Hello, If you guys have patience, I would be willing to write up ideas revolving around MachineKit. It would be a side project but a much needed one for me. To tell you the truth, I learn a lot of things constantly. I am always picking up new books, reading articles, and practicing Linux based initiatives. I use motors for fun for now but I have been learning more about C/C++ and Python as time persists.
... I said the site was fine and I think it is...it is in a list format. Far from a tree structure but the site is needed if people are to want to adjust to the way machinekit is set up. Seth On Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 1:47:43 PM UTC-6 [email protected] wrote: > Thank you for the input! > > Dec 7, 2020, 07:04 by [email protected]: > > > Hello, > > > > I say start small w/ the site. Add a few hyperlinks to start. Make > something official geared towards people like me who are newcomers and > willing to spend time dedicated to application. I am a starter in this > field but I am getting older and older. > > > Yes, small is something which I had in mind. I don't think there is enough > power or willingness to do full in-depth rewrite. > > > > > ... > > > > Small site and a full representation of a working order would be nice > for people staring blindly at the famous pages that seem to multiply > quickly when viewing. > > > > I posted a small section from github in the form of a hyperlink. It > basically just goes to an incomplete but dedicated piece of text on github > that supports machinekit ideas w/ gcode, .ini files, and basics on ideas > for setting up commands. > > > > I think this is a good starter for people. I am sure that most of you > are very educated in this dept. and do not need to bother w/ newcomers and > nonsensical questions. I understand. I have been behind the helm asking > silly questions for five years in the BBB.io world. The books were nice at > first, the starter scripts were nice too, and in the end, it seems that > people stopped their futuristic approach to the entire community of > newcomers, their ideas, and bringing old to new. > > > > There is no pressure from me. I can learn from the machinekit.io site > like I have been doing. But after a bit of spending time on the site, it is > an actually large database. It is easy to use and dedicated to instruction. > This is nice. > > > Most people who I talked about the site said to me that it is chaotic, the > tree structure doesn't make sense and finding anything even with a search > engine is Herculean task. It is interesting that you find the site fine and > definitely something which needs to be taken into consideration. > > > > > I say keep it or are you guys going to rearrange things a bit? I ask b/c > some of the ideas are not BBB.io related. I am not affiliated w/ the > beagleboard.org people but I enjoy using their boards for learning Linux > based initiatives. > > > I would say the biggest problem is the fact that the site still presumes > (and gives the impression) that Machinekit is monorepo. It does not > differentiate between Machinekit-HAL, MKSoCFPGA, EMCApplication, > HAL_ROS_control (when I include the Zultron's project) and other parts. > > And I hope many ideas are not BBB related. I would hate if people thought > that Machinekit is BeagleBone only endeavour. > > > > > I just like motor work, the use of motors, and to mfg. new machines when > I can to promote the ideas behind it all. Finding open minds is not easy. > People would rather pay for a Arduino w/ a cheap daughter card so that they > can put GRBL or Marlin on it. Machinekit is not the same and is highly > configurable. This is what I think is nice about the entire set up you guys > have in the CNC world. > > > Well, to be fair, there is a tonnage of interesting ideas in the Arduino > world. If it all can be somehow interconnected or reused, the better. In > terms of better documentation, getting up some page comparing Arduino > products to Machinekit et al. is source of tension than a helpful tool in > the long run. > > Cern. > > > > > But, like my old posts in the field, I say a Cape for the BBB or BBAI > would be neat. > > > > Well, it is late and I have not tested much recently. I just got trying > to handle interrupts on some Python3 source via the Motor Bridge Cape, the > BBGG, and some other source. Testing will ensue! > > > > Seth > > > > P.S. Nothing is final. Things evolve, people take specific routes, and > stuff stays the same. MachineKit! > > On Monday, November 30, 2020 at 12:54:09 PM UTC-6 [email protected] wrote: > > > >> The was discussion about this problem in the Machinekit chat room. The > truth is that the community support in Machinekit is and was not good > (being tactful) and with changes in development it only got worse. > >> > >> The documentation is bad and obsolete, the site itself is pretty > chaotic and finding information is almost Sisyphean task. Everybody > recognises this. > >> > >> The changes happening in development on Github were not manually > propagated here to Google groups. Moreover, the links at top are again long > obsolete in its step-by-step tutorial value (but the overall explanation > and goals are still more or less valid). This is a lot more murky than to > say "The site needs replacement" - because Machinekit always recognised the > need for the user to be proactive and keep a finger on the pulse of > development (and encouraged to do some development themselves). No version > of Machinekit (meaning Machinekit organization's project here and in whole > text) is production ready in the sense of guaranteeing stable version and > high level of support. With the understanding that if somebody wants to or > need to, he should produce his own stable branch (with implementing > upstream changes as he sees fit). That was the status quo for companies > using Machinekit in their commercial offerings. > >> > >> However, the community forum is good for something like user issue > sharing, basic supporting questions and proud presentations of own use of > Machinekit. Just people should not forget that there is