM rdtsc-w: https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lunar/man9/hm2_rpspi.9.html
01:14 PM Tom_L: rdtsc-w, that doesn't affect mesaflash
01:16 PM Tom_L: now to find an old usb printer cable for it
01:23 PM Tom_L: do i need ise webpack for this?
01:23 PM Tom_L: i've never done a jtag recovery on one yet
01:33 PM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> modt i use usb-blaster for jtag, cheap and good, but rpi gpio works olso, but i have no mesa 🙂
01:39 PM pcw--home: "do i need ise webpack for this?" not all of webpack, just the programming utility: Impact
01:40 PM Tom_L: working on a cable... i have impact i'm pretty sure
01:55 PM Tom_L: ok i think i'm wired and brought impact up
01:57 PM Tom_L: seemed to find the xilinx
01:58 PM Tom_L: should the W3 jumper be on primary or fallback?
01:59 PM Tom_L: it's on primary now
02:00 PM Tom_L: my cable was set up for another board
02:00 PM Tom_L: pinout was different
02:03 PM Tom_L: found the set of fallback files.. epp serial spi
02:07 PM pcw--home: Typical init scheme: program FPGA with EPP config, then without a power cycle, use mesaflash to program the desired user config in both EEPROMS
02:07 PM pcw--home: bbl
02:07 PM Tom_L: just use the bit files in impact?
02:08 PM pcw--home: Yes
02:08 PM Tom_L: do i need to switch the W3 jumper for each one?
02:08 PM pcw--home: Yes. Note that both EEPROMs normally have both a user and fallback config
02:09 PM Tom_L: hmm
02:09 PM pcw--home: (the --fallback mesaflash option)
02:09 PM Tom_L: is this EPP config just a regular bit file?
02:09 PM pcw--home: Yes
02:09 PM Tom_L: ok
02:09 PM Tom_L: i'll give it a try
02:10 PM Tom_L: should i load the fallback first?
02:19 PM lcnc-relay: <cabezemuela@> hi all, I am a beginner currently setting up a router with linuxcnc, using a Rbpi4 with a flexihal board, with qtdragon_hd UI, currently I am running into an issue where the X and Z motor keep spinning the same way regardless of positive or negative direction, for example on the x axis for right movement the motor spins cw and for left movement it also spins cw when it should spin ccw, I have taken al look at the signals in...
02:19 PM lcnc-relay: ... halshow and I think it looks fine, also the hal file looks good, the homing sequence seems correct, I am doing the testing on the bench still, I can upload a video also I am uploading the files to github to share, any advice is welcome
02:22 PM jpa-: cabezemuela@: sounds like the direction pin is not working correctly, you could try measuring it with multimeter
02:23 PM jpa-: if Y axis is working ok, you can also try switching the connectors between X and Y ports to see if the problem is in the hardware or in the software
02:35 PM lcnc-relay: <cabezemuela@> understood, I have just switched between Y and X and the x motor worked fine and y showed the issue, It seems the problem is in the software
02:41 PM lcnc-relay: <cabezemuela@> https://github.com/Santiagoe98/Flexi_PNC here I uploaded the configuration files, it seems all axis are set up the same, I am wondering if it could be the board firmware or something else
03:03 PM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> have my first own ethercat device 😍
03:08 PM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> that would be so cool if i could use it as an interface for rio
03:34 PM Tom_L: well aparentl i don't have a linux ise webpack install
03:38 PM Tom_L: maybe i can still do this
03:42 PM bjorkintosh: ise webpack. sounds familiar.
03:42 PM bjorkintosh: is this from xilinx?
03:42 PM Tom_L: yup
03:42 PM bjorkintosh: hah.
03:42 PM Tom_L: i used to have it installed on both
03:42 PM bjorkintosh: that ... thing.
03:44 PM bjorkintosh: I didn't have windows installed anywhere, and the xilinx software insisted it needed to run on windows. no problem. I installed windows in VBox on ubuntu, installed ise, inside windows as required, and then ISE installed VBOX inside windows to run a version of redhat to run the fpga stuff!
