Win Remote Server Issues

[Hobodog2]

I cannot get the Win Remote Server application on my iPhone to control the ShopBot.

1. Win Remote Server is running and minimized in the system tray.

2. Win Remote Server application is running on my phone and is talking to the Win Remote Server on the ShopBot control PC.

For example, when I press the refresh button on the iPhone application settings page, the server asks if it is OK if the phone IP is allowed to control the computer.

However, trying to use any of the buttons on the iPhone application gets no response from the ShopBot control software.

It has worked in the past - not sure what has changed.

Any ideas for trouble shooting pls?

[penman]

Hi Peter,
I have had the same problem before. Not sure if it is the answer for you or not though.
What had happened in my case was , somehow, the IP Server number had changed. ( I did not realize this at the time ) I tried the scan function which made no difference. Opened up Win Remote and checked the number Different to what the phone said, so changed the phone number, minimized Win Remote and it has worked ok ever since.
Hope your problem is as simple to fix as it is certainly a handy application to have.

Cheers,
Roger.

PS: The one button on the I Phone that has never worked for me is the Fixed distance button. Not really major, just control that at the computer.

[Hobodog2]

Roger

Thanks for the reply. All my IPs check out OK and the darned application has worked in the past, albeit intermittently.

So, I will keep looking around and see if I can find something.

Pete

P.S. I listened to Radio New Zealand International this AM on my way to work on the World Radio Network.

[chris_booth]

Sorry this isn't a solution Peter - I'm just joining in to report that I've also got problems with the app.

It's the first time I've used it (only got it a few days ago as part of an upgrade with other more important things) and basically the only button that works is the 'jog home' button. If I use the keyboard to move the shopbot away from the home position, then the 'jog home' button does actually send it to the home position. But no other buttons work, not +X, nor -X, nor +Y nor -Y nor +Z nor -Z.

Is there something I'm missing? Clearly there's communication if the 'jog home' button works. Any ideas? Where should people with problems with the shopbot remote go for help?

[Brady Watson]

Logitech MK520 wireless KB & mouse has been rock solid for me...Batteries are supposed to be good for like 3yrs(!). This lets me have computer and monitor (big 37") on the wall and KB & mouse wherever I need it with full functionality. Been there done it as far as remotes go...all the way back to the Radio Shack corded PRT remote, Logitech game controller, arcade emulators and the phone. None work well enough to be used with reliability aside from the cordless Logitech. Plus, this completely frees up the phone to be used as a....wait for it...phone!

Genius, right? :D

-B

[garyc]

This is my favorite, a programmable keypad. Heat shrink on a USB extension and I have 16' radius from the cart.

This is the Cherry version. You can assign whichever keys you desire. These are the ones that I use. They match up well with the 3.6 versions of the SB Keypad. "C" is included to allow callup of the C1-C9 files.

[srwtlc]

Guys,

You can email me with troubles and if I can't resolve them, I can get in contact with the programmer. I'm the one who had the idea, made the graphics, and told the programmer what keys to bind to what buttons. I chose him because he had a server program and another keyboard/mouse app that controlled the PC and it wasn't a big leap to apply it to the ShopBot. He was willing to make it available for the low price of $2.99 and I got the satisfaction of using it. I wish I could do it all myself, but don't know how to program for iOS iPhone apps (don't want to either).

That said, I've been using it from the start and the only problem I've had is an occasional wifi problem where my 2nd Gen ipod touch wifi signal is cut back and needs to go back to full strength. This problem started after Apple screwed up iOS at iOS 4.0.

Here's the old thread that has a lot of info in it...http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8850

This is the programmers site...http://iphone.logiqu.com/ShopBotRemote/

Peter, be sure that widows firewall is allowing it to pass through. Make sure that windows focus is on SB3 and not some other program by clicking on the red 'Position' window before using the app. If the server app has another IP, try that. Also, try deleting all of them and start the app to allow a new connection.

Chris, when the 'Keypad' button is pressed on the device, the keypad should come up on SB3. At that point, the arrow keys should work to move the machine. Another way to check the arrow buttons is to click on 'File' in SB3's menu and then try the arrow buttons to move between them and down the list. Try the enter button on one also.

