Granite Protocol A

Granite Protocol A version .01

--Rough draft finished 2010.10.30 is fundamentally sound but still needs to take a stance or find a solution for acceleration.

Description: Supports a limited command set. GPA is designed primarily to reduce the load on the printer processor, while testing some initial reduction in communication chatter volume. It is also somewhat human readable as long as you know your printer configuration. It is stage one of the three stage gradual improvement on RepRap to host communications.

Communication Medium : Serial

Format: n : The line number. Movements are grouped and must be sent in this order (T,X,Y,Z,E). T : Total time for the move in seconds X : X movement period Y : Y movement period Z : Z movement period E : Extruder movement period. GPAv.01 only supports one extruder. H : Extruder Temperature B : Bed Temperature Za : Set home. "a" is for the axis. R : Request bed and nozzle temperature. ON : Power supply on. OF : Power supply off.

Example:

1 T1.1 X1000 Y1000 Z1000 E1000

Notes: Knowing the time for each move and the amount of commands we have buffered means we shouldn't need to send "OK" after each move. The host system will just send the next command after the specified time has passed.

Temperature commands can be sent with movements as long as they precede the movement commands.

Each command will be terminated with a newline character.