1  [[cha:touchy-gui]]
  2  
  3  = Touchy GUI
  4  
  5  Touchy is a user interface for LinuxCNC meant for use on machine control panels,
  6  and therefore does not require keyboard or mouse.
  7  
  8  It is meant to be used with a touch screen, and works in combination
  9  with a wheel/MPG and a few buttons and switches.
 10  
 11  The 'Handwheel' tab has radio buttons to select between 'Feed Override',
 12  'Spindle Override', 'Maximum Velocity' and 'Jogging' functions for the wheel/MPG
 13  input. Radio buttons for axis selection and increment for jogging are also
 14  provided.
 15  
 16  .Touchy
 17  
 18  image::images/touchy.png[align="center", alt="Touchy GUI"]
 19  
 20  == Panel Configuration
 21  
 22  === HAL connections
 23  
 24  Touchy requires that you create a file named 'touchy.hal' in your
 25  configuration directory (the directory your ini file is in) to 
 26  connect its controls. Touchy executes the HAL commands in this file
 27  after it has made its own pins available for connection.
 28  
 29  For more information on HAL files and the net command see the
 30  <<cha:basic-hal-reference,Basic HAL Reference>>.
 31  
 32  Touchy has several output pins that are meant to be connected to the
 33  motion controller to control wheel jogging:
 34  
 35   - 'touchy.jog.wheel.increment',
 36  	which is to be connected to the 'axis.N.jog-scale' pin of each axis N.
 37  
 38   - 'touchy.jog.wheel.N', which is to be connected to 'axis.N.jog-enable'
 39  	for each axis N.
 40  
 41  [NOTE]'N' represents the axis number 0-8.
 42  
 43   - In addition to being connected to 'touchy.wheel-counts', the wheel counts 
 44  	should also be connected to 'axis.N.jog-counts' for 
 45  	each axis N.  If you use HAL component 'ilowpass' to smooth wheel jogging, be
 46  	sure to smooth only 'axis.N.jog-counts' and not 'touchy.wheel-counts'.
 47  
 48  .Required controls
 49  
 50   - Abort button (momentary contact) connected to the HAL pin 'touchy.abort'
 51   - Cycle start button (momentary contact) connected to 'touchy.cycle-start'
 52   - Wheel/MPG, connected to 'touchy.wheel-counts' and motion pins as described above
 53   - Single block (toggle switch) connected to 'touchy.single-block'
 54  
 55  .Optional controls
 56  
 57   -  For continuous jog, one center-off bidirectional momentary toggle
 58     (or two momentary buttons) for each axis, hooked to 'touchy.jog.continuous.x.negative',
 59     'touchy.jog.continuous.x.positive', etc.
 60   -  If a quill up button is wanted (to jog Z to the top of travel at top
 61     speed), a momentary button connected to 'touchy.quill-up'.
 62  
 63  .Optional panel lamps
 64  
 65   - 'touchy.jog.active' shows when the panel jogging controls are live
 66   - 'touchy.status-indicator' is on when the machine is executing G-code,
 67      and flashes when the machine is executing but is in pause/feedhold.
 68  
 69  === Recommended for any setup
 70  
 71   - Estop button hardwired in the estop chain
 72  
 73  == Setup
 74  
 75  === Enabling Touchy
 76  
 77  To use Touchy, in the '[DISPLAY]' section of your ini file change the
 78  display selector line to 'DISPLAY = touchy'
 79  
 80  === Preferences
 81  
 82  When you start Touchy the first time, check the Preferences tab.
 83  If using a touchscreen, choose the option to hide the pointer for
 84  best results.
 85  
 86  The Status Window is a fixed height, set by the size of a fixed font. 
 87  This can be affected by the Gnome DPI, configured in System /
 88  Preferences / Appearance / Fonts / Details. If the bottom of the screen is
 89  cut off, reduce the DPI setting.
 90  
 91  All other font sizes can be changed on the Preferences tab.
 92  
 93  === Macros
 94  
 95  Touchy can invoke O-word macros using the MDI interface.  To configure
 96  this, in the '[TOUCHY]' section of the ini file, add one or more 'MACRO'
 97  lines.  Each should be of the format
 98  
 99  'MACRO=increment xinc yinc'
100  
101  In this example, increment is the name of the macro, and it accepts two
102  parameters, named xinc and yinc.
103  
104  Now, place the macro in a file named 'increment.ngc', in the
105  'PROGRAM_PREFIX' directory or any directory in the 'SUBROUTINE_PATH'.
106  
107  It should look like:
108  
109  ----
110  O<increment> sub
111  G91 G0 X#1 Y#2
112  G90
113  O<increment> endsub
114  ----
115  
116  Notice the name of the sub matches the file name and macro name exactly,
117  including case.
118  
119  When you invoke the macro by pressing the Macro button on the MDI
120  tab in Touchy, you can enter values for xinc and yinc.  These are
121  passed to the macro as '#1' and '#2' respectively.  Parameters you
122  leave empty are passed as value 0.
123  
124  If there are several different macros, press the Macro button
125  repeatedly to cycle through them.
126  
127  In this simple example, if you enter -1 for xinc and press cycle
128  start, a rapid 'G0' move will be invoked, moving one unit to
129  the left.
130  
131  This macro capability is useful for edge/hole probing and other setup
132  tasks, as well as perhaps hole milling or other simple operations
133  that can be done from the panel without requiring specially-written
134  gcode programs.