Centroid CNC12 v5.04 has been released. UPDATE v5.06 has been released.

[CNCMaryland]

5.0 doesn't support mixing of "drive only" and "legacy drive" setups so maybe this was something that v4.82 overlooked and you got away with it.

Perhaps, however this setup has been like this for a long time. Way before 4.82.

[cnckeith]

ok thanks for reporting. not sure of any action needed on my part.

its time to ditch that old G540 anyways, ancient stepper tech isn't worth it when the machine could be running smoother and faster for a low dollar upgrade.

[CNCMaryland]

ok thanks for reporting. not sure of any action needed on my part.

its time to ditch that old G540 anyways, ancient stepper tech isn't worth it when the machine could be running smoother and faster for a low dollar upgrade.

You're 100% correct on that. I am currently building a new machine that will be running integrated servos. Once I get that machine sorted out, my current machine will be next, and the G540 will be retired.

[lavrgs]

I'm on my second day...

hello. takes about 10 minutes. are you following the instructions?
do you have teamviewer installed. would be happy to walk you thru it.

I'm just working thru it... I tried adding the reset switch back into the vcp with no luck...I started with one of the stock ones and modified it to look like my previous one. Has a few spacing/syntax errors along the way but CNC12 didn't seem to like the button name reset...is there an alternative way to reset or can it not be required?
This is my second upgrade and it's every bit as painful as the first time. It's not completely void of operator error but changing NO/NC for estop should be in some config file...I missed that on the snapshot comparison 8-(
do you use microsoft teams?

UPDATE - I had to change the name of the svg file to get it to work...halfway...I'd like it to switch like it used to. I'll try a few more things...but after two days I'm close to finishing.

[ShawnM]

An upgrade can be a bit daunting if you have a customized VCP and all the other bits that go with a custom install of CNC12 but it's is an hour job at most. If you manually back up the necessary files to a thumb drive it is as easy as copy and paste. Those files are also in your old "report" if you know where to find them.

The "config" file you refer to for the nc/no setting for the estop is in your report. You can manually copy and paste it in the correct folder and all the drive settings as well as the inputs and outputs along with the correct no/nc state will be set up just as before.

Again, your settings are in your old report along with your old custom VCP and buttons. Reports are really good for fixing a current install with a report from the same version number. When upgrading it's not really recommended to "restore" a report from a different version.

For this reason I created a simple batch file that I keep on a thumb drive and when I run it it backs up all the custom files for my specific machine. It's even setup to only copy changed files after the first run and takes mere seconds to backup all my custom files and folders. I'm working on a second batch file to copy these files back to the correct folders and overwrite the stock settings. It's sort of my own version of restoring a "report".

5.0 and beyond are supposed to be easier to update but I'm not running 5.0 just yet on my production machines so I can't verify this just yet.

[grossmsj]

IMO, this is the dark side of Acorn/CNC12. A user needs to go in and modify XML files and move around dozens of other files for an upgrade. It shouldn't be this arduous. Maybe in the days of DOS and early Windows, but not in 2023.
It seems Centroid recognizes this, which is a relief. I'd hope you'd rope in some non-super-users for early release testing. If the prevailing sentiment is "simply pull up these files, compare them side by side and pull out the bits you like', I suspect there is a gap in user expectations.
I love Acorn, but I"m not lovin' the upgrade process right now.

[tblough]

It didn't used to be so arduous, back before exeryone wanted to customize this and that. If you don't customize anything its still a 5-minute upgrade. If you customize, Centroid has no idea what changes you've made so they cannot make those changes for you.

[ShawnM]

I agree with Tom and in Centroids' defense, if you don't customize your system and you use it stock "out of the box" then upgrades are as easy as any other software. It's when the user starts to customize their system and the software. It's probably impossible for Centroid to know all the customization each user has made to their system and create a single "upgrade" package for everyone. On the other hand, maybe it is possible as I'm not a software engineer but even with my highly customized installs on my machines upgrades easily take less than an hour to do and I'm ok with that because I get to make my CNC12 custom for me and my workflow.

I remember Keith asking questions about files to be added to a new wizard screen for backups. Maybe they are working on something to make this easier but I'm not sure there's a "one upgrade fits all" solution.

If you want, Centroid could stop updating their software like that crappy old Mach3 garbage then you wouldn't have to worry about updates.

[CNCMaryland]

I have to agree with what is being said here. I for one do not do any custom VCP, etc. It's not worth the time investment, unless you are super proficient at it. Now, with the color picker you can have a pretty custom looking color scheme.

[CNCMaryland]

I would like to add some positive words for 5.0 which I like very much.

First for the MPG usage, and a lockout feature for Z axis to limit motion to x10. Say whatever you want, but this is huge. I'm sure we have all grabbed the MPG and forgot either what axis we had the selector set to, or what speed we had set, and then spun the wheel for the Z axis and had something bad happen. So that's honestly a great upgrade.

Secondly, the selectable buttons for the feedrate for 25, 50,75%. That is truly awesome. Really like that.

Thirdly, I really like the ability to change all the probing speeds, very helpful.

The color picker is great too, I need to spend some time with the colors. Would love if we have a place to share with others.