User servo replacement

I have a second issue with user servo, which is different from the User servo persistence thread I just posted.

 

I hit an issue when trying to build and download to a system that is running my user servo code. Whenever I do this the power PMAC goes into hardware watchdog. This does not happen if my user servo is not running. I presume I need to safely turn off the user servo. Can you provide me with instructions as to how I should do this and ideally have this performed automatically during the download process in a future IDE release.

 

Thanks

Graham

You can put all commands which are necessary for a safe task shut down before the download process into pp_disable.txt under project's Configuration folder. The text in this file are executed before any of your project is processed into Power PMAC motion engine. Likewise, the text in pp_startup.txt is executed as online commands after all of the project is processed into the motion engine. These files are also executed before and after the project process after each hardware/software reset.

 

The pp_inc_disable.txt and pp_inc_startup.txt do the same, but are only executed if a partial download of the project is requested by user through the IDE.

Thanks, Sina, but that only really tells me half of what I want to know. It tells me how to control the ppmac before a download, but it doesn't provide me with the specific instructions of how a user servo can be safely disabled. It seems that if I do nothing then the ppmac goes into hardware watchdog, so this is a particularly severe state for the rest of my system. I'm looking for the recommended method from DeltaTau to avoid this condition. I would recommend that such instructions are added to the discussion on user servos in your documentation.

You can point the servo algo back to the built in servo

 

Motor.Ctrl = Sys.ServoCtrl or deactivate the Motor[].ServoCtrl=0

 

If we were to call your user written servo when it was out of memory because it was being replaced with a newer version there would be a kernel mode crash resulting in a watchdog.

 

Thanks, Sina, but that only really tells me half of what I want to know. It tells me how to control the ppmac before a download, but it doesn't provide me with the specific instructions of how a user servo can be safely disabled. It seems that if I do nothing then the ppmac goes into hardware watchdog, so this is a particularly severe state for the rest of my system. I'm looking for the recommended method from DeltaTau to avoid this condition. I would recommend that such instructions are added to the discussion on user servos in your documentation.

Just setting Motor.ServoCtrl=0 isn't sufficient to prevent the watchdog.

 

We will experiment with setting Motor.Ctrl = Sys.ServoCtrl when we get a chance but the machine is being heavilly used at present.

I am not sure if this is the same. I had the same issue with the IDE versions from before may 2013. It was due to the IDE loosing the setup of the user code which you mentioned in another post. And if this happened and a build and download was performed the watchdog came. This was happening when the IDE was closed and reopened and the user forgot to go back to the user servo setup and select the motor and code to use before building and downloading. It might have happened in other cases (such as when $$$ or $$$*** was given before download I do not remember). The solution was getting a fixed IDE that did not loose the setup. I mention this because it seems you are chasing something that might have already been solved.

 

I can not be sure which IDE version is the fixed one in May. But I used version of June 13th in a training class and this one seemed OK. Trying a new IDE will mean you must also upgrade firmware on the machine. Since it sounds like the machine is being used you will need to decide when and if you want to go through that exercise.

Thanks, Brad. We would like to have the next IDE release as soon as that's available as that will give us the option on how to resolve this.