Freezing the Calibration

How easy would it be to hard code the calibration? I would like to have no possibility for anything to change once I have set things up. Could GC output a source file which is then built into a firmware build causing the calibration to be frozen into that build?

@jetrock

Others can answer your question better than I on the code side. Calibration is a function of firmware & GC. I have done this in the past on another system. In Windows I was able to set the directory to read only and make backups. I suspect somethings in GC would not like read only. So here is the methodology - DL the Firmware & version of GC you wish to stick to. Have it as the DL zips - store in location A, Then load them into your working directory, test that it runs. Make a backup of the entire working directory to location B. Set the directory to “not allow changes” . Test again. If it is running you have a good working image and multiple ways to recreate / restore it. If it doesn’t work then script changing the permissions until the application runs. Run a script to open permissions up at runtime, run a script to remove permissions to make changes when not running. Make a backup to a USB drive and remove the usb connection. Make frequent backups. Remove access to the internet on the machine - you are effectively frozen on this build forever or until you make changes.

Thank you

it would be pretty easy to hard code the calibration.

It would be better to have the calibration stored in eprom

currently it’s stored in a config file that Ground Control accesses.

I’m not sure why it would be much better to have it hard coded instead of in a
config or eprom. Why are you thinking this would be such a big advantage?

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It wouldn’t be that easy to hard code it, but it is very easy to back up. There is a file called groundcontrol.ini in your home directory (C:/Users/Bar on Windows) which contains the calibration. If you make a backup of that file any time something changes that you don’t like, just delete that file and put the back up there and your settings will be restored

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I’d like to freeze things so that I can be sure that nothing is changing while I’m cutting identical parts. I’m not updating firmware at the moment, or recalibrating and if the chain jumps I put it back using marks on the sprockets and chains. i don’t want to cut 18 of the 20 parts I want then find that the 19th isn’t the same as the previous ones. Unfortunately that has just happened to me, although I’d only cut one of the 20 I need.

Copying the .ini file somewhere does sound like it might do what I need. As I understand it, GC has the calibration figures and at startup it sends them to the firmware. What I’d like is a version of firmware that has these values in code that ignores the values GC sends. That way, as long as I don’t change the arrangement of the frame or sled I should have a calibrated machine. This means that when I turn it on it’s the same as the last time I turned it on. As I mentioned above, that’s not happened for me halfway through doing something.