Re: Steppermod clears .ini values-- symptoms?

[Ray <rehenry-at-up.net>]

On Thu, 20 Jul 2000, you wrote:
> EMC folks,
> 
> Several have reported that running the steppermod motion controller
> clobbers some .ini file parameters. Freqmod works OK. Questions:
> 
> Is this limited to steppermod?

I think so.  I haven't tried it with stg8mod.o.

> What values are clobbered? does it vary, or is it limited to some?
> What is written instead of the correct values?

This is what my tk.ini looked like before executing ./tk.run using
steppermod.o.

-----
P = 1000.000
I = 0.100
D = 0.100
FF0 = 0.100
FF1 = 0.100
FF2 = 0.100

BIAS = 0.001
MAX_ERROR = 0.01
DEADBAND = 0.001
-----

EMC will come out of estop, machine on, home out, and rapid around. 
Unless their is a crash, it will run a program using the initial values
from the ini file.

In tkemc, when I try to change values using the calibration window, it
shows a value for deadband only.   It does not appear to change any of the
values shown above during a run.

In xemc, it shows a couple more values but the variables shown above are
all 0.0 and do not appear to change.

This is what tk.ini looks like after a run and exit.
-----
P = 0.000
I = 0.000
D = 0.000
FF0 = 0.000
FF1 = 0.000
FF2 = 0.000

BIAS = 0.000
MAX_ERROR = 0.000
DEADBAND = 0.000
-----

The same changes occur with xemc or tkemc.  I looked at my old EMC's
on 2.0.36 and there seems to be a change after March that caused the
writing of 0.0 for these variables because the March release will keep the
current values.   It seems like the calibration window was broken before
that because I wasn't able to use it to change values as far back as Nov,
1999.

It would appear that I can change the other calibration variables and save
them to the ini file when EMC exits even in the newer releases.

> When does this happen? are there circumstances when it saves them
> properly?

Using the June 2.2.13 release I haven't found a situation in which
steppermod.o will save values other than 0.0 for those variables shown
above.

Both the calibration and the save to the ini file work correctly with the
June freqmod.o.

Ray