mchmi: the Multi-Channel Operator Interface (new)

The panel is a Qt window (qtpy with PyQt6, the 3D column a QOpenGLWidget; packages python3-pyqt6, python3-qtpy, python3-opengl, python3-numpy). It is laid out for a 15.6 inch panel at 1280x720 and scales with the window height (1920x1080 is 1.5 times); [DISPLAY]MCHMI_HEIGHT (or the environment variable MCHMI_HEIGHT) forces a design height. Keys: F1 to F8 are the bottom softkeys, Shift+F1 to F8 the right ones, Esc closes an overlay. In the 3D views the left mouse button pans, the middle button (or Shift+left) rotates, the right button and the wheel zoom, a double click on a collision marker jumps to the program line. The logic (channels, softkey automaton, HAL keys, Programmvorlauf, run_lines) is the window-free module mchmi_core, the window mchmi_qt (one module per area: app, program, jog, panel, tools, offsets, diag, vis), the cycles and sketches mchmi_cycles.

The texts of the panel are German in the sources and translated with gettext catalogs (domain mchmi, share/locale/<lang>/LC_MESSAGES/mchmi.mo, sources src/po/mchmi/<lang>.po): English, Spanish, Italian, French, Slovak, Slovenian and Czech. The language comes from [DISPLAY]LANG of the INI (en, es, it, fr, sk, sl, cs; de or unset keeps the German texts), else from the environment (MCHMI_LANG, LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LANG). The Enterprise tools use the catalog mcenterprise of the overlay in the same way. New texts are extracted and merged into the catalogs with scripts/mchmi-po.py src/po/mchmi <python files>; a JSON table of translations is applied with scripts/mchmi-po.py src/po/mchmi --apply tr_<lang>.json.

The icons of the area bar on the left are drawn glyphs; a picture lib/python/mchmi_qt/panel_png/area_<area>.png (machine, tools, offsets, program, manager, diag) replaces the glyph of an area; scripts/mchmi-area-icons.py strip.png cuts such pictures from a vertical strip.

mchmi is a platform: modules named mchmi_ext_<name> on the Python path register what they add - an area of the left bar with its key in the M menu, a page of the diagnosis area, a loader of machine models by file extension - and the panel does not depend on them. The Community edition of linuxcncMulti ships none; the Enterprise edition brings mchmi_ext_mcwatch (the process monitoring area), mchmi_ext_ast (the Auto Servo Tuning page) and mchmi_ext_mcbuilder ([DISPLAY] MACHINE_MODEL = .mcm). Without them the areas and pages are simply absent and a .mcm model is refused with a message; the circularity test, the user screens and everything else of the panel stay. An extension that fails to import is reported as a message, the panel comes up without it. MCHMI_EXTENSIONS=none in the environment starts the panel without extensions, a comma-separated list limits them (the tests use that).

The page Melden of the diagnosis area sends a fault, a feature wish or a question to the operator’s support service with everything the analysis needs. The operator picks the kind, writes what happened, what was expected and how it repeats, and sees the contents of the bundle before it is made, each one to be left out: a screenshot of the panel, the HAL snapshot (every pin, signal and parameter, halcmd show all), the signal trace of the last ten seconds (the joints' commanded and actual positions and following errors, machine on, estop, the channels' program and mode states - a ring the panel fills all the time), the alarm log, the channel states with their program lines, the configuration (INI, HAL, tool, screen, model and program files, without the licence and the operator’s private settings) and the logs of LinuxCNC and the kernel. Erstellen asks for a second press, writes the bundle (a zip with a manifest) under meldungen/ below [DISPLAY]PROGRAM_PREFIX and, when the INI names the service ([SUPPORT] URL, optionally CUSTOMER), sends it there with the licence as the credential; the answer is a ticket number. Without a service, or without a network, the bundle stays local and can be sent later from the Tickets list or carried on a stick.

Tickets lists the reports with their ticket and state and fetches the answers (Antworten holen, also every two minutes while the list is open): the analysis and, for a configuration fault, a proposed change as a diff of the configuration files. Fix anwenden (a second press confirms) backs the touched files up as <name>.bak-<stamp> and applies the diff with patch; a diff that reaches outside the configuration directory is refused. LinuxCNC is restarted afterwards. The service and its analysis are the operator’s (mcsupport, see docs/multichannel/editionen.md); every automatic answer is released by the operator before the customer sees it.

