Hey Guys, if any of you are interested in helping mold the face and functionality of default screens in future releases of Mach4 we would like to hear from you. This is a trial run and we will see where it goes. Constructive criticism is welcome but if we get lots of unnecessary negative ramblings it will be deleted. Simple statements similar to "I like this *********xx" or "I do not like this ******************" is all that is needed. Debates between varying opinions are welcome as long it stays on point and is done so in a respectable manner. No screen posted here will have any level of tech support backing it at all. Only if it makes it into future releases as a default screen will it be supported.

So to kick this off, download and have a play with the attached screen. The position of the MDI and the MDI execute button will likely be changing. There has already been discussions about the start button starting the G Code that is loaded or executing MDI. My initial thought was there is no reason to have them linked but have since changed my mind. Thinking of a control panel made of hardware buttons there is usually only one start button. What it does depends on what mode the machine is in, MDI or G Code. One idea is to place the G Code display and MDI input in the same group with their own tab. They would populate the same area of the screen. Clicking Cycle Start would execute which ever you have in view at that time. Another thought is to have a selection button that selects what the cycle start button does. I will go ahead and say that pressing the enter key to execute MDI as Mach3 did is not an option at this time and never will be that I know of.

Thanks in advance for your input!
Brett

Why have a separate MDI "page" if you have an MDI tab in the main "ops" area.
I would vote to eliminate duplicate functionality.

program page yes,mdi page not needed others fine

Thanks Guys, glad you caught that. I could not agree more but its much easier to get a little input and delete than delete and have to build a new MDI page.

Do you think the Toolpath page is still necessary? And if so, would you delete the DROs and G Code display to gain an even larger tool path preview window?

No, especially since the toolpath is nearly the same size.

The toolpath is plenty large as it is on a 1920x1080 monitor, imo.
But, on the Program Run page, the DRO's are twice as wide as they need to be, and the Ref All button is also far larger than needed

Keep in mind that this is all extremely personal, and other may feel very differently.

My preference would be to greatly simplify the entire screen.

I am with ger21

Thanks Guys,

A lot of the changes were to do exactly that, simplify and eliminate redundancy. I agree with the Ref all button being bigger than is necessary to. We are still trying to keep it Mach3ish as well. I can hardly wait to see what those with no bounds create. I hope to have time in the near future to spend on a personal one myself. Mach4 has the tools to do things we could not do in 3. There are so many ways to take advantage of display real estate.

When sizing things for the screen I try to base that on how it looks in edit mode. (1024 X 768). I know the DROs look ridiculously long but in mm mode and 1024 X 768 monitors I think they are within reason.

I know there is still a lot to be done but do the buttons flow logically for the most part?

Do you like the extent DROs where they are?

Do you like the extent DROs where they are?

I rarely use them, but yes, that seems fine.

From my experience, very few new Mach users use 1024x768 monitors, which are probably hard to find these days. I suspect that Most Mach4 users will be new users as well, and will be running 1920x1080 monitors, or laptops with widescreen resolutions.

attached image would be close to how I would like it just one more button added, all the main tools used everyday on one page is good. FRO, RRO moved to tab used 10 times in 4 years if that.

MDI page removed, every other page is fine.

also it would be good, to not have it look so fancy that is not important to me.

have more keyboard control of screen main tabs on F keys, the bit at the bottom on tab key to move from page to page,
have it so it`s tab or F to page hit enter to select page, then tab to move through page and enter to action or key`s pre set to commands I know you can do it now but more than what can be use now. like what can be done with pokey keyboard.

The screens all look good on my desktop,1920 X 1080. The problem is when I use my wife's Toshiba 4K laptop, all the screens are usable except the Mach Configuration Screens for Axis Mapping, Homing Limits etc.
The Mach General and Motor Configuration Screens are good. I tried changing every resolution possible, installed 2651, still no change.