Developer Notes
This guide will help you setup tgFX. The first section of this guide is the "One Time" section. This section describes what you need to do the first time you are setting up your Mac to run tgFX.
You will only need to this the first time you setup tgFX. So if this is your first time getting tgFX to run on your Mac start here.
###Downloads / Installs
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Download Java SDK from [ http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html] ( http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html) Select the Jave SE Mac OS X x64 binary. Install as you would any other OSX pkg file.
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Download and install Netbeans. This download link is currently pointing to Netbeans 7.2.1 (Jan 2013). If this link no longer works you can check this page to get and updated package. Click on the .mpkg file and walk through the installation. You will find the NetBeans application in a Netbeans directory in your Applications directory when it's done. You can drag the app to your dock.
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You also will need Virtual COM Port (VCP) drivers for OSX. You can download OSX VCP drivers here.. Be sure to select your correct CPU architecture.. IE x86 for 32bit or x64 for 64bit machines. If you have a newer mac (3 years old or newer you will most likely need the x64 bit drivers). Run this installation like you would any other pkg install. This will require administrator privileges.
###Initialization Commands
Next, we need to setup a few things to get your system running.
First we will clone the tgFX master branch. You will need git installed. If you do not have git installed Github has a nice binary you can install here.. To clone the tgFX repository, open a terminal and type:
git clone [email protected]:synthetos/tgFX.git
See below for an example:
Next we need to install a minor bug fix for the RXTX library (the serial port library that tgFX uses).
You can read about the fix http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12866572/rxtx-on-mac-serial-port-already-in-use if you like. Briefly, what it does is create a directory to create lock files for the serial port.
These commands require root privileges so sudo is required. Note, you only need to do this once!
Open a console (terminal) and type in these 2 commands.
sudo mkdir /var/lock
sudo chmod a+rw /var/lock
##Launching tgFX
First we need to open the tgFX project you cloned in the steps above.
Click file >> Open Project >> Select the tgFX project directory that was created when you cloned tgFX. It should turn into a little coffee cup.
See Below:
If this was a clean Java SDK / Java 7 install then everything should be good and you should be ready to move on. If there are any red ?'s on the tgFX project then we will need to fix this before continuing. Check this page to fix your project.
If everything went well with opening tgFX in Netbeans.. (IE there are not red ?'s on the tgFX project) Make sure that your USB port is connected to your TinyG and your TinyG is powered on. You should get something similar to the image below.
From here to launch tgFX you need to click on the Green Arrow on the top middle of the screen. See below:
Now we need to connect to tgFX from TinyG. See below.
To connect, go to the top right corner of tgFX. Click the serial ports drop down box and select your serial port. If nothing shows up make sure you have connected your TinyG to your computer and its powered on.
Your serial port will look something like this (OSX only)
/dev/tty.usbserial-xxxxxxxx
You might also see:
/dev/cu.usbserial-xxxxxxxx
Either port will be ok to use.
You should be connected now and able to type gcode commands in the text bar at the bottom of the screen.
If tgFX / netbeans crashes on connect read this
This issue is known. It occurs when a different version of librxtxSerial.jnilib is being used over what is packaged with tgFX. The best way to fix this is to open the terminal and execute these 2 commands.
sudo /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb
locate librxtxSerial.jnilib
The first will update all files on your mac into a index for the locate command to find. The locate command will locate all files named "librxtxSerial.jnilib" on your system. From here you need to use your judgement to remove the librxtxSerial.jnilib from your path. When in doubt move these files to the trash and re-run the connect action in tgFX.