LinuxCNC Release History

April 1, 2012: LinuxCNC 2.5.0 released

LinuxCNC 2.5.0 has been release. Debian packages are available from the regular servers, for Ubuntu Hardy (32-bit and 64-bit, sim and realtime), Lucid (32-bit sim and realtime, 64-bit sim only), and Precise (32-bit and 64-bit, sim only). The source code is available via git, from the regular server.

The following changes and bugfixes have been made since the 2.4 release series:

• AXIS: dynamic tabs can embed other applications, including virtual control panels
• AXIS: make the gcode readout resizable
• AXIS: many speedups in preview generation
• AXIS: new OpenGL? preview with antialiased fonts
• AXIS: optional blending in the program preview can make very complex programs easier to see
• AXIS: prompt when homing a joint that's already homed
• AXIS: Selectable tool touch off to workpiece or fixture
• AXIS: show all offsets and rotation separately in the BIG DRO
• AXIS: show G5x and G92 offsets graphically in the preview
• AXIS: user-configurable MDI history file
• AXIS: A comment (AXIS,notify,message) will print "message" when the preview is generated, instead of just at run-time.
• Configs: many configuration updates for Smithy machines
• Configs: update motenc sample configs for encoder index
• Configs: add filtering (image-to-gcode etc) to hostmot2 samples
• Configs: univpwm sample uses new encoder velocity for pid
• GladeVCP?: a new framework for making virtual control panels with the Glade screen designer
• Gremlin: AXIS's program preview is now separated out as gremlin, for use with GladeVCP/Touchy?/etc.
• HAL: fix rare problem with freqgen output getting stuck "on"
• HAL: gearchange component: support up to 32 gears
• HAL: make commanded (unaffected by spindle override) spindle speed available on a pin, for gear selection etc.
• HAL: make limit3 parameters into pins
• HAL: new axis.N.motor-offset pins can be used to detect position loss between homings
• HAL: new component bldc_sine: commutation for BLDC with encoder feedback
• HAL: new mux16 component
• HAL: new time comp, which converts seconds to hr/min/sec
• HAL: new watchdog component
• HAL: remove deprecated hal_m5i20 driver
• HAL: new component for ShuttleXpress? USB jog dongle
• HAL: support names= options for encoder_ratio, sim_encoder, at_pid, siggen
• HAL: a new component, message, to display user messages from HAL
• HAL: a new component, multiswitch, to toggle through bits with one button
• Halshow: add menu with load/save/exit
• Halshow: fix the tree to not cut off after a certain depth
• HAL: standardize on maximum hal name length
• HALUI: allow direct-value input to spindle and feed overrides and max velocity
• HALUI: handle the situation better when many command inputs change simultaneously
• Hostmot2: fix a rare problem in stepgen mode setting
• Hostmot2: fix stepgen moving VERY slowly when it should have been stopped
• Hostmot2: handle failed card registration better
• Hostmot2: support for multiplexed encoders like on the 7i48
• Hostmot2: support for onboard diagnostic LEDs
• Hostmot2: support for three phase PWM
• Hostmot2: improve watchdog reliability and defaults
• Interpreter: fixes to always use . for a decimal, no matter the locale
• Interpreter: fix G83 peck retract to match fanuc
• Interpreter: fix G98/G99 to match fanuc retract planes behavior
• Interpreter: fix "run from line" when the start line is between a sub definition and its call
• Interpreter: give correct errors when rotary axes are commanded to move in canned cycles
• Interpreter: improve arc endpoint radius-mismatch error checking
• Interpreter: maintain G5x and G92 offsets separately
• Interpreter: make current position including all offsets and in the current program units available in parameters 5420-5428
• Interpreter: make EMC version available in named parameters _vminor, _vmajor
• Interpreter: make G92 offset rotated coordinate systems correctly
• Interpreter: make more errors translatable
• Interpreter: many fixes to allow O-call of subroutines from MDI mode
• Interpreter: many new tests in the test suite, including the ability to verify errors
• Interpreter: new G10 L11 code for tool touch off to fixture instead of active work coordinate system
• Interpreter: new unary function EXISTS tells whether a certain parameter exists
• Interpreter: search path for subroutines: [RS274NGC]SUBROUTINE_PATH
• Interpreter: search path for user M codes: [RS274NGC]USER_M_PATH
• Interpreter: detect and error on malformed O-if[] statements
• IOcontrol: make aborting tool changes work
• Kinematics: several improvements to the general serial kinematics module
• Motenc, VTI, Opto_ac5: PCI-related update for new kernel versions
• Motion: allow translations of more error messages
• Motion: fix stuttering motion in NURBS
• Motion: support for indexing/locking rotary axes
• ngcgui: many new features and bugfixes
• PID: accept external command-deriv and feedback-deriv connections to use a high quality velocity signal when it is available
• pncconf: many new features and bugfixes
• PPMC: improve error messages when cards are not found
• Probing: correctly abort motion when the probe trips during a non-probe MDI command
• Rebranding: rename EMC to LinuxCNC
• TkEMC?: display and allow entry of all tool offsets
• TkEMC?: in Set Coordinates, display the correct axes
• TkEMC?: only display active axes
• TkEMC?: show coordinate system in offset widget
• TkEMC?: show work offsets for all axes
• Touchy: add a spindle speed readout on the manual tab
• Touchy: dynamic tabs can embed other applications, including virtual control panels
• Touchy: macro capability that uses MDI O-call
• Touchy: make single-block switch work like feed hold
• Touchy: save maximum velocity (MV) value across runs
• Touchy: Selectable tool touch off to workpiece or fixture
• Touchy: show all offsets separately in the status information
• Touchy: show the total number of lines in the loaded program
• Touchy: show which tools are in which pockets
• Touchy: support for metric configurations
• Touchy: support panel indicators for status readout
• Touchy: use appropriate jog and maxvel increments for metric and degrees
• Touchy: turning the wheel during a continuous jog changes the current jog speed
• add a G code language spec for gedit
• add latencyplot, a strip-chart type display of latency test results

