This repository is based upon https://github.com/dc42/RepRapFirmware and is a port to RADDS of the RepRapFirmware. All work by dcnewman on this repository was suspended on April 21, 2016.

1.0 Introduction

This README.md file is a slightly updated version of the original README file also found in this repository.

This firmware is intended to be a fully object-oriented highly modular control program for RepRap self-replicating 3D printers.

It owes a lot to Marlin and to the original RepRap FiveD_GCode.

This is the version for the RepRap Duet, blog.think3dprint3d.com/2013/12/Duet-Arduino-Due-compatible-3DPrinter-controller.html

A complete uploadable executable version is in the directory Release/RepRapFirmware-<version>.bin in this repository. For details of how to flash it to a Duet see, Installation_8211_Flashing_the_Firmware

For details of how to compile the source code see the INSTALL.md document contained in this repository or Section #4.0 below.

2.0 General design principles

• Control by RepRap G Codes. These are taken to be machine independent, though some may be unsupported.
• Full use of C++ OO techniques,
• Make classes hide their data,
• Make everything except the Platform class (see below) as stateless as possible,
• No use of conditional compilation except for #include guards - if you need that, you should be forking the repository to make a new branch
  • let the repository take the strain,
• 90% concentration of all machine-dependent definitions and code in Platform.h and Platform.cpp,
• No specials for (X,Y) or (Z) - all movement is 3-dimensional,
• Except in Platform.h, use real units (mm, seconds, etc.) throughout the rest of the code wherever possible,
• Try to be efficient in memory use, but this is not critical,
• Labour hard to be efficient in time use, and this is critical,
• Don't abhor floats - they work fast enough if you're clever,
• Don't avoid arrays and structs/classes,
• Don't avoid pointers,
• Use operator and function overloading where appropriate.

2.1 Naming conventions

• #defines are all CAPITALS_WITH_OPTIONAL_UNDERSCORES_BETWEEN_WORDS
• No underscores in other names - MakeReadableWithCapitalisation
• Class names and functions start with a CapitalLetter
• Variables start with a lowerCaseLetter (i.e., camel case)
• Use veryLongDescriptiveNames

2.2 Structure

There are six main classes:

• RepRap
• GCodes
• Heat
• Move
• Platform, and
• Webserver

2.2.1 RepRap

This is just a container class for the single instances of all the others, and otherwise does very little.

2.2.2 GCodes

This class is fed GCodes, either from the web interface, or from GCode files, or from a serial interface, interprets them, and requests actions from the RepRap machine via the other classes.

2.2.3 Heat

This class implements all heating and temperature control in the RepRap machine.

2.2.4 Move

This class controls all movement of the RepRap machine, both along its axes, and in its extruder drives.

2.2.5 Platform

This is the only class that knows anything about the physical setup of the RepRap machine and its controlling electronics. It implements the interface between all the other classes and the RepRap machine. All the other classes are completely machine-independent (though they may declare arrays dimensioned to values #defined in Platform.h).

2.2.6 Webserver

This class talks to the network (via Platform) and implements a simple webserver to give an interactive interface to the RepRap machine. It uses the Knockout and Jquery Javascript libraries to achieve this.

When the software is running there is one single instance of each main class, and all the memory allocation is done on initialization. new/malloc should not be used in the general running code, and delete is never used. Each class has an Init() function that resets it to its boot-up state; the constructors merely handle that memory allocation on startup. Calling RepRap.Init() calls all the other Init() functions in the right sequence.

There are other ancillary classes that are declared in the .h files for the master classes that use them. For example, Move has a DDA class that implements a Bresenham/digital differential analyser.

2.3 Timing

There is a single interrupt chain entered via Platform.Interrupt(). This controls movement step timing, and this chain of code should be the only place that volatile declarations and structure/variable-locking are required. All the rest of the code is called sequentially and repeatedly as follows:

As of version 057r-dc42 the tick interrupt (which is set up by the Arduino core) is also used to set up ADC conversions, read the result of the last conversion, and shut down heaters when temperature errors are detected.

All the main classes have a Spin() function. These are called in a loop by the RepRap.Spin() function and implement simple time sharing. No class does, or ever should, wait inside one of its functions for anything to happen or call any sort of delay() function. The general rule is:

Can I do a thing?
	Yes - do it
	 No - set a flag/timer to remind me to do it next time I'm called
		  at a future time and return.

