Arduino - miniPC - control card for stepper motors - project idea, need guidance

if there was space the title should have been concluded with the request for help / guidance for study purpose only

Having said that (and I copy part of the presentation in the Forum):
I'm new to the Arduino world, I am fascinated by the Arduino world, I’m ignorant in the sense that I do not know much (say almost all) of the Arduino world, I have a few, elderly and confused knowledge of electronics and programming (various languages), I'm here because I would like to develop an idea and I need some help or a guidance for a more targeted study not having the time that I would like to dedicate to this new hobby.

I come to the point ... other premises on the state of the art:
• I have a stepper motor controlled by a dedicated control board produced by a local constructor.
• Both are powered directly
• The control board has an internal eeprom with the sw for the stepper management
• Programming / modification of some parameters for the stepper management is done on the control board via an external keypad (LCD 2 lines + 4 keys) via RS485 (GND, A, B, +)
• The keypad can be powered by the ntrol boarditself or have a separate power supply (24vdc)
• The keypad is programmed in C/C++ using a sw originally from pc.

The idea is to replace the keypad with a mini pc with a little touch panel. I intend a stand-alone solution with no PC connected. (The second step will be to integrate a module Wi-Fi or Ethernet or Bluetooth for remote control, but this will be much, much later! However, it would be good to start with the board suitable for this)

My request is for some advice for a more targeted study. I mean that if someone with a better idea and experience (also not necessarily in similar field) could direct me on what to study first. I mean, is it better Arduino (which board?) + Touch or raspberry? Which module for serial communication ... .. so then I can see which entrust programming language.

I know it would be better to start with something simpler .........

Hi,

Your description of the current setup is rather confusing. It would help if you gave us some context. What is the stepper motor doing?

It sounds like you ultimately want this thing to be part of the internet of things (the "IoT"). Then it could be controlled from a web page or an app on your phone. One route to achieve this that you could consider would be to use an internet-enabled micro-controller such as an Arduino Yun or a Spark Core. A Spark Core is sort of like an Arduino but with built-in WiFi and the ability to pass readings and instructions to/from itself via an internet "cloud" to a web-enabled device.

But as you say, you need to start learning with something simpler. To be honest, touch-screens may be a bit too advanced also at this stage (although easier than control via the internet).

Can you post some photos, close-up and well focussed? Any Schematics you may have. Also please clear up whether or not you want a PC involved or not!

Paul

Cross-posting not allowed !!
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=272984.0

mgdi:
a dedicated control board produced by a local constructor.

Is this functionally equivalent to (for example) a Pololu A4988 stepper driver board

Is it your plan that your board can be controlled by an Arduino similar to the same way that an A4988 board can be controlled?

...R

sorry to be so late in thanking you all for your prompt replay.

I shall prepare a more detailed description, schematics of the present installation and pictures of the components and I'll post them soon.

to answer to your first questions:

basically the stepper motor pulls a reel of labels. control card of the stepper receives a signal for the bottles presence and starts the stepper to rotate, a photocell looks at the label end and gives a stop signal to the control card. control card stores some parameters for the stepper control (i.e. rotation sense, Motor frequency, Step length, max speed and so on) and some parameters for the label adjustment (i.e. delay in starting the labels distribution, Stop space and so on). keypad is used to store and change those parameters inside the control card. What i'm thinking about is to substitute the keypad with the minipc
I don't want to use internet
I'm thinking about a mini pc integrated into the machine (minipc direct to stepper control board)
no PC involved (ok during studies and testing)
I understand that touch panel is not simple application , I thought to start using minipc between pc and control card and then on success to code the interface for the touch panel to completly exclude pc.

I had completely the wrong idea from your original post. I thought you were trying to make a stepper driver board - perhaps for sale.

I'm still a little unclear.

Are you trying to make a system for putting labels on bottles and need to be able to select different sizes of labels and bottles?

OR

Are you trying to make some sort of software system for other people to use?

If you are trying to make a labeling machine I suggest you get everything working with a PC as the control system. There will be plenty of complexity to contend with without adding the burden of a LCD or touch screen. They can come later.

Have you seen the Thread Planning and Implementing a Program

...R

Robin2:
Are you trying to make a system for putting labels on bottles and need to be able to select different sizes of labels and bottles?
OR
Are you trying to make some sort of software system for other people to use?

I'm trying to have a device and a sort of software on it to program to pass values to the control card.
now there is a keypad (with software) that does this job, I would like to try to substitute the keypad with a minipc

mgdi:
I'm trying to have a device and a sort of software on it to program to pass values to the control card.
now there is a keypad (with software) that does this job, I would like to try to substitute the keypad with a minipc

Do you mean that you already have a fully functioning system that is controlled with a keypad and you want to "replace" the keypad with input from a PC over the USB connection?

Do you plan to write a PC program to communicate with the device. Have you any of that done yet?

I have the idea in my mind that the PC could just send the same characters that the keypad produces.

...R

yes, I already have a complete and fully functioning system: stepper motor<--->control card<--->keypad for input toward the card.
the present system can work without keypad but no adjustments are allowed in that case or few of them can be made by potentiometers.
1 step is the substitution of the keypad with a minipc. minipc will send to the control card the same value of parameters that now the keypad sends.
2 step is to integrate minipc with a touch panel to completly exclude the pc and play everything from the minipc
3 step is the remote control of the minipc that means the remote control of the card.
your idea is the same as mine, I'm trying to log the serial communication between keypad and card. I think it is not enought to send the same characters, I mean:
from keypad I choose the parameter "start delay for label distribution", then I set its value and then I send the new value to the card. keypad will send a string like this [open com][parameter][value][close com].
now I'm deeply investigating on the communication protocol

......well, the industry I work in has the complete system....I would develop the system on my own....

mgdi:
from keypad I choose the parameter "start delay for label distribution", then I set its value and then I send the new value to the card. keypad will send a string like this [open com][parameter][value][close com].
now I'm deeply investigating on the communication protocol

When you use the word "keypad" it gives me the idea of something with keys 0 - 9 and, maybe, Enter. And pressing a key probably just sends a keycode number to the device it is connected to (such as an Arduino). But it sounds as if you are talking about something more specialized. Have you a link to the datasheet for the keypad you are using, or, perhaps a photo of it.

I think it would also help if you explain what you mean by "minipc". Do you mean a Netbook or, perhaps a Raspberry PI?

...R

But it sounds as if you are talking about something more specialized. Have you a link to the datasheet for the keypad you are using, or, perhaps a photo of it.

I've just sent in PM two links for keypad and control card

I think it would also help if you explain what you mean by "minipc". Do you mean a Netbook or, perhaps a Raspberry PI?

I mean something like Raspberry

mgdi:
I've just sent in PM two links for keypad and control card

I saw this Post before the PM. Please post the links here as I don't answer questions privately.

...R

simply I didn't want to post the link publically. I didn't mean to ask your help privately.
but, ok....here are the links
keypad
control card