Hi I am planning on building a OpenBuilds CNC machine. I would like to use LinuxCNC, instead of the OpenBuilds control software. My question is will I stil be able to use the blackbox controller and the touch interface when using Linux CNC or wil I have to build my own controller for this? Kind regards, halt23
The Blackbox runs GRBL firmware which uses a serial interface (defined in the wiki) to accept commands. The blackbox accepts Gcode via the usb interface and interprets them into step and directions commands for the motor drivers (which are built into the Blackbox). You then need a PC or an Openbuilds Interface to act as a host to send the Gcode to the Blackbox. In short, the Blackbox is an all in one controller that condenses a lot of the wiring into a simple box that only needs a usb connection to a PC to operate. On that PC you can run variety of GUI programs, OpenBuildsCONTROL is a good place to start, for more complicated uses bCNC is great, and there are others, most of them have not been updated for a long time. LinuxCNC is a PC program that interprets Gcode into step and direction commands for external drivers. It used to be common to use the parallel printer port on a PC to get those step and direction signals out to the drivers (external drivers), but since very few motherboards now have real parallel ports you will need external controllers for this, usually the ones made by Mesa. It is much harder to configure than any other CNC software I have tried. In summary, NO the Blackbox does not work with LinuxCNC, they are different solutions to the same problem.
