[etherlab-users] Alpha Release of LATPROC (Language and Tools for Process Control)

[Mike O'Connor]

Hi All

Over the last number of months, Martin and I been working on a project
to use EtherCAT and Beckhoff IO to control a Wool Sampling Line.
(http://www.youtube.com/Wooltech1)

The result of this work has been released under the GPL 2 and is hosted
at https://github.com/latproc

Its a long way before a version 1 release and bugs are being found all
the time, but it works and the machine it controls has be installed and
running for a number of weeks.

The code is limited to Digital IO and Beckhoff equipment at this time,
but I hope over time to add support (hopefully with community help) for
other suppliers of EtherCAT compatible products and for more types of
IO, ie counter, analog and motion control.

Tools included are:
* modbusd: Modbus TCP slave
* PHP Website
* persistd: Value persistent store
* device_connector: A program which can interface to raw TCP streams
* iosh: A command line value editor
* zmq_monitor: A message monitoring tool
* beckhoffd: a stand alone interface to EtherCAT
* cw: A control language we are calling ClockWork
* iod: Combind ClockWork and Beckhoffd

This project would not have been possible with out the fantastic work of
the EtherLAB group and I take my hat of too them.

As this is the first project I've ever released to the public, I hope
that I've handled the licences correctly. Please contact me if there are
any issues, or comments.

Cheers
Mike O'Connor