That said, with the upcoming release of the latest greatest version of SB3, some keyboard shortcuts have been changed. This is going to require us to make another version to work with the new software. I'm guessing that there will have to be two versions of the app, one for old SB3 and one for new SB3. Or I may just drop the whole thing. I'd like to update the graphics at that time, but I've just been so busy and haven't had the time or energy to even think about.

There may be a good possibility that newer devices may have some changes that cause issues, but I would have to check on that with the programmer. I only use a cheap eBay reconditioned iPod Touch 2gen device so I wouldn't know.

My email address is in my profile, feel free to contact me.

[chris_booth]

Thanks for that, Scott - I didn't know that you need to press the 'keypad' button on the app (which launches the keypad window in the control software) before the jog keys work. And then you need to press the 'escape' button on the app to exit the keypad mode and be able to use the other buttons on the app. Now I understand why there are a set
of buttons that are yellow - pressing 'Keypad' makes the +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z and -Z buttons ready to be used, and after using them pressing 'Escape' closes the keypad window in the control software and the jog keys are disabled again. If you want to use them again just press 'Keypad' on the app again.

So I've now checked that all the yellow keys work, and also 'Jog Home' and 'STOP'.

What are the 'Tab', 'Jog' and 'Fixed' buttons for?

[srwtlc]

Chris, good.

The 'Jog' and 'Fixed' buttons are for when you have the keypad open, you can lock keypad jog mode or fixed distance mode. These are the equivalent of the keyboard shortcuts of 'x' for 'Jog Next' and 'd' for 'Fixed' for a fixed distance move. The 'Tab' button is for tabbing between any dialog buttons like yes, no, quit, etc. so that you can then hit enter to choose. For instance, if you hit 'Escape' by mistake when the keypad isn't up on screen and instead you're asked if you want to quit SB3, you can tab once and hit enter to answer 'No'.

The 'Jog' button is one that will need to be changed as they have changed the hotkey for it in the new version of SB3.

[garyc]

Chris...
I have attached a doc that explains the keypad functions in the 3.6.xx versions of the software. Some of these, as Scott mentions, will be changed when we go forward into the 3.8.xx versions. There are also a couple; [Shift]+[+] and [-] that are listed as spindle speed control that are no longer supported.

If you look at the supported keys, you can see that all that are required for FULL keypad function are programmed into the little handheld Cherry. This is especially useful for 1) Those who won't add wireless to a control computer, and 2) Those who dont have wireless in the facility.

[chris_booth]

Thanks again for the explanations, Scott - I've pretty much got everything on the 'control' page of the app understood and working now.

And thanks for the Keypad doc., Gary, I hadn't even realized until you sent it that the ShopBot Remote app is really just a wireless way to interact with the Keypad functionality.

I've got a 'MyZzero.sbp' set up on C2 that doesn't require any tabbing or entering (basically just cancelled the PAUSEs by putting an apostrophe in front of them to change the pop-up windows to comments). At the moment I'm using the ShopBot Z-zero plate for that.

The C3 will have to wait until I make my metric version of Scott's X-Y zeroing fixture.

It actually looks like it would be possible to use only the one fixture like Scott's, and three custom cut programs to cover the different circumstances: one for Z-zero only, one for X-Y zero only and a last one for X-Y-Z zeroing.

[chris_booth]

Right in the middle of trying to write a metric version of an XY zero routine and ... Sb3.8.02 is released.

Should I...

1) Finish the task and get it working with Sb3.6.44 (and maybe have to practically start from scratch when I switch to Sb3.8.02) ?

or...

2) Switch to Sb3.8.02 straight away and re-write "MyZzero" and "MyXYzero" (and have the ShopBot Remote App not working until its updated - assuming it will be updated!)

Decisions, decisions...

[srwtlc]

Chris,

However you create your routine, it should work just fine in either version. If it works on 6.44, it will work on 8.02. There might be a few new commands for 8.02 that won't work in 6.44 though.

