Connecting a real machine

_Draft (round 14): the text is being written; the sections may still grow._

Two ways to work with a machine

Drive the MC-1 from a sender of your own (bCNC, gSender or Universal G-code Sender) on its USB port. See Sender software.
Put the twin beside it in shadow mode (preview): your sender connects to Studio instead of the machine, Studio passes every line on to the machine and runs the same lines in the twin, and compares the two.

Sending a program to a real machine from Studio itself is not in 1.0.

Shadow mode (preview)

Note

In 1.0 shadow mode is a preview that you start from the command line. It has been tested with a second twin standing in for the machine, not yet with a real one. The window does not yet have a place to choose the port, connect or see the comparison; that comes in a later version.

Start shadow mode

You need: the MC-1 switched on and connected to this computer by USB; your sender installed.

Find the machine's port. On Windows: Device Manager > Ports (COM & LPT), for example COM5.
Start Studio with that port from a command prompt:
```
 TwinwrightStudio.exe --shadow COM5
```
Result: Studio opens the port and the twin follows the machine.
In your sender, connect to Studio's sender port, localhost:2323, instead of the machine. Result: your sender's lines go to the machine through Studio, and the twin runs the same lines.

Studio's sender port listens on this computer only. To reach it from another computer, add --bind any.

What the twin compares

The answers, line by line: each ok or error, and the alarms in their order.
The path: the position the machine reports against the twin's path, and how far the twin is ahead or behind.
The settings: once, when the machine is connected and before your sender connects. Connect your sender after Studio has linked to the machine.
The controller: once, with the settings. Whether both run the same firmware and, with the Twinwright controller on both, its version and what the machine's board has: spindle, encoder, handwheel, axes, probe, connection. The twin does not model the board's auxiliary ports and SD card: the comparison lists them, and they do not count as a difference.
The run times of the program's parts.

The guard

Start Studio with --shadow-guard as well, and the twin checks each line from your sender before it reaches the machine. When the twin predicts a crash, it holds the line back and puts the machine on feed hold. The window shows the guard's state under Diagnostics.

What cannot reach the machine

In shadow mode only your sender's lines reach the machine, with the twin's own questions that change nothing (the settings and the status).

The window's controls act on the twin only, and the ones that would move or start the machine are refused while the twin follows a machine. The probe panel is locked.
An AI client can only read: it sees the machine's state and changes nothing.
An external handwheel connected to Studio acts on the twin only.

⚠ Warning

In shadow mode the window's stop and E-stop do not stop the machine. To stop the machine, use its own E-stop or your sender's stop.

Sender software

The senders tested with the Twinwright controller, and how to set them up: Sender software.

When something differs

A difference means that the twin's profile or settings are not this machine's, or that the machine does something the model does not. Check the settings first: the comparison lists the ones that differ.