October 16, 2011 EMC 2.4.7 released

Enhanced Machine Controller 2.4.7 has been released. Debian packages are availble from the regular package servers. A source tarball is available at [http://linuxcnc.org/emc2/dists/lucid/emc2.4/source/emc2_2.4.7.tar.gz]

Due to a mistake during packaging, this version will still identify itself as version 2.4.6 in the splash screen and about dialog. To verify the version of that you have installed, open a terminal window and type:

    dpkg -l emc2

OR

    dpkg -l emc2-sim

depending on whether you have installed the realtime or simulator-only version of the software. The output should say something like this:

    ii  emc2           1:2.4.7        PC based motion controller for real-time Lin

Because of a problem with the virtual machine used to build the 64-bit hardy (ubuntu 8.04) packages, version 2.4.7 is unavailable for that system at this time. All packages for lucid are available, as are packages for 32-bit hardy.

The following changes and bugfixes have been made since the last release:

• axis: fix problem removing a single notification
• axis: fix jog after ctrl-alt-left or -right in mdi
• classicladder: fix a problem when more than 8 modbus inputs are read
• classicladder: fix possible crashes
• comp: fix a problem with 'option userinit yes"
• emcrsh: minor bugfixes
• halcmd: fix a possible crash
• halrmt: fix a possible crash
• halmeter: fix a possible crash
• hal_input: add names for new input events
• hal_motenc: set outputs to 0 on exit
• interpreter: fix spurious cutter comp error with tiny arcs in metric
• interpreter: fix G10 L2 on the active coordinate system
• interpreter: disallow changing coordinate system with cutter comp on
• interpreter: fix incorrect handling of do-break-while (SF#3420655)
• motion: fix spurious reversal in CSS mode with M4 and X=0
• motion: fix a problem with probing (SF#3040806)
• pncconf: fix nameless 'addf' in HAL file
• pncconf: changes spaces in configuration names to underscores
• pncconf: fixes for 3i28 and 7i43-4 boards
• pncconf: fix scale calculation
• pncconf: fix scaled spindle speed display
• stepconf: changes spaces in configuration names to underscores
• stepconf: fix for spindle PWM on pin 17
• stepconf: fix name of "Z Both Limit + Home" pin
• stepconf: fix scaled spindle speed display
• stepconf: advice about how to use on an 800x600 display
• thc: correctly remove offset after compensation disabled
• documentation: various improvements
• configs/smithy: various updates
• configs/gantry: simulated XYYZ gantry configuration

Thanks to the dozen or so developers who have contributed fixes and improvements to this version.

