LinuxCNC Documentation Wiki: Todo-2.6

This is the 2.6 Release Manager's list of things to do for LinuxCNC 2.6 release. The list is not prioritized.

Finalize new RTAI support
1. We will keep supporting RTAI on Hardy & Lucid, like we did for 2.5
2. Add support for RTAI on Precise
  1. Document seb's build of the Shabby/memleak RTAI branch/fork for Linux 3.4
  2. Put the new Linux 3.4/RTAI kernel in the linuxcnc.org debian archive
  3. Update the buildbot to build precise-rtai debs
  4. Verify the RTL 8168 NIC works
  5. integrate rtai build with zultron's kernel builder?
  6. make a non-lapic, non-smp capable kernel for use on older hardware to make is less painful to drop hardy (memleak offered to produce the kernel config)
  7. As of 2013-10-30, building on precise-rtai-i386 produces many of this warning: /usr/src/linux-headers-3.4.55-rtai-1/include/linux/types.h:13:2: warning: #warning "Attempt to use kernel headers from user space, see http://kernelnewbies.org/KernelHeaders" [-Wcpp]
  8. make a new Ubuntu Precise i386 RTAI Live CD
  9. amd6 support? http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.devel/10852
review & merge new RTOS branch
1. review all the commits again
2. verify that parallel builds work (some of the buildslaves should use 'make -j2' probably)
3. this branch does not build on hardy, so teach the buildbot not to build it on hardy
  1. add a file to the tree telling the buildbot what (distro, kernel) combinations to build on
4. this branch changes how debs are made (and named), figure out how to deal with that and teach the buildbot
5. license problems on some files http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.devel/11034
new realtime kernels (RTAI, Xenomai, & RT-Preempt)
1. figure out what kernels we want to ship
  1. RTAI: Lucid & Precise, i386, amd64?
  2. Xenomai: Lucid & Precise, i386, amd64, arm?
  3. RT-Preempt: Lucid & Precise, i386, amd64, arm?
2. use zultron's kernel builder to build the kernels
  1. it currently builds xenomai & rt-preempt kernel debs, teach it to build rtai too?
3. Build & test all these kernels
4. Put the kernels in the debian archive at linuxcnc.org
5. Build Live CDs
  1. Can we add freecad, pycam, ttt? anything else?
  2. make a read-only(?) live usb stick image: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick
6. build images for the Beagle Bone Black? Based on Charles Steinkuehler's MachineKit work probably
review & merge the joints_axes branch
1. it'd be nice to build each commit, but it'd be a lot of work to get the branch into that good a shape
2. write tests of the functionality that's changed? joint & axis pos, vel, acc limits, etc?
3. look at yishin li's ja3 branch on github
4. jogwheel is broken?
5. cradek's gantry homing work?
6. Problems with gantrykins in 2.5, maybe fixed in ja?
  1. In Free mode (aka joint mode) it honors the soft limits, but in Teleop mode (aka world mode) it doesn't.
  2. No incremental jogging in Teleop mode.
  3. Jogging the gantry in Free mode racks it, and there's no way that I could find to forbid it.
  4. Running MDI via halui switches to Free mode.
7. test jog speed - Tomaz T reports on emc-users 2013-10-10 or so that ja3 jogging speed is not controllable
8. patch up Stepconf and PNCconf to build config files in the new joints_axes way.
finish integrating the buildbot docs build with the www.linuxcnc.org/docs
1. (done) the buildbot puts its stuff in stage-docs on w.l.o, need to update the index page to make the pointers work right
2. teach the docs builder to put official release docs in special places (like we do with debs)
jthornton's thcud component?
hm2 firmware
1. update the git repo with new VHDL from Peter
2. verify that the hm2 sample configs start with the current firmware packages from the buildbot (7i43 did not because of firmware files getting renamed, fixed in master in 2d12a18934c7a260b3ce28c8992b0e26e32cfc9b)
3. hostmot2-firmware-7i43-2 dir perms are 700, should be 755
simplify/clean up sample configs
1. remove any that are out of date enough that they probably don't work anymore? (stg, stepper-*, plasma-*??, nist-lathe, motenc, max, lathe-pluto, gantry??, demo_mazak, dallur-thc, boss)
2. remove any that can be easily regenerated by stepconf?
3. remove any that require weird hardware (demo-mazak, etch-servo, etc)?
Frederic Rible's (aka fl0at's) jog pendant driver (USB Pendant XHC HB04)
1. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user/44230/focus=44659
halui mdi probe bug?
1. Here's the OP: http://www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum/40-subroutines-and-ngcgui/26290-subroutine-stops-without-warning
2. OP reports that it fails in 2.5 and works in master...
3. discussed on irc: http://linuxcnc.mah.priv.at/irc/%23linuxcnc-devel/2013-03-16.html
micges' rt-net 7i80 work
1. needs hm2-tram for non-sucky performance, which is not in yet
debian packaging
1. dont Provide: emc2 any more?
2. lintian issues
3. our debian/control Standards-Version is ancient...
Curtis Dutton's Hitachi WJ200 driver
Huanyang VFD driver (modified modbus): http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy_cnc_router_table_machines/91847-huanyang_vfd_rs485_modbus-6.html
Rockhopper web interface: http://www.mail-archive.com/emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net/msg08774.html
(done) update git docs (seb_kuzminsky, in progress)
1. (done) move wiki content to git-managed docs, clean up
update hm2 manpage (seb_kuzminsky, in progress)
1. hostmot2 manpage could be clearer on what encoder.scale means
2. hm2 docs on pwmgen are missing some kind of break between the per-instance pins and the module-wide pins.
7i90 driver (Kim Kirwan and seb_kuzminsky, in progress)
1. clean up epp api with jepler's suggestions (indicate endian-ness in function names)
2. add epp manpage
3. test out Michal Geszkiewicz's mesaflash program, put the deb in our deb archive
update our architecture docs & diagrams
1. make a diagram for task
2. make a diagram for motion
asciidoc latex equations
1. we currently hand-generate pngs and post-process the html files to to insert them, which is just embarrassing
add vfd-b driver from Yishin Li (seb_kuzminsky, in progress)
1. describe ini variables in manpage
2. are all those pins & params working? .at-speed wasnt (fixed in vfd-b-2 branch)
3. go through the Delta VFD-B manual and the driver, remove code that doesnt apply (from the vfs11 source)
4. verify that .motor-rpm out pin matches .speed-command in pin
clean up translation mess
1. gettext + po4a?
2. might save this one for after 2.6...
Triage SF bugs: https://sourceforge.net/p/emc/bugs/?limit=250
Docs issues:
1. docs/man/man1/linuxcnc.1 does not get built from docs/src/man/man1/linuxcnc.1.in
2. both gcode/overview and gcode/machining_center define the parameter file format. Unify/simplify.
3. some build errors in Spanish and French docs.
4. the ini config doc, Servo section, "INPUT_SCALE" and "ENCODER_SCALE" read strangely
5. homing docs could be more clear about index
splash gcode in axis says it's scalable by #3, but it's not
1. The current version of ttt (4fae2ee48ff919a8819941f2e7afcbf632c691cd) supports #3, so just regenerate it
Shut up linuxcnc startup warnings (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user/47407)
missing licenses on some files in master, http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.devel/11120