[maker of things]

It would be nice if/when Tormach releases just the pendant. A MPG you could count on it working when pathpilot updates would be nice. Looks like Moonlight is trying to keep up with patches at least. VistaCNC just flat gave up. It wouldn't surprise me, or offend me if Tormach was actively making pathpilot only work with their hardware either. Hopefully they will have the new control panel available for the slant pro as well.

[jwatte]

It should be possible to make a patch that works "for almost all new versions."
The trick would be to get some user-installed code to run on start-up, and that code can check whether the patch is installed, and if not, re-apply it, using context patching.
If the patch fails to apply cleanly, because exactly the bit that needs updating has changed, the patch could disable itself and display a message to the user before continuing with an un-patched start.
This all has to happen before the linuxcnc process itself stats up, though, so that the Python code it loads is the patched version after an update.
Just dropping a .desktop file in the startup folder is not sufficient, though, because there's a race condition between which starts sooner, the patcher or the PathPilot.

[smokediver576]

It should be possible to make a patch that works "for almost all new versions."
The trick would be to get some user-installed code to run on start-up, and that code can check whether the patch is installed, and if not, re-apply it, using context patching.
If the patch fails to apply cleanly, because exactly the bit that needs updating has changed, the patch could disable itself and display a message to the user before continuing with an un-patched start.
This all has to happen before the linuxcnc process itself stats up, though, so that the Python code it loads is the patched version after an update.
Just dropping a .desktop file in the startup folder is not sufficient, though, because there's a race condition between which starts sooner, the patcher or the PathPilot.

Pete has that with his pendant. He sends out an update patch to run each time that PathPilot has an update. Or at least he has to check and make sure it's compatible.

[Mooser]

Pete has that with his pendant. He sends out an update patch to run each time that PathPilot has an update. Or at least he has to check and make sure it's compatible.

That's what I'm worried about now. Tormach changes something and all of a sudden my aftermarket peripheral no longer works unless the company updates their end. (as was the case with Vista) I can't imagine the Tormach one being cost effective but at least it'll probably stay supported
M

[smokediver576]

That's what I'm worried about now. Tormach changes something and all of a sudden my aftermarket peripheral no longer works unless the company updates their end. (as was the case with Vista) I can't imagine the Tormach one being cost effective but at least it'll probably stay supported
M

From my understanding, Tormach is using Linux CNC as it's foundation, which, is open source by design.....

[kstrauss]

Yes, LinuxCNC is the foundation for PathPilot and is open source but Tormach has no obligation to include special code for devices such as the Vista pendant. If you have the time and the skills YOU can write whatever is needed for a particular device and then adjust things as required with each update to PP. For a supported device Tormach tests everything on each PP release. You may differ but I prefer to be making parts rather than writing and updating Python code.

[smokediver576]

Yes, LinuxCNC is the foundation for PathPilot and is open source but Tormach has no obligation to include special code for devices such as the Vista pendant. If you have the time and the skills YOU can write whatever is needed for a particular device and then adjust things as required with each update to PP. For a supported device Tormach tests everything on each PP release. You may differ but I prefer to be making parts rather than writing and updating Python code.

That's why I purchased it from Pete. He makes the patch whenever Tormach pushes out an update. All I do is apply the patch file and it auto does everything. Takes me less than 5 minutes to execute.

[jwatte]

He sends out an update patch to run each time that PathPilot has an update

My point is that it's highly unlikely that the nitty gritty of integrating the pendant actually changes much, other than it has to be re-applied in the right place. The re-application in the right place can be automated using tools used in software development to maintain patched versions of standard products.

Thus, someone should be able to ship a patch to apply, install it on the PathPilot, and arrange for the patch-applyer to run each time on start-up. If it finds the patch has already been applied, it does nothing. If it finds that the patch needs re-application, it re-applies it, then carries on to launch PathPilot proper, in its patched state.

The convenience here is that, 19 times out of 20, the previously version's patch is likely to just "slide in" to the new version software, assuming the patch can be developed to be reasonably localized.

It would be even better if PathPilot loaded patches from a "modules" directory in start-up, perhaps with some key-hold-down to prevent it from doing so in some kind of safe-mode start-up if some module breaks a newer version.

[petenc]

My point is that it's highly unlikely that the nitty gritty of integrating the pendant actually changes much, other than it has to be re-applied in the right place. The re-application in the right place can be automated using tools used in software development to maintain patched versions of standard products.

Thus, someone should be able to ship a patch to apply, install it on the PathPilot, and arrange for the patch-applyer to run each time on start-up. If it finds the patch has already been applied, it does nothing. If it finds that the patch needs re-application, it re-applies it, then carries on to launch PathPilot proper, in its patched state.

The convenience here is that, 19 times out of 20, the previously version's patch is likely to just "slide in" to the new version software, assuming the patch can be developed to be reasonably localized.

It would be even better if PathPilot loaded patches from a "modules" directory in start-up, perhaps with some key-hold-down to prevent it from doing so in some kind of safe-mode start-up if some module breaks a newer version.

Yep, it doesn't take too much to run Ninjapendant. Most patches "slide-in" for several version updates unless they have done some big changes in certain places. Most times you just re-run the patch, it does what it does, and your good to go. If the patch detects too much of a change and can't find its way, it bails out. This is where I manually create a new patch to get the ball rolling again. I got the latest version ready to go and just need to post it to the site.

Pete

[BIRDTOOL]

I just looked at the MX at Fabtech, the pendant is hooked up via a parallel port. I also did notice they were running PP version 2.4...