The remote app will work with 8.02 just the same, with the exception of the 'Jog' button.

In the default configuration, ShopBot uses C1 for Toolchange , C2 for ZZero, and C3 for XY homing. If you don't have a toolchanger or don't use it for manual tool changing, you can put your routine in the C1 slot and use it from the main app screen. Otherwise, C9 is the only single digit open/unused slot and if you use that one, you can use the C9 button on the Custom screen. Wherever you put your CustomCut file in SB3's custom folder (at least 1-9), is the button that you can use on the app to run it. Initially, ShopBot wasn't using all of what used to be 'user available' 1-9 slots for their routines, but now if you want to keep theirs where they are, you have to use the free slots that are in the double digits and the app won't work for those. I really wish that they would have kept the 1-9 as user available and put theirs on the higher ones or made some of them 'Internal', but......

As far as the app goes, I'll see about updating it as I get time to do so. In the meantime, it does work with 8.02 with the exception of the 'jog' button. I've been using it all during the Beta testing.

[Hobodog2]

As the originator of this thread I want to provide some closure - maybe others are having the same problem; intermittent operation of the Win Remote Server.

It turns out that my iPhone is the intermittent villian here. I brought my iPad to work with the ShopBot application on it and it works perfectly every time.

Not sure what could be wrong with the iPhone version. I would like to delete the app from the iPhone and reload it - not sure if I can do that without buying the app again.

Thanks for all the inputs.

Pete

[srwtlc]

Thanks Peter,

I have a 2nd gen iPod Touch and after I updated it to iOS 4.something, my wireless signal fluctuates hi/lo and I often have an unregistered button tap after an idle time. I think Apple started throttling the WiFi to save battery life at that point. Apple has made it nearly impossible to downgrade an iOS, so that's where I'm stuck at. It works most of the time, I just have to be aware of that.

If you have the app in your iTunes library, you can delete the app on your phone and then hook it up to iTunes and reinstall it. I've gone so far as to restore my iPod Touch to a fresh state, albeit with the highest version that I can use on my old unit, and still have the problem. I've even tried jailbreaking it, but still can't downgrade the OS to an earlier version.

[chris_booth]

Peter, I'm glad you've got the app working (...and hi-jacking your thread was completely accidental - sorry)...I was wondering if you'd got everything sorted out.


Scott, thanks for all the advice. I've gone straight to the Sb3.8.02 software, and have finally got my XY plate made and working - it's based on your design and your program. I've enjoyed getting to grips with the programming - it ends up giving a better understanding of what's really happening when you put these programs in action.

I've put my "My_XY_Zero.sbp" on C9. I was going to put it on C4, since it looks like C4 is not being used, but the program that sets up the custom cuts wouldn't let me save a C4! Maybe its reserved? I didn't have a problem saving it as C9.


Next on the list is a modification to the XY zero plate program (your version, which shifts from over the hole to touch the top surface of the plate) to make a "My_XYZ_Zero.sbp" - and since I only have a PRT with V4G upgrade and can't actually turn the spindle on or off through the Sb3 software I don't need C6 or C7 and might be able to put it there. Although I'm wondering if the new software update might open the door to being able to use an input or output to allow PRT upgrade users to finally turn the spindle on or off (I thought that functionality came with the spindle speed controller and was a little disappointed to find it only lets PRT upgrade owners alter the speed through the software or with TR commands in programs - not stop and start it).


As regards the app. Very happy with it - not a problem that the jog button doesn't work. I've got no wifi problems either on an old iphone 3 (not even the S model). Yes, a few more pages of access to custom cut numbers would be ideal, and something that occurred to me that I'd like would be the ability to jog diagonally - i.e. X and Y axes moving the same distance each, like a J2 with the same values for each axis. This would make moving around the table a little quicker (I find myself quite often moving a bit in X followed by a bit in Y then a bit more in X etc. - a bit like drawing a staircase) and the 'buttons' for the 4 diagonals would fit nicely on the screen (or at least I like to think so).


And then it'll be the Z max. limit switch and modify all these programs to use "safest Z" instead of just "Safe Z" - but that's another story...