Jeff

Additional info, if you use hal-input depending on your input device you might have input.0.btn-trigger change to input.0.btn-joystick.

November 26, 2010 EMC 2.4.6 released

• documentation: various improvements
• estop_latch: make watchdog behavior match documentation.
• hostmot2: make gpio pins behave when the value of the pin as an integer was not 0 or 1
• iocontrol: fix current tool information after reloading table
• near: fix for negative inputs
• pico/7i43/pluto: if the kernel does not report a base_hi address, make an educated guess (fixes the D510MO bug)
• pico/7i43/pluto: show "linux parport does not support mode" as a warning, not an error
• pncconf: fix spinbox limits on metric configurations
• pncconf: fix jogging buttons on lathe configs
• pncconf: add touchy gui choice
• pncconf: fix spindle-at-speed code
• pncconf: fix launchers on ubuntu 10.04
• pncconf: fix firmware directory names for 7i43, 5i22
• sample configs: add another smithy sample configuration
• stepconf: fix launchers on ubuntu 10.04
• touchy: fix display of 3-digit active gcodes

October 9, 2010 EMC 2.4.5 released

• interp: fix bug that made axis "touch off" frequently crash
• pncconf: make generated configuration files work better with emccalib
• pncconf: fix inverted encoder
• pncconf: fix following error when inverting servo direction
• documentation: small improvements

September 18, 2010 EMC 2.4.4 released

• axis: improve preview of programs that use tool length parameters
• axis: disable "run from here" when machine is off / estopped
• axis: improve treatment of errors at startup due to bad inifiles
• documentation: many improvements
• i18n: make 'emctop' translatable
• i18n: update polish translation
• interp: fix incorrectly scaling ABC tool lengths by 25.4
• interp: fix error handling for O-call in MDI
• io: fix crash when tool table specifies impossibly high pocket number
• io: fix current tool information when reloading tool table
• motion: improve G38.4 error message
• packaging: fix debian/configure script for Debian Lenny
• packaging: fix src/configure.in script for Linux 2.6.34+
• packaging: do not compress files from sample configurations
• packaging: install emctool.h
• pncconf: add usb joystick jog option
• pncconf: fix typos in mesa firmware names
• pncconf: fix spindle-related signals in hal file
• pncconf: other improvements and bugfixes
• tkemc: fix appearance of radiobuttons on tk8.5
• tooledit: fix buggy behavior with 0 at start of comment
• stg: fix incorrect negative DAC output

July 31, 2010 EMC 2.4.3 released

• axis: fix jogs after selecting increment (SF#3028917)
• axis: fix high CPU usage with certain window managers
• axis: fix keys while choosing jog increment
• calibration: fix second and subsequent tabs
• components: new bldc_hall3 component for commutation of BLDC motor with hall sensors
• components: serport: improve error message when port cannot be registered
• documentation: many improvements
• pncconf: improve sanity checking for spindle drive control options
• pncconf: honor invert motor/encoder settings when writing inifile
• pncconf: fix firmware names for 7i43 and 5i22
• pncconf: add firmware names for 3x20
• pncconf: support spindle-at-speed logic
• pncconf: support stepper as spindle
• pncconf: create desktop shortcuts in right location
• pncconf: additional bugfixes
• task: Improve behavior when RFL line is between subroutine definition and use
• sample-configs: use gedit, not vim, as default text editor
• sample-configs: fix C axis behavior in configs/5axis
• sample-configs: 622keyence configuration
• sample-configs: smithy: pause the program when a guard is opened
• tooledit: accept numbers with leading zeros (SF#3032618)
• tooledit: display 6 significant digits
• tooledit: add scrollbars
• tooledit: other cosmetic improvements
• touchy: "cycle start" resumes program if it was paused