The Enterprise extensions and programs (mcplc, mcbuilder, mcwatch, mcast-measure) ask for an option key: a licence file with the customer, the machine id, the packages, the issue date and the subscription end, signed by the operator (Ed25519, mclicense-gen(1)). The control checks the signature against the embedded public keys and the machine id against its own: it comes from the Mesa card where there is one (an Ethernet card’s MAC through mesaflash), else from the mainboard, else from the first network interface, and reads like M-3F9A-12C0-77B1-04E2 (the prefix names the source). Without a valid licence an Enterprise area or page shows "Enterprise-Option nicht freigeschaltet" with the reason and the machine id to send with the order, a .mcm model is refused, and the programs stop with the same message. The functions never expire: when the subscription ends, updates and support end, the licensed functions keep running; the page *Version of the diagnosis area shows the edition, the licence and the subscription, and warns 30 days before its end. The same page carries the update channel of the subscription: Updates prüfen asks the operator’s package repository (mcupdate(1), [UPDATE] of the INI, the licence’s update token as the credential) and lists the packages with a newer version, Update installieren installs them - only while the machine is off, LinuxCNC is restarted afterwards. The file lives at /etc/linuxcnc/license.json, at [EMC]LICENSE_FILE of the INI or at ~/linuxcnc/license.json. This is the GPL: the licence is an option key as on a SINUMERIK, a convenience and a contract, not a copy protection.

The page Kreisformtest of the diagnosis area drives a full circle in the chosen plane (XY, XZ or YZ) with the chosen radius and feed around the point the selected channel stands on - clockwise (G2), then counter-clockwise (G3), incrementally, so that no work offset matters - and records the position feedback of the two joints every servo cycle (the sampler of mcplc’s traces). The key Kreis fahren asks for a second press; the space around the point must be free. The result is shown like a ballbar diagnosis: the polar plot of the radial deviation from the nominal circle, magnified by the chosen Vergrößerung (µm per division, five divisions in and out, chosen automatically after a measurement), run 1 in magenta and run 2 in green, with Sollbahn the deviation of the commanded path (the planner’s own error); and the figures per run and for both: circularity (Kreisformabweichung), mean radius against the nominal one, centre offset, backlash (Umkehrspiel, the step of the deviation at the reversal of each axis), reversal spikes (Quadrantenübergang), the 45° and 0° ellipse terms, and for both runs together the squareness (Rechtwinkligkeit, µm/m, from the 45° ellipse common to both directions), the servo mismatch (Schleppfehler, ms, from the ellipse that turns with the direction) and the scale difference of the two axes. Speichern writes the samples (CSV), the figures (JSON) and the plot (PNG) to kreisformtest/ below PROGRAM_PREFIX. The feedback is the encoder of each joint: with encoders on the motors a backlash of the mechanics stays invisible, the servo errors do not; a ballbar remains the instrument for the geometry.

The softkey Steuertafel opens the simulated operator panel, laid out like the SINUMERIK machine control panel with the pictures of its keys (the PNG files in mchmi_qt/panel_png/, the whole key with frame and caption; a key without a picture is drawn in the same style): the emergency stop with four round keys below it (the channels), the block JOG / REPOS / REF.POINT, MDA / TEACH IN / [VAR], AUTO / INC 1 / INC 10, SINGLE BLOCK / INC 100 / INC 1000, RESET / CYCLE STOP / CYCLE START, the block of machine keys (AUS / EIN with the lock symbols, spindle left / right, coolant, REF ALLE, program check, spindle stop, collision guard; TEST STOP, hand wheel, tool change and settings are placeholders), the axis keys of the selected channel (the unlabelled keys of the real panel) with TCS and WCS/MCS below them and "-", RAPID, "+" (jog while the key is held, with RAPID at rapid speed, with an increment by that distance), the spindle and feed override dials with SPINDLE STOP / START and FEED STOP / START, and the column ALARM CANCEL, GROUP CHANNEL, HELP with the key switch (positions 0 to 3). A lit key (mode, increment, spindle direction, machine on, WCS, feed and spindle running, CYCLE STOP while paused) shows a green frame and symbol like the LEDs of the real panel, CYCLE STOP a red one; the lit variant of a picture is derived from the picture when there is no file <name>_on.png for it. The axis keys jog the axes of the selected channel in its own TELEOP state (the panel switches to it if needed, e.g. after REF), so the active transformation and the TCS frame apply; only while REF is selected do they jog the joints.

The machine keys and the feed pot are HAL pins of the component mchmi (mchmi.machine-on, mchmi.machine-off, mchmi.estop-activate, mchmi.estop-reset: a pulse per key press; mchmi.feed-override in percent). mchmi runs [HAL]POSTGUI_HALFILE once the pins exist; a pin that is netted carries its key alone, so HAL decides which channels a key reaches (see [cha:multichannel-config]). An unconnected pin leaves the key to the selected channel.

The program window of every channel (the listing in AUTO with the running, start and collision lines, the MDA program typed into it) and the editor of the program area highlight the NC text alike: comments, G and M codes, axis words, tool / feed / spindle words, o-words and # parameters of RS274, and the SINUMERIK elements - the statements (WAITM, INIT, MVTOOL, POSM, MSG, REPOSA …​), the keywords of the declarations and control structures (DEF, IF / ELSE / ENDIF, WHILE, LOOP, FOR, REPEAT, GOTOF …​), labels, the system variables ($A_IN[n], $TC_MPP6[m,p], $P_PROG_EVENT) and the R parameters.