03:44 PM bjorkintosh: I was maaaad.
03:54 PM Tom_L: haha i think it may just work
03:55 PM xxcoder: os inception
03:56 PM Tom_L: and we're back in business
03:56 PM Tom_L: had to hook the card to 2 pcs to do it
03:57 PM Tom_L: i didn't have a linux webpack copy so i used windows for jtag and linux for the mesaflash stuff
03:57 PM Tom_L: got both copies of fallback and bitfile restored
03:58 PM Tom_L: thanks pcw--home i see how you do it now
03:58 PM Tom_L: since the xilinx chip is volatile you load the bit in it first then use mesaflash to load the eeproms
03:58 PM Tom_L: kinda sneaky
03:59 PM Tom_L: now to figure out why spi isn't connecting
04:23 PM _unreal_: so if there are NOOOOOO further problems I close on my new home tomorrow
04:24 PM bjorkintosh: congratulations are in order then, _unreal_
04:24 PM roycroft: yay
04:24 PM roycroft: that's the end of a long process but just the first part of a new long process
04:25 PM roycroft: but the new process is a much better one, because it's all you and your stuff
04:27 PM _unreal_: once I find out any "issues" HOA..... the Number one things I want to and only thing really I want to do to the house is build an outside kitchen/Tiki
04:27 PM _unreal_: I've got tons of 316 1/8th thick 5'x10' stainless sheet
04:29 PM roycroft: eew, hoa
04:29 PM * roycroft would never want to live under one
04:49 PM Tom_L: roycroft, what about under a Tiki bar?
04:50 PM Tom_L: well i feel like i got alot accomplished today but really only went around in circles
04:50 PM bjorkintosh: Tom_L: or better yet, spiraled upwards!
04:51 PM bjorkintosh: feels like circle, but got much further.
04:51 PM Tom_L: atleast was able to get past the obstacles
04:52 PM Tom_L: i hadn't had webpack open in months so felt a bit noobish
04:53 PM Tom_L: not sure what i'm missin with spi though
04:54 PM Tom_L: i've had it working on the rpi4 before
04:54 PM Tom_L: everything seems enabled etc etc
04:54 PM Tom_L: beep tested the wiring
04:55 PM Unterhaus_ is now known as Unterhausen
04:56 PM Unterhausen: I can't believe oxtool found a reed vise for $5. We had one at work, that was the closest I ever got to stealing anything. It was the best vise I ever used
05:11 PM Tom_L: wow, in the basement and can hear a big storm moving in
05:12 PM Tom_L: mmm tstorm warning, tornado watch, flash flood warning
05:16 PM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
05:17 PM Tom_rpi5: Unexpected cookie at 0100..0110:
05:17 PM Tom_rpi5: 00000000 00000000 00000000
05:17 PM Tom_rpi5: No 7I90HD board found
05:17 PM Tom_rpi5: rdtsc, didn't you have that issue a bit?
05:37 PM Tom_L: is there a different spi driver the rpi5 needs for spi?
05:42 PM lcnc-relay: <ccatlett1984@> hm2_spix
05:53 PM JT-Shop: what is spi?
05:56 PM Tom_L: serial peripheral interface
05:56 PM JT-Shop: that makes sense
05:56 PM Tom_L: uses mosi miso for data transfer
05:57 PM Tom_L: master out slave in, master in slave out
05:57 PM Tom_L: 2 pin names
05:57 PM JT-Shop: interesting
05:57 PM Tom_L: and a chip select and clock
05:57 PM JT-Shop: what is chip select?
05:57 PM Tom_L: for multiple slaves
05:57 PM JT-Shop: ah
05:59 PM Tom_L: bidirectional?