The restriction this strategy places on almost all the code in the firmware (that it must execute quickly and never cause waits or delays) is balanced by the fact that none of that code needs to worry about synchronization, locking, or other areas of code accessing items upon which it is working. As mentioned, only the interrupt chain needs to concern itself with such problems. Unlike movement, heating (including PID controllers) does not need the fast precision of timing that interrupts alone can offer. Indeed, most heating code only needs to execute a couple of times a second.

Most data is transferred byte-wise, with classes' Spin() functions typically containing code like this:

Is a byte available for me?
	Yes
  		read it and add it to my buffer
  		Is my buffer complete?
     		Yes
       			Act on the contents of my buffer
     		No
       			Return
No	
	Return

Note that it is simple to raise the "priority" of any class's activities relative to the others by calling its Spin() function more than once from RepRap.Spin().

3.0 Compiling from Source (scons)

Follow the directions in INSTALL.md.

4.0 Compiling from Source (Eclipse)

RepRap Firmware was developed using the Eclipse IDE, which is much more powerful for big software projects than the Arduino IDE. [But, they are both IDEs with all the failings of IDEs. If you dislike IDEs, then use scons as per INSTALL.md.]

We use the Eclipse C/C++ IDE.

You will also need the Eclipse Arduino support. BIG FAT WARNING: In July 2015, this Arduino plugin for Eclipse had a bug by wich doing a "clean" would rm -rf /. You read that correctly, it would delete your entire file system! Use with caution!

And the Arduino IDE itself (make sure you get the one for the Due/Duet - version 1.6.5 at the time of writing).

As of this firmware version 0.57r-dc42, the Arduino IDE must be patched to enable watchdog support. Follow Step #6 of INSTALL.md.

Start by getting the Arduino IDE programming your Duet with a simple Hello World program that prints to the USB,

SerialUSB.print("Hello World");

on the Due/Duet, not

Serial.print("Hello World");... )

Then install Eclipse and the Arduino plugin.

Make temporary copies of RepRapFirmware.cpp and RepRapFirmware.h from your download in another folder (you will only need to do this once).

Finally use Eclipse to open the Arduino project called RepRapFirmware in the folder where you have downloaded the RepRap Firmware code. Tell Eclipse to use the Arduino-libraries files you downloaded as the local libraries. Eclipse will complain that the project already exists (which it does - it is your download). Ignore this and it will open the project anyway.

Annoyingly the first time it may also overwrite RepRapFirmware.cpp and RepRapFirmware.h. So close the project, overwrite its overwrites with the two files you saved, open the project again and refresh it. Everything should now be ship-shape. Add the libraries

• Wire
• EMAC
• Lwip
• MCP4461
• SamNonDuePin
• SD_HSMCI

to your project. Under no circumstances be tempted to add standard Arduino libraries for devices like Ethernet - these are for the Due, and will not work on the Duet.

You should now be able to compile the code and upload the result to the Duet. OR NOT! dcnewman found the above directions to be insufficient. A number of Eclipse project settings needed to be tweaked (e.g., include paths, include file orderings, etc.). Also be warned that the Arduino Eclipse plugin, aside from possibly doing a rm -rf /, will faithfully follow the compile settings from the Arduino platform.txt file and will thus turn off all compiler warnings (-w) and effect other unwanted compiler flags.

5.0 Note on dc42 fork of this firmware

As well as containing various bug fixes and performance improvements, I have added various functionality compared to the original RepRapPro version. The major changes are:

• Z probe reading is included in the web server poll response
• Homed status (i.e. whether homes since reset) is maintained for all 3 axes and included in the web server poll response
• Once the X and Y axes have been homed, movement is limited to the range of the axis, except when the G0 or G1 command includes the check endstops (S1) parameter. Use the M208 command to set axis travel if the default values in the firmware are incorrect for your machine.
• Implemented M301 (hot end PID parameters) and M304 (bed PID parameters) commands. Extended these commands to allow setting of thermistor resistance at 25C (R parameter) and thermistor beta (B parameter). A negative P parameter means don't use PID, use bang-bang control.
• Implemented M999. This resets the Duet.
• Added temperature (T) and temperature coefficient of height (C) parameters to the G31 command
• Added support for modulated IR sensor (M558 P2) and ultrasonic sensor (M558 P3)
• Various parameters are now saved to flash memory (Z-probe parameters, network parameters, PID parameters)

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Version 0.mn beta

Started: 2012-11-18 This README dated: 2013-12-30

Adrian Bowyer RepRap Professional Ltd http://reprappro.com

Licence: GPL