also the Github > issue tracker specific to each project used for developer talk (which does > not mean that only developers or contributors can comment on presented > issues). > >> > >> This out of the way, let's talk about how to reinvigorate the > Machinekit community (because otherwise all this is useless). The website > with repository README page are first point of contacts with new users. > Usually what I need to know about new OSS is WHAT is it, WHY does it exist, > HOW can I use it and WHEN should I use it. > >> > >> Current status of Machinekit site did not change much from the time > Machinekit was forked. It is Jekyll based site with own theme build from > Machinekit-docs repository with use of Github Actions service and deployed > to >> Machinekit.github.io <http://Machinekit.github.io>>> repository as > Github Pages. I think this is a nice setup. (Not the Jekyll part, I don't > care if Hugo, Gridsome, Docusaurus or whatever else is used, but the fact > that it is basically static site which can be hosted pretty much anywhere > and quickly replicated in case of problem by anybody.) The build is based > on a very precarious Docker image (which is based on Debian Jessie and > cannot be rebuilt anymore). And some parts are broken and no longer > building. In other word, bad. > >> > >> So, the path with the least resistance as far as I can see it is to > choose some simple theme with documentation support, change colours to > ochre and teal, put logo at top and write some basic documentation > answering the above presented question. While letting the current site live > somewhere online for users interested in archaeology to study. Problem is, > it is still going to require many man-hours to accomplish, but it is needed > for survival. > >> > >> The other point is this forum. To tell the truth, I hate mail lists. > But many people love them. Removing the obsolete links is connected to the > website. But maybe the community would be better server with modern > interface with common functions known from other places like mentions, > responsive design for reading on mobile devices (not nice with current > setup), SSO. Tools like Discourse, nodeBB or Flarum are able to somewhat > function over emails with Discourse being the most advanced in this regard. > >> > >> So the importation of messages from this group would be possible and > hosting it on 1 GB small server should be enough for the size of this > community. The questing stays if it was a positive move for the community > and not just task for the task itself. > >> > >> Comments welcome. > >> > >> Cern. (alias @cerna on Github) > >> > >> Dne středa 25. listopadu 2020 v 20:46:14 UTC+1 uživatel sliptonic > napsal: > >> > >>> I'm speaking out of frustration, disappointment, and a touch of anger. > You've been warned. > >>> > >>> I had such high hopes for this project. I've been using > linuxcnc/machinekit for 13 years. Like most people, I have a love-hate > relationship with it. So much promise and so much frustration all > together. When the fork happened, I was one who was cheering. Forks used > to be a bad thing but git changed that. Forks mean new ideas can be tested > without disturbing the mainline. "Finally", I thought, "New approaches > and solutions. Hope". > >>> > >>> Ha! What a joke. This project has been a let down. > >>> > >>> The technical side has been great. Really some amazing ideas and > progress. > >>> The individual people are some of the nicest around. Helpful, > hopeful, and smart. > >>> > >>> But the project? Absolute disaster. Every attempt at helpful > feedback has been met with words and no action. The C4 concept might work > in other projects but has produced no fruit here at all. Worse, it's > prevented normal participation by increasing the friction. > >>> > >>> Documentation is almost non-existent. Where it exists, it's often > contradictory or just wrong. There are no reference projects and hardly any > videos. The newsgroup is almost silent and the gitter channel/matrix room > are ghost towns where nobody answers. > >>> > >>> The project started with a high value for using git (remember that > fork thing?). Today neither the machinekit-hal or machinekit-cnc repos > have any branches or tags besides master. Seriously, HOW THE HELL do I > find the last known working code!? > >>> > >>> It looks like someone started a major development effort, broke > things, and then walked away and I can't find any discussion about that > initiative. Why is it so hard to understand what the hell is going on? > >>> > >>> Look, if the project is dead, say that. Lead it out to the pasture > and put a bullet in its head and let's get back to making LinuxCNC better. > >>> > >>> If core contributors don't have time right now to continue working, > can we please take the time to mothball the thing properly? > >>> > >>> But if somebody thinks there's still value here (and I seriously hope > you do) then for the love of God can we please do this right? Can we > document what works, consolidate our communication, and lower the barriers > to contribution? > >>> > >>> Does anyone still care? > >>> > >>> Ok, I feel better now. > >>> > >>> > >>> > > > > > > > > -- > > website: > http://www.machinekit.io> blog: > http://blog.machinekit.io> > github: > https://github.com/machinekit > > --- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Machinekit" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an email to > [email protected]> . > > To view this discussion on the web visit > > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/machinekit/43c1c689-668b-475b-af1e-c2a7bdb8331dn%40googlegroups.com > > < > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/machinekit/43c1c689-668b-475b-af1e-c2a7bdb8331dn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>> > > . > > > > -- website: http://www.machinekit.io blog: http://blog.machinekit.io github: https://github.com/machinekit --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Machinekit" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/machinekit/02bf6cb7-ffb2-4dbb-87e9-5e60a91fed67n%40googlegroups.com.