05:59 PM Tom_L: i may need an updated driver i don't have but don't know that for sure yet
06:00 PM JT-Shop: that's above my pay grade
06:00 PM Tom_L: my nose is right at water level
06:00 PM Tom_L: it's fast though
06:01 PM Tom_L: full duplex
06:01 PM Tom_L: that's the term i was trying to remember
06:05 PM Tom_L: i however did learn how to unbrick the mesa card
06:05 PM JT-Shop: that could be important to know :)
06:05 PM Tom_L: makes sense once you see it
06:06 PM Tom_L: the xilinx is volatile and loads the bit files on startup from eeprom
06:06 PM Tom_L: you stuff a program in it, never turn it off then use mesaflash to flash the eeprom
06:07 PM Tom_L: happens that the 7i90 has 2 eeprom
06:07 PM Tom_L: that's what W3 is for
06:08 PM Tom_L: each one can have a bit file and a fallback file
06:08 PM Tom_L: so you can essentially have 2 separate configs loaded at once and select which one with W3
06:09 PM Tom_L: well what happened (now that i remember ) a long time back i had already loaded the 'backup' eeprom with a spi bit file and forgot i did
06:09 PM Tom_L: so when i loaded it also in the primary, i wasn't able to use it with the parallel port
06:10 PM Tom_L: if spi had worked there wouldn't have been a problem
06:11 PM Tom_L: but in order to 'stuff' a program to the xilinx chip itself you need JTAG
06:11 PM JT-Shop: you should have that
06:12 PM Tom_L: i do and that's what i did
06:12 PM Tom_L: however this whole process requires you don't restart the board
06:12 PM Tom_L: i have jtag on windows but mesaflash on linux :)
06:12 PM Tom_L: i tried installing linux webpack but it wouldn't cooperate today so
06:13 PM Tom_L: i used both PCs to get the job done
06:13 PM Tom_L: by restarting the board you erase the JTAG'd program you put into the xilinx chip
06:14 PM Tom_L: CPLD store the program themselves. FPGA don't
06:17 PM Tom_L: i like this rpi5... it's FAF
06:17 PM JT-Shop: FAF?
06:17 PM Tom_L: fast as fck
06:18 PM JT-Shop: sounds like something my day would say about ww2
06:18 PM Tom_L: loads in like 10 sec
06:18 PM JT-Shop: 2FF2R
06:18 PM bjorkintosh: 2 fast forward 2 furious?
06:18 PM bjorkintosh: wait no.
06:19 PM JT-Shop: too fkn fast to recognize
06:20 PM bjorkintosh: haha
06:24 PM Tom_L: just get past this known broadcom issue with spi
06:26 PM * JT-Shop calls it a day
06:26 PM Tom_L: about that time
06:26 PM Tom_L: i should check the rain gage again
07:04 PM rdtsc: Tom, it wouldn't see my SPI board (only in Rpi5) due to a firmware issue. Loaded the right firmware, and bingo.
07:04 PM rdtsc: From mesaflash; no JTAG
07:05 PM Tom_L: yeah
07:06 PM Tom_L: i wonder if it would help to update the rpi5 firmware
07:06 PM rdtsc: think so... command might be firmware-update
07:07 PM Tom_L: i'll check on that next
07:08 PM Tom_L: i wonder if i'm better off doing that over ethernet instead of wifi
07:09 PM Tom_L: maybe doesn't matter
07:14 PM rdtsc: doubt it matters
07:14 PM rdtsc: sudo apt install raspi-firmware
07:16 PM Tom_L: i wanna check the version first
07:16 PM rdtsc: still missing a command, checking
07:17 PM rdtsc: okay that does NOT work in rpi5
07:19 PM rdtsc: aahhhh here it is sudo rpi-eeprom-updat
07:19 PM rdtsc: with an e on the end
07:19 PM rdtsc: can run it to see if there is an update
07:21 PM Tom_L: says it's up to date
07:21 PM rdtsc: also apparently apt will tell you if there is a firmware update, at least when doing apt full-upgrade, however never do that, as it will bork the kernel
07:22 PM Tom_L: does it tell you what ver your is?