The area WZ-Liste edits the tool files of mctooldb(1) (one per channel that has one; a channel that only runs the tool changer has no tool file and no page here): magazine strip, table, details (geometry, sister tools, tool life with set point / actual / pre-warning, disabled), new / sister / lock / life / delete. The 3D model shows every tool of a carrier in its station by type.

With magazines and buffer places configured ([TOOLMAG_k], [TOOLBUFFER_k], [TOOLLOAD_k], see the configuration chapter) the strip shows, after the places of the magazine, the buffer places (spindle, grippers, loaders) and the load points with the tools on them, and the column Platz names the place (1/12, Spindel 1, Greifer 2, - for a tool without a place). The softkey Plätze » opens Umsetzen (the selected tool to a magazine and place; place 0 searches a free one, the owner place first), Beladen (a tool without a place onto one), Entladen (the tool leaves its place, it stays in the file) and Magazin positionieren (POSM as an MDI command in the channel that owns the magazine axis). A move the places do not allow (place taken, reserved for a tool in the buffer, locked) is refused with a message; so is a magazine place typed into the details of a tool (a new one included) that another tool holds or that is reserved for a tool in the buffer - the entry is not taken over. The 3D model of a machine may draw the tools on the buffer places (the DMU 60 shows them in the grippers of its arm).

The machine area gets a further bottom page when the selected channel has asynchronous subprograms ([CHANNEL_n]ASUP_k): one softkey ASUP k per program, which starts it like the HAL edge does (served while the channel is idle).

The NC drive of the program manager holds, next to the part programs, the folder Werkstücke ([DISPLAY]WORKPIECE_DIR, default werkstuecke below PROGRAM_PREFIX). Every subfolder of it is a workpiece with its programs; Neues Werkstück (second softkey page) creates one. The third softkey page is the version control of the selected workpiece, built on git (the git command must be installed):

The repository is the folder’s .git directory; the folder itself can also be used with git from the command line.

The area Prozessüberwachung shows the process monitoring (mcwatch, Enterprise edition) of the selected channel: the running process with its live loads, reference and worn curves, limits and zones in a chart, the processes of the program in a table, and the switches - the monitoring as a whole, per tool and per process - together with learning, the curve roles, the envelope tolerance and the alarm acknowledgement. It needs the daemon (loadusr -W mcwatch); without it the area shows no data.

Machine-specific operating pages - the hand functions of a tool changer, a magazine, a gearbox spindle, a loader - are described in a JSON file named by [DISPLAY]USER_SCREENS (relative to the INI), in the manner of SINUMERIK "Run MyScreens", and appear as the area Bedienbilder (left bar, or the M key). mchmi itself knows nothing of the machine: every key is a HAL pin mchmi.u.<pin> the config nets to its PLC in the POSTGUI_HALFILE, every interlock and state is a HAL pin the page reads.

The pages are the bottom softkeys. The keys of several pages may share a pin. The definition is checked at start; a mistake is reported in the alarm line and the area is left out. The FP4 example ([cha:fp4]) has the pages WECHSLER, MAGAZIN and SPINDEL; its HAL ORs the keys with the commands of the changer program and switches the place numbers between the program and the page with a mux.

[DISPLAY]DISPLAY = mchmi, MACHINE_MODEL, USER_SCREENS, PROGRAM_PREFIX, WORKPIECE_DIR, INCREMENTS, DEFAULT_*VELOCITY, DEFAULT_SPINDLE_SPEED, POSITION_OFFSET, POSITION_FEEDBACK, CYCLE_TIME; [WORKPIECE_n] NAME DIAMETER LENGTH CHUCK_Z DIRECTION C_JOINT CHUCK_DOUT SLIDE_JOINT SLIDE_SIGN FRAME AXIS B_JOINT GRIP NTH DZ MODEL DX TARGET COMPARE_TOL COMPARE_MAX; [CHANNEL_n] NAME MASTER_SPINDLE TOOL_DB TOOL_STATIONS TOOL_SENSOR<axis> RESTART_ORDER.

[WORKPIECE_n]FRAME = TCP is for a table kinematics (xyzbc-trt-kins and the like): the positions are the tool tip in the workpiece frame, the tool axis follows B_JOINT and C_JOINT, the part turns and tilts with the table in the 3D view. AXIS = Z stands the part on the table (world y of the model); GRIP (mm below the chuck face drawn as clamped stock, default 20), NTH (rays per turn, default 72) and DZ (slice, default 0.5 mm) set the resolution. MODEL = HEIGHT keeps the blank as a height map instead of the radial dexel (grid DX, default 1 mm): the right model for a part machined from above on a table, swept blades included, where a ray from the axis would cross a channel and then the next blade (the impeller of the DMU 60); undercuts are not kept in either model. The blank of the INI is the one at start; a WORKPIECE statement of the running program replaces it (see the G-code chapter), "Rohteile neu" restores it. Example: configs/sim/multichannel/dmu60 (a 5-axis machining centre with a swivel rotary table, the impeller programs define their blank as a cylinder or from an STL file).