1. Juan Pablo Caram Avatar Juan Pablo Caram
  2. Untitled project
  3. FlatCAM
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General documentation

Issue #171 new
Juan Pablo Caram repo owner created an issue

Improvement of the documentation.

Comments (31)

  4. youri margarin

    Glad this may help somebody. Concerning the following paragraphs, please may you help me answering to these questions ?

    1- I'm wandering what is happening when a single point coordinates followed by a comma is selected in the “alignment holes” box example based on the attached file: “(-1.11,2.94), ”. The mirroring is working but is it a side effect and is this way to proceed reproducible ? Since I didn't machine any related PCB, I can't conclude for the moment.

    2- Where is the effective axis located when the mirror is done with a box as reference ? in the middle of the two reference points ? This is my conclusion but I'd like it to be confirmed. When one point coordinates are defined, I noticed that the alignment holes are symmetrical regarding this reference point in flatcam. Is that correct ? kind regards

  7. Juan Pablo Caram reporter

    @youri_m I created a place in the wiki where you can put your document and we can both edit: https://bitbucket.org/jpcgt/flatcam/wiki/SelectiveIsolation

    Make sure you use reStructuredText, which is the format all the documentation is in.

    1- I'm wandering what is happening when a single point coordinates followed by a comma is selected in the “alignment holes” box example based on the attached file: “(-1.11,2.94), ”. The mirroring is working but is it a side effect and is this way to proceed reproducible ? Since I didn't machine any related PCB, I can't conclude for the moment.

    That was a bug and was fixed. Now you can provide a single point without the trailing comma.

    2- Where is the effective axis located when the mirror is done with a box as reference ? in the middle of the two reference points ? This is my conclusion but I'd like it to be confirmed. When one point coordinates are defined, I noticed that the alignment holes are symmetrical regarding this reference point in flatcam. Is that correct ?

    The mirror axis cuts the box in the middle such that the original and mirrored box are at the same location.

  8. youri margarin

    I have good willing but I have to recognize that this is out of my current skills. I did a search on reStructuredText, ending on Sourceforge with Docutils, I downloaded the .tgz and other stuff, thanks to Winrar that allowed me to open the tgz and tar files. With no surprise, I found no windows executable file inside.

    I have a very bad experience with Java, Linux is not for me and I didn't even install Python to run the beta versions of Flatcam by lack of knowledge about this language and lots of concerns to use it.

    Is there anything more easy and conventional to fulfill the task ? If so or if Microsoft Word files (.doc, not .docx) are acceptable, it will be a pleasure to proceed !

    best regards

  10. youri margarin

    OK, I read the quickstart. It sounds more clear now but I have questions: What text editor shall I use and what output format shall I select: html, xml, other ? To complete my understanding, I'd be pleased to see a document source.

    Concerning the second UR, I can't browse : "You do not have access to the wiki." "Use the links at the top to get back." May I have a permission to access ?

    Thanks a lot and best regards

  11. Juan Pablo Caram reporter

    You don't have to worry about the output format. Just the source. Just put your source as text in the wiki, and as soon as you save, it will show it to you in HTML. You don't need a particular editor. The text box where you enter the source for your document will probably have a few buttons to help you with uploading images and things like that, but the source text itself is very simple.

    I have not shared the wiki with anyone before. Let me look at the settings and I'll let you know.

  13. youri margarin

    Thank you for the privilege.

    I converted the file to the wiki format but I had some issues with the cosmetics: * Centering the text (picture labels) and the pictures themselves * adding blank lines , I used " | ", i don't know if this character is the best way to do it * I couldn't manage to find the way to underline a word or a group of words.I temporarily used bold characters. * I also would like to use colors, the red for warning for example.

    The job isn't completed yet, I'm not satisfied by the presentation. Best regards

  14. Juan Pablo Caram reporter

    Youri,

    In text formatting languages (reStructuredText, Latex, markdown, etc), the idea is that you focus on the content. The style is handled separately. In the case of the wiki here, the style is determined by the system (bitbucket) and we don't have control over it.

    The whole idea behind this is that you don't mix style and content. The practicality of this is that you can move your content around (a web page, a printed book, etc) and you can globally determine the style. So, don't be concerned about changing colors, underlining, centering, etc. You only need to be concerned about properly indicating what the different elements in you document are (title, subtitle, item, code, image, etc.)

    I think the "|" character is for quotes, don't use that.

    Some suggestions: You may want to use "figure" instead of image. It allows a little bit more control. Also, for titles and subtitles, you need to use different kinds of underlining characters, ie "=====", then "------", then "~", etc. The order in which you use them determines what is a title, sub-title, etc, not the specific character that you used.

    If you don't mind, I will make some edits.

  15. youri margarin

    Hi,

    Thanks a lot for these clarifications.

    Before my retirement, I was working in the space industry. Every engineer had to be highly skilled with all the Microsoft Office modules. Even a test report had to be perfectly harmonious. The form was at least, as important as the contents. That said, I'm feeling frustrated with the restructured text. But, OK, I understand and I'll do my best with this tool.

