Re: minimilltask V/S bridgeporttask

[Fred Proctor <frederick.proctor-at-nist.gov>]

Tim Goldstein wrote:

> What is the difference between using the minimilltask or the bridgeporttask
> in the task section of the .ini file?

"bridgeporttask" and "minimilltask" are binaries built from almost
identical code, except for the dispatcher routines that decide where to
send NML messages that come from the GUI or the NC interpreter. This
code is emc/src/emctask/bridgeporttaskintf.cc and
emc/src/emctask/minimilltaskintf.cc, respectively.

The difference is that bridgeporttask sends the spindle commands to the
emcio controller, namely bridgeportio, which handles the spindle
forward, reverse, off, increase, and decrease bit flipping on the
parallel port. bridgeportio also has code to handle coolant and lube.
minimilltask sends the spindle commands to the emcmot controller, using
the 4th axis analog output as the speed reference. minimillio doesn't
have coolant or lube handling.

minimillio doesn't work in real life, according to someone who recently
tried it. I've only used it when running the EMC in simulation.
According to our most recent simulation script, bridgeporttask/io are
used. So, minimilltask/io are obsolete.

We are planning on upgrading our Bridgeport to have a speed-controlled
spindle, so at some point we'll resurrect minimilltask/io and call it
something different. The new controller will be able to do rigid
tapping, we hope.

--Fred