Hi all,
This is my first post on this forum, so I hope I don't annoy too many people with my silly question.
First of all I have used arduino extensively and can't call myself a newbie. I have loaded many third party libraries but the CNC GBRL library has defeated all my attempts. I have spent over two hours on it and now turning to you for help.
I downloaded the library zip file and tried installing in the usual fashion of sketch >include Library > Add zip
I get the response of it not being a valid library. I did some research and found that it could be the library structure and/or naming of the folders were not compatible with the arduino IDE. Tried renaming some of the folders by getting rid of dash/underscores and so on to no avail.
Next I tried loading the unzipped folder grbl-master folder instead of the zip files but the IDE can't see the folder even though I selected 'All files' in the menu of the Add zip window.
Next I tried unzipping the files and moving the unzip folders into the sketchbook library folder. I restarted the arduino library and tried to include the library and I get the message "Invalid library no headers files (.h) found.
I am using ubuntu 20.04 lts and was going to try on a windows machine but can't see why that would make a difference.
gmalepa:
I don't annoy too many people with my silly question.
You're always welcome to ask questions here.
gmalepa:
I downloaded the library zip file and tried installing in the usual fashion of sketch >include Library > Add zip
I get the response of it not being a valid library. I did some research and found that it could be the library structure
That's the problem. In order to install from the .zip file, the library must be in the root of the .zip file. Unfortunately, the GRBL authors put it in a subfolder. But don't worrry, this is easy to work around.
Please follow these instructions to install the GRBL library:
Unzip the file grbl-master.zip that you downloaded.
(In the Arduino IDE) Sketch > Include Library > Add .ZIP Library...
Select the grbl subfolder of the grbl-master folder you unzipped.
Click the "Open" button.
You now have the grbl library installed. You can now select File > Examples > grbl > grblUpload in the Arduino IDE to open the sketch that comes with the library. You will then see the instructions for uploading GRBL to your Arduino board/CNC controller.
gmalepa:
naming of the folders were not compatible with the arduino IDE. Tried renaming some of the folders by getting rid of dash
The Arduino IDE had some restrictions about that years ago, but as long as you're using a modern version of the Arduino IDE (1.8.13 is the latest version) you don't need to worry about dashes in folder names.
gmalepa:
"Invalid library no headers files (.h) found.
It won't do any harm to have the invalid library installed, but it is annoying and perhaps confusing to see that warning all the time, so you might want to delete the folder at the path shown in the warning.
gmalepa:
I am using ubuntu 20.04 lts and was going to try on a windows machine but can't see why that would make a difference.
If you are using the same IDE version on both, it doesn't make any difference.
Success! Thank you all for your help. I was so frustrated in not being able to progress pass something I have done many times. I wonder why this issue has not been fixed as it appears to have been there for a while.