July 4, 2010 EMC 2.4.2 released

• classicladder: modbus reliability and performance improvements
• components: fix tan(), atan() implementations. Before, using these functions would make all math in realtime components behave unpredictably.
• comp: fix repeated MODULE_LICENSE declarations
• documentation: many improvements
• emccalib: fix crash 'unmatched open quote in list' for lines like loadrt hal_parport cfg="0x378 out "
• emcrsh: fix crash when invoked with a bad commandline
• emcsh: report effect tool offsets on all axes
• emcsh: enable emc_tool_offset to access all tool offsets
• emcsh: fix wrong conversion of ABC axis values as though they were linear axes
• gcode: fix a problem with inverse time mode and m66 leading to very slow moves
• gcode: save state of g92 across runs. In the first run after upgrading to 2.4.2, g92 will be disabled. In subsequent runs, the state of g92 at startup will be the the same one stored in the var file at shutdown.
• gcode: fix G1 followed by G5, G5.x
• gcode: improve accuracy of NURBS paths. An important calculation of the direction of a NURBS path at a given point has been improved. This makes the resulting path more closely follow the mathematically precise NURBS curve.
• gcode: improve accuracy of G5, G5.1 spline paths by converting them to NURBS paths.
• gcode: detect missing P, Q words with G5
• gcode: avoid division by zero in NURBS
• hal_input: fix keys and buttons with unknown names
• image-to-gcode: fix crash when using lace bounding
• mesa: fix failure to load firmwares on 7i43
• mesa: fix failure to load firmwares on 5i23, 3x20, and other PLX9054-based cards
• mesa: fix stepgen slowly moving in negative direction, losing position
• mesa: fix stepgen mode setting problem
• motion: fix threading and tapping with spindle turning backward (M4)
• pncconf: mesa 3x20 support
• pncconf: write configuration files without "base thread". This may improve behavior on step&direction systems configured with pncconf.
• pncconf: many additional bugfixes
• pickconfig: fix icon for desktop shortcuts
• pickconfig: fix permissions on desktop shortcuts
• pickconfig: don't allow user to run sample configuration without copying. This has not worked right for a long time, so there's no value in offering the option.
• ppmc: improve error message when no board is present
• ppmc: fix board detection when cooperating with linux parport_pc driver
• sample configurations:
  • ppmc: sample configs now use axis user interface
  • ppmc: hal samples for spindle speed display, pendant
  • smithy: 1240 and 622leadshine sample configuration improvements
• sample gcode:
  • lathe_pawn: set radius mode in startup codes
• stepgen: fix ctrl_type for kernels 2.6.30 and newer

May 29, 2010 EMC 2.4.1 released

• tooledit: fix display of angles for lathe tools
• tkemc: fix "Tool Table Editor" menu item
• tkemc: remove 'balloon' and 'emchelp' menu items which should not have appeared
• parport: make it a warning, not an error, if EPP is not detected by Linux
• pncconf: various improvements
• configs: various improvements to the smithy configurations
• axis: fix "touch off" when loaded program starts with "%"
• axis: fix click-to-select in preview on Ubuntu 10.04 in focus-follows-mouse mode
• axis: new splash screen
• hostmot2: fix undesired motion of steppers immediately after enabling them
• fixed several buffer overflows in error routines
• NURBS: fix several bugs and document it
• hal_joystick: remove as it no longer works. Use hal_input instead.
• Documentation improvements
• Remove several debugging messages and warnings
• Change the default message level from ALL to ERR, which was the default in version 2.3.x.
• Locked memory: improve locked memory setup and locked memory error messages
• integ: new 'gain' pin

