Trying to do some pretty simple cutting today and I am stuck. I recalibrated because somehow I manage to lose my calibration settings even though I am very careful about saving my Maslow.yaml. Now I am ready to cut, but when I press the “Upload Gcode” button, it presents the file dialog and lets me select my file, and then nothing seems to happen. The text at the lower right continues to say (No Gcode Loaded). No messages in the serial log. I have tried files that I have previously cut, so I am confident it’s not malformed gcode. Any suggestions?
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Alright, I’m officially an idiot. Don’t be like me. Recognize that the process of uploading gcode is a two-step process.
- Press “Upload Gcode” (upper right of the jog pad), select the file you wish to upload. The file will upload to SD.
- In the Gcode dropdown below the jog pad that may read “Load Gcode From /SD/”, select the gcode file you wish to cut from the files on SD.
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I don’t think so; its not fully clear. I also found it a bit confusing having an upload gcode button separate from picking a file on the “sd” card on the maslow. I’d encourage you to post an issue on the github project to get this on the list of things to do. granted, given it is ok once you understand what its doing, it could be more clear.
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I’m thinking about what would improve this. Here are some ideas:
- Arrange the buttons such that “Upload Gcode” is right next to the Gcode dropdown
- Change “Upload Gcode” to “Upload Gcode to /SD/”
- Put a message in the serial log acknowledging that gcode has been uploaded and saved to /SD/
Any others?
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I was thinking about maybe just a “manage gcode” button launching a dialog that takes the widget thats on the main fluidnc page at the bottom, which I use to manage files on the built in SD card, and then just add a “load” button to the files in that list so you can get the gcode loaded, closing the dialog or “cancel” that just closes it.
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This has been bothering me too.
If I had my druthers, I’d start with that. Then the settings button moves into upper right of the current button layout.
If you want to make this really clear and accessible to new users:
- Move the g-code chooser and upload buttons over to the preview area.
- Across the top of the preview area, something like:
- File to be cut: (none) or filename
- Choose/Open File (dropdown)
- Upload
- Clear/Close (possibly).
- If no file is selected, I would show a button centered in the middle of the preview area that says “Choose File to Cut”. What this displays kind of depends upon your philosophy. Per @ronlawrence3 mentions above, it could be the existing file management widget. Or it could be the ‘list’ of local g-code files, with option to select a file from the list, “Add” a file (upload), or ‘Manage’, which gives you the delete/rename/folders?/etc, option
It’s a little ‘weird’ that you’re uploading to the device, which is running the server, which feels different than you were direct connected it is more of a ‘download’ to the device, etc.
And, when you upload, should it add it to the list and have you choose it to ‘load’ it separately, or should upload add to the list and load it, etc. All these conventions adopted from historic CNC controllers with wired connections and on-board display/buttons that we are emulating with web servers and wifi.
If you really want to keep it simple, do you really need ‘local’ files? What if “Choose/Open/Load” is all just the equivalent of “Upload”. It uploads the file you choose from your browser file system picker, saves it as a temporary file on the Maslow local storage, and loads it so it is being previewed and ready to cut. “Closing” it brings up the browser file picker. “Choose” a new file, it brings up the browser file picker.
Given that you have to be connected over wifi for the typical use case, it seems like exposing the file system creates more work…
My experience so far is uploading corrected versions of previous files, or new files and then having to manually delete the old ones because it gets confusing after a while given how little is shown in the popup. At wifi speeds I assume if “Upload” did that and loaded it, it would feel almost as instantaneous as loading from the local storage.
If you were operating a CNC machine in a widget factory, it might be nice to upload the cut files for the 6 different parts you make and have the operator choose between them based upon ‘demand’, but that’s a very different operating and control environment from the Maslow…
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I agree with this, except if we hide the maslow file system it breaks the use-case of my use-case of using my computer to upload stuff, then go out to the garage and select a file from the maslow (my tablet out there does not have access to my NAS).
Great idea; I think it would not be hard to add a toolbar to the gcode preview window to allow for more options yet still make it simple to understand and not add complexity… I know Bar is concerned about adding too much noise to the interface, but I think this is “just enough” not too much 
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Ha, yes! I had imagined a few scenarios like tablets not having a file system, etc. The complications and challenges of our modern lives and devices! I just found an old kindle fire and tried to connect and had it load the UI into the captive portal so I hear you on the wide range of things out there.
Maybe another way to look at it is to have it presented more like an editable list on a modern mobile/browser device, rather than a file system.
(+) to add (upload)
swipe to delete
Edit list to re-arrange, mass delete.
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I agree that this is confusing and now well done right now.
This seems like a straightforward and easy place to start making it better
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Added issue to repo: Feature Request: Features to make gcode upload more intuitive · Issue #145 · BarbourSmith/FluidNC · GitHub
The request references this topic, so if anyone has any additional ideas, post them here!
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