README.md

# Automatakit API

aka project 'consistent-sandbox' 


## Programming 
  - need test of planner sequence
   - next: close loop, bigger gcode terminal, test program 
  - once we can plan gcode sequence, work towards more
   - better hardware abstraction, i.e.
   stepper.port = bridge.port('0,1')
   stepper.port.onPacket = function(){ ... } 
   callbacks ? 
   - UI elements, i.e. demonstrating slider for individual axis movements, or just an arrow / keypad capture on mouseover thing 
   - c improvements / dma etc, would be very cool, good for ruben, erik to send 
    - dma not possible / not enough channels / not portable enough ... 
    - still want to measure, though, and look through static / etc  ? 
    - and *really* what we want / need is error correction / buffer overrun errors and port slowdowns on swside
    - i.e. acks-in-between ? acks-per-packet ?
    - is timing still important ? depends on network speed ! 
    - go back to 0.5mbaud and test finally ? 

   - bldc running, commutating, encoder 1st or do adc ? scope it out 

## oy

 - pull out hand-written gcode for testing
 - rebase to commit prior to teardown, unless planner changed at all? 

 - documentation ... video ... fabclass, kerala (missing email?), oakland - should build a machine
 - controllers should work tho 
 - should very much remind them to find *people* to do the education

 - bridge has bug w/ two addresses only one is sent 

 - cooler demo 
  - better gcode 
 - jog option ! 

 - should be able to loop easily 
 - want to show niche machines - this 'long tail mfg / automation' is a good pitch
  - heating elements, flow control, material handling etc 
  - closed cycle cardboard for cardboard machine 'high performance laser cutter feedstock' 
  - coffee roaster
  - etc 
  - flow control is solenoids on breadboardboard 
  - breadboardboard header solder on 'the rest' of circuitry solder on headers 

 - esperonto - / asicdesigner.net

 - go to pitch size for optical bench 

 - city / state budget flow assumes flow out, re-route flow into city thru education projects 
  - economic benifit + economic benefit 
  - fab academy - 'too long and expensive and inecessible to most users' 
  - realistically what do people make in fab labs - what can we show ... what would bring people in? 

 - port flushing ? 
 - want a test / reset set 
  - really, should be built into bridge (or hardware default objs)

 - read file ? default lines ? run it 

- then you have this multiline gcode / start / stop sequencing issue 
 - and with it, scrolling around your messy program 
 - and this change ui / return double bounce ? 
- want jog keys & speed commands w/ those buttons 
- really want those LIGHTS 
- really want to watch accelerometer
- want to measure network speed
- want to show motor torques coming back, set motor torques 

## Majors to Address 
 - states / uis / etc - one off / one-at-a-time for updates 
  - i.e. all f'n update calls are to single module-global state update
  - ! 
 - states / getters / setters not applicable to sub-elements in an object within state
  - i.e. array access 
 - consistent dereferencing ?

## UI bugs /
 - reverse event lines ? .isLinked etc. .. 

## Features we Want
 - UI classes
  - buttons, w/ colors & reasonable std. events 
  - multiline input w/ current-line highlighting, terminal-write-in ? 
  - 3js 
 - prettier hw/sw representation
 - callbacks / duplex links ? handing over an object, basically 
 - reload-in-place
  - title context menu 
 - w/ proper event classes, context clicks for inputs / outputs / state elements ?
 - for crashes etc, how can we re-start / kick serverside from the browser? some other daemon program ?
 - write in logger functions
  - i.e. module.log('whatever') is wrapped at load into console.log() and sends serverside log message as well, with ID and name 
  - this means writing module class that is extended 

## remember

you have friends
 - bro
 - sean
 - nathan 

## links to things 

http://designmodo.github.io/Flat-UI/

http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/examples/gui/#1--Basic-Usage 

bootstrap, numeric.js ... 

http://backbonejs.org/#Events

## Desires
 - load / keep state 
 - run headless with view into 
 - collaborative program editing would be cool 
 - program save / load / edit ?

## Model Consistency

In Memory: array of modules

Saved / interfaced with: json of this - so to load from this, we need paths and ids attached to each module on load time.

To wrap / add heirarchy: this json object can be loaded the same as a program, given top level inputs and outputs, and made into another require()d module. 

Modules are tiny programs, specifics (inputs, outputs, state) are read by system and wrapped into UI. UI has access to write into state, and connect events together.

To wrap, we write a representation in api-type rep, with one connection. We output the 'text line' of a Terminal into the 'text input' input of a gcode parser, and see the output / state bubble through the UI.

 - to test, cleanup and write gcode obj
 - confirm state change comes down to server
 - confirm event bubbles through in server 
 - push event back to server ui ? dat.updatedisplay() ? 

For extra points, we read in the connection also with an SVG layer - iterating through connections of the represented program.

# The RPI

 - sudo apt-get update
 - sudo apt-get upgrade
 - install nvm
  -  
 - install git 

- https://cnc.js.org/ 
- https://github.com/cncjs/cncjs/wiki/Setup-Guide:-Raspberry-Pi-%7C-Install-Node.js-via-Node-Version-Manager-(NVM)