    For the next documents, I have the choice to continue with the functions I've tested and written step by step procedures for or to issue the French (my mother tongue) version of my files. Let me know what your preference is.

    Best regards

  17. youri margarin

    Holà Juan Pablo,

    Feel free to edit the files. I consider that they are written for dummies by a dummy as well !

    Please tell me when you do it in order that I don't modify again or kill inadvertently your job !

    I don't know how you intend to handle the files so my numbering is related to the document only.

    I succeeded to put the second file located in the root into the same menu as the English version. I also created a sandbox file where I test the blocks before applying them to the tutorial. For the moment, I've no way to proceed differently. Sorry if this causes trouble, if so, let me know.

    Currently, I'm preparing another module that is the "edge cutting".

    I also made an Excel spreadsheet for computing the V-shape-bit generated groove width regarding the tip angle, the flat and the milling depth. Would that be useful ? And if so, how to integrate the spreadsheet in the wiki ?

    Regards

  18. Juan Pablo Caram reporter

    The documents look great. I will put a link on flatcam.org homepage soon. Thanks.

  19. youri margarin

    Hello Juan Pablo,

    This makes a while that I didn't write about Flatcam ! I just created the English version of the Chapter 2: "Cutting the Edges of Rectangular, Polygonal or Round Shaped Boards". Next one will be the French version.

    Please have a look when you have time, your comments are welcome. I put a link to Camotics at the end as well as my mail address to get comments for improvement purpose.

    Feel free to modify if necessary.

    By the way, did you put a link to the previous tutorials ?

    Have a great day, Best regards

  22. youri margarin

    When you have time, if you're interested, think about a french translation.

    I don't know where to begin and there are probably some constraints, especially in terms of string lengths.

    I'll do it with pleasure.

  23. youri margarin

    Sorry for the garbage. This appears every time I'm replying from my mail client

    When you have time, if you're interested, think about a french translation, I don't know where to begin and there are probably some constraints, especially in terms of string lengths I'll do it with pleasure

  25. youri margarin

    I might help with the manual but I'm far to understand everything for the moment !

    I was thinking about the program. Most of French guys do not speak English and the program is worth to be known. In my opinion, the priority goes to it. While writing the French version I also realized it was very difficult to link the English program terms to the explanations in French language.

    But if you have a different view, that's not an issue for me.

    Regards

  27. youri margarin

    That's really an great idea. Exactly what I was looking for on the web to progress with Flatcam. I already peeped on subtract_rect, subtract_poly and geocutout !

    I've attempted to create some tcl scripts. My target is to make them as standard as possible. I mean standard filenames whatever the project is and windows path conversion to ease cut and paste operations without further edition. For the moment, I succeeded with some very simple examples but I can't manage to convert Windows paths to tcl ones. There are not so much related pages on the web. ==> If you have a clue to convert the '\' to '/', it's welcome.

    I think it would be a good place to put my spreadsheet for V-shaped bit tool diameter calculation vs milling depth. It's an Excel compatible (OpenOffice) file (.xls or .ods). How to do that ?

    By the way, did you think about the program menu translation in French language ? This would greatly ease the documentation writing and collect lots of French potential users. We're well known for our laziness for foreign language learning !

    Kind regards

  28. Juan Pablo Caram reporter

    See some cool usage examples of these commands here: https://bitbucket.org/jpcgt/flatcam/pull-requests/29/pcb-panelizing-aligning-and-gap-geocutout/diff (Thanks to @sopak)

    Language translation is not something that can be easily done at this time. It requires editing every string inside the code. We would first need to move all the translatable strings to a separate file such that changing the language only requires changing the file. If you want you can start such a project. Create an issue called internationalization, and I can then guide you on how to do it.

    But before that, I see no point in writing a translation. It would require maintaining separate source code for every language.

  29. Kamil Sopko

    youri, look here https://bitbucket.org/sopak/flatcam/wiki/Home

    There is my workflow, will finish it and maybe separate it soon. I use there all new features. Included script is not finished yet, but use more advanced TCL to store variables etc. It include some features only from my branch at the moment as command "wait_for_promises", but I have now some issues with that.

  30. youri margarin

    Hi, Thanks both of you for the clues. I've been following the discussion (PR #29) with a great interest for some days.

    About the translation, I fully agree with you. I looked at some files in the source directory (objectUI.py, FlatCAMGUI.py and some other ones) and found familiar occurrences as well as help box texts. It sounds feasible but you must be aware that I've NO programming skills !, However In most cases I'm able to make the difference between commenting and menus/help boxes.

    I just created the issue # 191. regards

  31. Juan Pablo Caram reporter

    It's hard for me to track who can code or cannot! It's okay for you to give the (coding part of) the project a try, but it might be tough, and I might be tough on you with regards to meeting the standards on code contributions. I'll post some comment on #191. Thanks.

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