The Polargraph machine has always given useful responses, if you know where to look for them.
This last update (v1.10 polarshield, v1.9 _a1, v1.9 of the controller) introduces a machine message log that sits alongside the command queue:
Errors show up in pink. Above is an example of what could otherwise be a pretty opaque piece of non-cooperation if you didn’t know to check the debug console.
The main reason for this is to debug pixel drawing though. The relationship between pixel size, pen size and density is ultimately simple, but it is easy to find yourself in a situation where you expect a wiggle and get a straight line.
So now, when you change pen size, the machine itself replies suggesting the smallest grid you can usefully work with with this pen:
And if you try a smaller grid than recommended (or the exact size – because of rounding that happens during display, this is a bit hit-and-miss), then it draws a simple empty line on your page, and normally you’d scratch your head and wonder where your wiggle went, but now the helpful message is exposed (highlighted at the top of the message log below):
Trying one grid increment larger (9), and the complaint goes away because the pixel is now big enough to hold a wiggle:
There are three kinds of message, DEBUG, INFO and ERROR. Debug (black) should normally be hidden unless you have a verbose/debug switch turned on in your firmware. Or I’ve forgotten to turn it back off before doing the release.
Info (white) are the standard ‘might be useful’ messages. Error (pink) means specifically that something you wanted to happen didn’t happen.
I have not yet added the message prefixes to all the functions in the firmwares, but I will get around to them as required.
The examples above (vector location and pixel debugging) are now in polargraph_server_polarshield and also polargraph_server_a1 in a limited way. Polargraph_server_a1 is too pushed pushed for space to be able to sacrifice much for this, so it will never be as helpful as wasteful old polarshield can be.
Give it a shot by getting the newest code bundle.
3rd August 2014: Little update!
To clarify: This firmware IS suitable for ALL PolargraphSDs and Polarshields, new and old. The source code is configured to run on the most recent version, with the most recent version of the LCD screen.
If you’ve got an older model and you want to compile from source, pay attention to the screen type configuration settings in the main polargraph_server_polarshield.ino file. There are three possible options, the comments there should explain what’s what.
