[Concepts_Design]

I got my disc today, since I just got my machine up and running last week I figured I'd get the beta disc, but now that I have it , I'm a bit afraid. not that the software wont work, but because that there is no manual and I'm just learning .

Anyone load and use it yet? If so, is It pretty easy to figure out? I am familiar with Mach3 a little bit, but by no means am I proficient at it

[MFchief]

Hi,

I just finished loading on my 1100. It seems to be working OK.

I chose to physically change out the HD, since I had one with the same part number as the one that came with my machine. That worked fine, it booted to the DVD and did the install.

A couple of things that slowed me down, first the system puts up a screen with the size of the partition, then you have to click on where to install it. Wasn't covered in the document, and maybe it's obvious to Linux users and others, but took me a minute to figure out. I picked the first on the list, which I think said something about MachOS.

Another quirk that might be my controller, but I don't recall seeing before, when the install was done, I attempted to eject the DVD from the drive, but it wouldn't work. I ended up powering down the controller and doing the old bent paper clip routine.

But, at the end of the day, it seems to work!

Terry

[RTP_Burnsville]

No, Still waiting for my copy to ship....

Robert

[widget_maker]

Mine refuses to boot.

Checked that dvd is readable - it is.
Checked boot sequence - dvd drive is first.

Tried F10 set to dvd to force boot from dvd and I get "boot failure"

Sent tormach an email.....we'll see.......

[wtopace]

Mine refuses to boot.

Checked that dvd is readable - it is.
Checked boot sequence - dvd drive is first.

Tried F10 set to dvd to force boot from dvd and I get "boot failure"

Sent tormach an email.....we'll see.......

Have you tried booting it in another computer to make sure it's not an issue with the DVD from Tormach? If it works in another PC (be careful you don't format your disk!), then you might consider borrowing the DVD drive for your Tormach computer just to load the OS.

[widget_maker]

Hmmm, starts to boot fine on my old spare desktop. Looks like I have some component substitutions to do.....

[widget_maker]

Swapped the dvd drive from the HP to the Tormach MC and it is booting!

How the heck can a dvd be READABLE on a machine yet not boot from it???

Oh well.

[tmarks11]

I got mine and loaded it on a new 1 TB hdd.

The disk has some scars on the face of it, probably from bouncing around in a box with the Mesa board with no padding.

First install cycle left me non-functional (flashed to the Tormach screen, than dropped me to a terminal window saying "INIT= ARGUMENT".

So I tried again, and this time went into bios after the install and updated the boot disks to include the new hdd. It worked just fine then. Started out by selecting which machine (1100), and than it flashed the EEPROM on the Mesa 6i25 card, and requested a restart.

No problems, seem to run the machine just fine.

The annoying thing is when you say EXIT, it drops you to a gray screen and never shuts off the computer. Your only choice then is to toggle power off, hopefully not screwing up anything on the HDD in the process.

One other thing is without access to any OS controls you can't chose the resolution of the screen. I have a 1920x1080 screen (as does 70% of the world), and it doesn't look like it is running at native resolution; seems like it is not as crisp as it could be, but I could be wrong; maybe Tormach is scaling the graphics.

[shred]

The Exit screen says something like "it's now safe to turn off your machine". In white text on the mostly white Tormach logo. They said it was safe to power off at that point. If not, I've been lucky hundreds of times (also it doesn't force a fsck at boot, suggesting the OS isn't unhappy about the power off)

[wtopace]

Swapped the dvd drive from the HP to the Tormach MC and it is booting!

How the heck can a dvd be READABLE on a machine yet not boot from it???

Oh well.

Unfortunately, I have seen the same thing as well in the past. Glad you got it up and going!

[widget_maker]

Thanks WTO.

I am now having issue with estop. When I first loaded up the OS, I had the X at the limit switch. The lhs of the screen (alert area?) kept stating X at limit switch and would not respond to the "reset". Rebooted - no luck. To be honest I am not sure WHAT I did to finally get some response. I THINK I held the pendant hard to the left with X selected and continuously hit "reset". After reffing the axes, I have had Z go off to the limit switch once too and hang.