07:22 PM rdtsc: CURRENT: Wed Jan 22 12:16:51 AM UTC 2025 (1737505011)
07:22 PM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
07:23 PM Tom_rpi5: CURRENT: Thu May 8 14:13:17 UTC 2025 (1746713597)
07:23 PM rdtsc: interesting... LATEST: Wed Jan 22 12:16:51 AM UTC 2025 (1737505011)
07:23 PM Tom_rpi5: LATEST: Wed Jan 22 00:16:51 UTC 2025 (1737505011)
07:24 PM rdtsc: somehow you have a 4-month-newer firmware
07:27 PM rdtsc: https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/raspi-firmware
07:28 PM rdtsc: didn't get it from Debian
07:28 PM rdtsc: ya know, I bet your seller automatically installed the latest firmware
07:28 PM Tom_rpi5: could be
07:30 PM rdtsc: aah here they are https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/releases
07:31 PM Tom_rpi5: can you export shortcuts in ff?
07:32 PM Tom_rpi5: i may have done that but forgot how
07:32 PM rdtsc: what message are you getting when trying to run mesaflash --device 7i90HD --spi --addr /dev/spidev0.0 --readhmid
07:32 PM Tom_rpi5: no board found
07:33 PM rdtsc: and there exists a /dev/spidev0.0
07:33 PM Tom_L: yes
07:33 PM Tom_L: and i set that to something in the config other than just 'on'
07:33 PM Tom_L: that was something i read
07:34 PM Tom_L: didn't seem to fix it
07:35 PM rdtsc: then either SPI isn't working, or the board isn't - any other SPI boards to test?
07:35 PM Tom_L: no other mesa cards
07:35 PM rdtsc: heck, got a fast 'scope laying around? :)
07:35 PM Tom_L: i have the rpi4 but haven't gotten it to go yet either but i have used it in the past
07:35 PM Tom_L: i have a saleae but it's old
07:38 PM rdtsc: could test MOSI and MISO with a multimeter - something other than 3.30v or 0.00v; something inbetween could indicate activity, but this highly depends on the meter
07:39 PM rdtsc: good Fluke meters have a bandwidth of about 150kHz, whereas the signals are likely 20MHz or more
07:41 PM rdtsc: gotta run, company
07:41 PM Tom_rpi5: have a good evening
08:05 PM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
09:13 PM roycroft: 20MHz is not that fast, but definitely faster than a fluke meter
09:13 PM roycroft: you can get a 100Mz or faster fluke handheld 'scope, though
09:13 PM roycroft: 100MHz, rather
09:14 PM bjorkintosh: 20 MILLLION repetitions _every_ second is not that fast??
09:19 PM roycroft: not in the grand scheme of life, the universe, and everything
09:23 PM lcnc-relay: <zincboy_ca_on@> You can't meaningfully debug SPI with a multimeter. You won't see anything as the effective duty cycle is so low that the DC level won't really change. A scope is pretty much required.
09:48 PM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
09:51 PM xxcoder: Anne Burrell have left the kitchen
10:06 PM roycroft: yes, i read that a short while ago :(
10:06 PM roycroft: she was so young
10:08 PM xxcoder: yeah
11:01 PM roycroft: i got a bit more work done on my controller cabinet today
11:01 PM roycroft: but then i needed to check a drawing, and when i got to the cad workstation i got distracted by some design work for my new shop roof
11:01 PM roycroft: oh well
11:02 PM roycroft: that needs to be done, and very soon, as i'm going to start construction in a month or so
11:03 PM xxcoder: roof had more powerful lure
11:03 PM roycroft: it was a timing thing
11:03 PM roycroft: i'm planning on doing a timber frame build for the roof, so i have more open space in the loft, and i was curious about lumber pricing
11:04 PM roycroft: i had emailed a wholesaler and i got the response with a quote just as i came in to look at the drawing for the controller cabinet
11:04 PM roycroft: that is what distracted me
11:05 PM roycroft: and it looks like i'll be getting wholesale pricing on lumber from this outfit, so the cost will go way down on the build
11:06 PM roycroft: i also came up with a cunning plan on how to frame it pretty much by myself, and have been looking for an opportunity to work on that aspect of the design
11:07 PM roycroft: and i think my cunning plan is solid, unlike all of baldrick's