May 9, 2010 EMC 2.4.0 released

• configs: add GEOMETRY=AXYZ to Sherline4Axis so A rotates
• configs: DOS-damaged inifiles are detected with a clear error
• configs: A default nml file is used if it is not specified in the inifile
• configs: new [AXIS_#]VOLATILE_HOME flag makes an axis unhomed after estop or machine off (for motors without feedback, such as steppers)
• configs: updates to smithy configuration files
• nml: enlarge status buffer in default emc.nml
• nml: add machine delay time to status (works for G4Pxx and M66)
• nml: unused fields removed from the status buffer
• touchy: a new GUI for touchscreens that doesn't use a keyboard
• tooledit: new GUI to edit tool table
• axis: shift+jog for XYZ gives a jog at the traverse speed.
• axis: the units (mm, inch, or degrees) are shown in touch-off; when appropriate, radius or diameter mode is indicated
• axis: new "big dro" tab
• axis: axis-remote --clear remotely clears the backplot
• axis: axis-remote --mdi sends an mdi command
• axis: new HAL pins such as axisui.set-manual-mode to take UI actions from a remote pendant or hard button
• axis: improve (AXIS,stop) comment
• axis: improve load time of programs, particularly those containing arcs
• axis: inifile item [DISPLAY]ARCDIVISION trades preview generation speed for preview accuracy
• axis: fix a memory leak on program reload
• halui: new pins such as home-all, unhome
• python: new methods such as emc.command.set_feed_override
• pyvcp: leds have a 'disable' pin to select a third color
• pyvcp: named widgets don't create gaps in numbered widgets (backwards incompatible change)
• pyvcp: -g argument sets initial window size and position
• stepconf: improve "test axis" for machines with long step length
• pncconf: a new, alpha-release graphical configurator for hostmot2 systems.
• interpreter: the .var file is automatically created if it doesn't exist
• interpreter: many error messages are improved
• interpreter: G5x coordinate system rotation
• interpreter: additional G10 codes for coordinate system and tool offsets
• interpreter: tool offsets can be applied on all 9 axes
• interpreter: [TRAJ]TLO_IS_ALONG_W removed
• interpreter: Incompatible change in G43.1 to support 9-axis tool lengths
• interpreter: G64 P- Q- specifies motion and "naive cam" tolerances separately
• interpreter: M67/M68 E- Q- to set analog outputs
• interpreter: g90.0/g90.1 choose absolute/relative arc centers
• interpreter: new "polar mode" using @ ^ notation
• interpreter: new "wrapped rotary" mode
• interpreter: #5400..#5413 hold information about loaded tool
• interpreter: M1xx permitted with cutter radius compensation on
• interpreter: Can negate a parameter, e.g., G0 X-#1
• task: Improve behavior of O-call from MDI
• task: new "random" toolchanger for carousel systems which don't necessarily put the tool back in the same pocket it came from.
• task: fix "step from first line"
• task: improve "run from line" when next line does not specify all axis words
• task: avoid undesired motion on "run from line" when next line is an error
• motion: further improvements to spindle-synchronized motion
• motion: improve blending of arcs with very low acceleration limit
• hal: bump shared memory size to allow for more complex configs
• hal: now cooperates with the linux parport_pc driver. When parport_pc is enabled, parports may be specified by number (e.g., 0 for /dev/parport0)
• halmeter: -g argument sets initial window size and position
• halcmd: DOS-damaged files are detected with a clear error
• internationalization: halscope and halmeter are now translatable
• hal_parport: fix a problem with control pins in "x" mode
• comp: components must now specify a license
• comp: new "include" directive
• joyhandle: new realtime component for analog joystick deadband, scaling, and exponential "acceleration"
• pid: new index-enable pin eliminates thump during homing when connected to axis.#.index-enable (step change means feadforward calculation should be skipped in the cycle where index is seen)
• integ: min/max windup limit pins
• limit2/limit3/lowpass: "load" pin to preload value from input pin
• hostmot2: firmwares are now shipped separately from emc2 in the hostmot2-firmware packages
• encoder: better estimates velocity and provides an approximate "interpolated position" for low-resolution encoders
• thc: new alpha-release component for torch height control
• image-to-gcode: use numpy instead of numarray
• documentation: many improvements
• many more small enhancements and bugfixes

Back to Release Status. Information about releases before 2.4.0 has been moved to OldReleases