I don't know what the heck I'm doing of course., but Mach was always responsive to a reset once a limit switch was tripped.

The other strange thing, I used the conversational programming to do a facing operation in midair, and everything went as expected except that the spindle never ran despite having s 500 in the G code.

Wish I knew what the heck I was doing.... LOL


edit: Arghhh - spindle was set to manual.

[popspipes]

My software installed from the dvd, I went thru the procedure and tried to remove the dvd, it wouldnt operate?? I used a bent wire to pull it out after power down, rebooted and it came up on the screen, this is as far as I have gotten.

I have a question, is the printer plug supposed to be connected to the new mesa card?

There is no mention of it in the instruction sheet.

[wtopace]

Thanks WTO.

I am now having issue with estop. When I first loaded up the OS, I had the X at the limit switch. The lhs of the screen (alert area?) kept stating X at limit switch and would not respond to the "reset". Rebooted - no luck. To be honest I am not sure WHAT I did to finally get some response. I THINK I held the pendant hard to the left with X selected and continuously hit "reset". After reffing the axes, I have had Z go off to the limit switch once too and hang.

I don't know what the heck I'm doing of course., but Mach was always responsive to a reset once a limit switch was tripped.

The other strange thing, I used the conversational programming to do a facing operation in midair, and everything went as expected except that the spindle never ran despite having s 500 in the G code.

Wish I knew what the heck I was doing.... LOL

I wish I could help you more, but my PathPilot shipment hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully someone else here will chime in and help you.

You can double check the parallel cable to make sure its seated properly at both ends, I would make sure to unplug it and plug it back in. Also, make sure to screw in both screws to keep it seated while the machine is moving.
If that doesn't fix it, check to see if you have a ferrite on the cable and make sure it is at the PC end of the cable (this helps with signal interference).
If you still have problems, you might want to power off and reseat your PCI-e card (remove it, make sure contacts are clean and plug it back in).

Most of your problems sound software-related though, so these suggestions may not fix anything, but they definitely shouldn't hurt anything either.

If you still have problems... you might want to call Tormach =) Keep us posted!

[wtopace]

My software installed from the dvd, I went thru the procedure and tried to remove the dvd, it wouldnt operate?? I used a bent wire to pull it out after power down, rebooted and it came up on the screen, this is as far as I have gotten.

I have a question, is the printer plug supposed to be connected to the new mesa card?

There is no mention of it in the instruction sheet.

I believe the new Mesa FPGA card drives all of the output signals, so I would think the parallel cable would definitely need to be connected to the Mesa card not the onboard parallel port (if there is one).

[popspipes]

I unplugged the printer cable and connected it to the mesa card, I wanted to ask before a machine reset.

I was under the impression mesa card was a replacement for the motherboard printer port?

[wtopace]

Yes with PathPilot, the Mesa card should be a replacement for the printer port. The card itself buffers and offloads the output to the machine to ensure an even more consistent data flow.

[popspipes]

Yes with PathPilot, the Mesa card should be a replacement for the printer port. The card itself buffers and offloads the output to the machine to ensure an even more consistent data flow.

Thats what I thought, I will reset the machine and see what happens........

[tmarks11]

I have a question, is the printer plug supposed to be connected to the new mesa card?

yes, it does mention it in the draft manual you can download from Tormach's web site.

[popspipes]

reset the machine, ref ed the axes, seems to work smoother than Mach??
I can load a file OK.
I can run the file OK.
I have a problem with the usb stick, I cant figure how to make it go to a list of the files, it has Icons now, this was a right click in windows which brought up a menu??
Im glad I made the parts I needed before installing the new software, there is going to be a bit of a learning curve!

The stop button does stop the program, but I cant rewind it back to the start position?

[popspipes]

I did run parts of two different programs in air, seems to work OK.

I need a list of programs in the usb stick rather than icons though.