IMG_4291.JPG
This is about 7 iterations into laying out the keys. I wanted it to make some kind of visual, and ergonomically logical sense. I considered putting the stop/power buttons at the top, but I want them near the E-STOP, because I must toggle machine power on when I first start things up, and then toggle E-STOP off. It makes more sense not to reach all over for those, and of course, E-STOP needs to be the most accessible, as it's the panic button, so it's centered at the bottom, where it's closest to me, and easiest to hit. I have since changed my mind about Stop Program, and Machine Power, however, and swapped them. It makes more sense to power up, and E-STOP off in left-to-right order, and then the more common program stop is the closest key to me while operating the mill. I use that often instead of E-STOP to kill a program if I notice it running afoul of my preconceived notions.
The 4 axes of my mill (A being rotary for the rotary table I sometimes mount on the mill) are the center row, and the most important things (to me) that affect jogging those axes are the row right above them. Jogging itself, and homing to where I've jogged are on the row just below them, and as I'll be reaching left with my left hand, I've put -/+ under my index, and middle fingers. Clearing the plot is often useful, so it's just a bit farther, in my pinky area on that row. I switch between manual and MDI modes constantly, so they're right up at the top left, in their usual (keyboard) order. Finally, reloading, and running a program are often enough needs that they boxed the rest of the hotkeys out of the keypad.
I have to say at this point that I do not much care for the methods of P.I. Engineering, makers of the X-Keys keypads. They've been out for at least half a decade, and they still won't support Linux at all. These are exactly the kinds of toys/tools the geeky Linux crowd might enjoy, and making them a lot more open would gain more customers from that camp.
As it stands, I'm driven away. I won't consider another of their products, and not just because they're unsupported on Linux, but because they don't even provide simple (easy to provide) tools to let Linux people enable themselves. They just put up a wall, and say "Sorry, you're S.O.L." I'd be thrilled with nothing more than a simple command line utility that lets one program the keys with text strings. Once programmed, the buttons just send standard keyboard commands to any PC, Linux or not. but there was no way (even through wine) to program this through Linux.
I brought it to work to program the above hotkeys in on my Windows box there, but found that though there were installers and things on the P.I. Engineering/X-Keys website, none were an actual install. You need the physical disc in order to install it properly, or XP can't find the drivers. I ran home for the disc at lunch, and after now a 5th full, agonizing reboot (very tedious on my complicated work machine), had the program installed. I'm glad I still have the disc, 5 years later, because I'd be out of luck otherwise. P.I. don't answer any emails (I've sent a few over the years), and there's no help anywhere online for these things. Searching for some of my trouble spots sometimes yielded less than 5 results on Google. Pitiful.
IMG_4291.JPG
This is about 7 iterations into laying out the keys. I wanted it to make some kind of visual, and ergonomically logical sense. I considered putting the stop/power buttons at the top, but I want them near the E-STOP, because I must toggle machine power on when I first start things up, and then toggle E-STOP off. It makes more sense not to reach all over for those, and of course, E-STOP needs to be the most accessible, as it's the panic button, so it's centered at the bottom, where it's closest to me, and easiest to hit. I have since changed my mind about Stop Program, and Machine Power, however, and swapped them. It makes more sense to power up, and E-STOP off in left-to-right order, and then the more common program stop is the closest key to me while operating the mill. I use that often instead of E-STOP to kill a program if I notice it running afoul of my preconceived notions.
The 4 axes of my mill (A being rotary for the rotary table I sometimes mount on the mill) are the center row, and the most important things (to me) that affect jogging those axes are the row right above them. Jogging itself, and homing to where I've jogged are on the row just below them, and as I'll be reaching left with my left hand, I've put -/+ under my index, and middle fingers. Clearing the plot is often useful, so it's just a bit farther, in my pinky area on that row. I switch between manual and MDI modes constantly, so they're right up at the top left, in their usual (keyboard) order. Finally, reloading, and running a program are often enough needs that they boxed the rest of the hotkeys out of the keypad.
I have to say at this point that I do not much care for the methods of P.I. Engineering, makers of the X-Keys keypads. They've been out for at least half a decade, and they still won't support Linux at all. These are exactly the kinds of toys/tools the geeky Linux crowd might enjoy, and making them a lot more open would gain more customers from that camp.
As it stands, I'm driven away. I won't consider another of their products, and not just because they're unsupported on Linux, but because they don't even provide simple (easy to provide) tools to let Linux people enable themselves. They just put up a wall, and say "Sorry, you're S.O.L." I'd be thrilled with nothing more than a simple command line utility that lets one program the keys with text strings. Once programmed, the buttons just send standard keyboard commands to any PC, Linux or not. but there was no way (even through wine) to program this through Linux.
I brought it to work to program the above hotkeys in on my Windows box there, but found that though there were installers and things on the P.I. Engineering/X-Keys website, none were an actual install. You need the physical disc in order to install it properly, or XP can't find the drivers. I ran home for the disc at lunch, and after now a 5th full, agonizing reboot (very tedious on my complicated work machine), had the program installed. I'm glad I still have the disc, 5 years later, because I'd be out of luck otherwise. P.I. don't answer any emails (I've sent a few over the years), and there's no help anywhere online for these things. Searching for some of my trouble spots sometimes yielded less than 5 results on Google. Pitiful.