Text Mode

This page describes the text mode command line in G2. Text mode is intended as a human readable way to access the system and perform simple tasks. For UI and machine-to-machine connections we recommend using JSON mode.

Text Mode and JSON Mode

G2 can operate in either text mode (command line mode) or JSON mode. In text mode G2 accepts $ config lines and normal Gcode blocks, and returns responses as human-friendly ASCII text. Example:

Command	Description
$xvm	View X axis maximum velocity
$xvm=16000	Set X axis maximum velocity

G2 can also operate using JSON commands. This is the preferred way to drive G2 from a UI or controller. Using JSON dramatically simplifies the UI as the board can be treated as a RESTful resource, and no parsers or special handlers need to be written. Example:

Command	Description
{"xvm":n}	View X axis maximum velocity
{"xvm":16000}	Set X axis maximum velocity
{xvm:16000}	Relaxed JSON mode equivalent to above

See JSON Operation and JSON Details.

Note: JSON examples in this page are in relaxed JSON mode to void typing all those quotes

Startup Modes

G2 starts up in text mode if the $ej setting is set to text mode ($ej=0). G2 will also enter text mode automatically if it receives a line with a leading $, ? or 'h'.

G2 starts up in JSON mode if the $ej setting is set to JSON mode ($ej=1). G2 will also enter JSON mode automatically if it receives a line starting with an open curly '{'. While in JSON mode all commands are expected in JSON format and responses are returned in JSON format (except for special handling of Gcode in JSON).

Note: The initial status messages returned on bootup will be in JSON format, regardless of the mode set in order to not break JSON parsers during the startup sequence.

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The rest of this page covers things that are common to both text and JSON operation.

Names and Tokens

Names are short mnemonic tokens that can be 1 to 5 characters in length. Axis and motor tokens are typically 3 characters including their axis or motor prefix; Non-axis and non-motor (general) tokens are 2 to 5 characters.

Tokens are case insensitive and can only contain alphanumeric characters. See G2 Configuration for a complete list of the tokens used for settings. Some examples are provided below:

Token	as Text	as JSON	Description
xfr	$xfr	{"xfr":""}	X axis maximum feed rate
cjm	$cjm	{"cjm":""}	C axis maximum jerk
1mi	$1mi	{"1mi":""}	Motor 1 microstep setting
home	$home	{"home":""}	Homing state
x	$x	{"x":""}	X axis group. In text mode a group can only be queried (get). In JSON mode a group can be queried and can also be used to set any or all values in the group

Groups

A group is a collection of related tokens. Groups are used to specify all parameters for a motor, an axis, a heater, a PWM channel, or some other logical grouping. A group is similar in concept to a RESTful resource or composite. Groups simplify configuration management and reporting by collecting related values together. The following groups are defined.

Group	Tokens	Notes
system	sys	system global parameters
axis	x y z a b c	all settings for that axis
motor	1 2 3 4 5 6	all settings for that motor
pwm	p1...pN	all settings for pulse width modulation channel
offsets	g54 g55 g56 g57 g58 g59	offset settings xyzabc in named coordinate system.
temporary offset	g92	g92 offset settings. These are not persistent
return to home values	g28, g30	return values in machine coordinates
pos	x y z a b c	current work position; with offsets in current units
mpo	x y z a b c	current machine position; no offsets, always in millimeters
ofs	x y z a b c	current offsets, always in millimeters
hom	x y z a b c e	homing status by axis. 'e' reports homing status for Entire machine
prb	x y z a b c e	probe state by axis. 'e' reports success or failure
di	1...N	digital input configuration
in	1...N	digital input readouts (switch readers)
do	1...N	digital output configuration
out	1...N	digital output readouts
pid	1 2 3	PID configuration
he	1 2 3	heater configuration and readouts

To list a group type in the group prefix; for example:

• type $x to list the X group (or {x:n} in JSON)
• type $sys to list the system group (or simply $, which is text shorthand, or {sys:n} )
• type $g55 to list the xyzabc offsets in the G55 coordinate system (or {g55:n} )

Diagnostic Groups
In addition the the operating groups above a series of diagnostic groups can be enabled at compile time See Diagnostics

Uber-Groups

In text mode the following groups of groups are also available for display:

Uber-Group	Token	Notes
axis	q	All axis settings for all axes
motor	m	All settings for all motors
offsets	o	All offset settings including g92's
all	$	All settings. Invoked as $$

For example type $q to list all axis groups. The list of uber-groups can be seen by asking for the system help screen using $h.

In JSON mode these groups will return 1 or more {r:} responses with one group in each response. This is not the correct way for G2 to handle this command. For example, {q:n} should return a response with a parent q like so: {r:{q:{1:{...}}}} with the groups as children. We plan to correct this in a future release.

Displaying Settings and Groups

When displaying or setting configs a $ must be the first character of the line. Input is case insensitive.

A note about units Settings can be displayed and entered in either inches or millimeters. All values entered and responses provided will be in the current Gcode UNITS setting: G20 for inches or G21 for mm. Most of the examples below are in mm, but could just as easily be input in inches.

To display a setting type $<the-mnemonic-for-the=setting-you-want-to-display>. It will respond with the value taken. For example:

Request	Response	Notes
$xvm	[xvm] x_velocity_maximum 16000.000 mm/min	Show X axis maximum velocity
$3po	[3po] m3_polarity 0 [0,1]	Show motor 3 polarity
$ex	[ex] enable_xon_xoff 1 [0,1]	Show XON/XOFF setting

The following commands will display groups.

$x    --- Show all X axis settings ---
[xam] x axis mode                 1 [standard]
[xvm] x velocity maximum      40000 mm/min
[xfr] x feedrate maximum      40000 mm/min
[xtn] x travel minimum            0.000 mm
[xtm] x travel maximum          420.000 mm
[xjm] x jerk maximum           5000 mm/min^3 * 1 million
[xjh] x jerk homing           20000 mm/min^3 * 1 million
[xjd] x junction deviation        0.0000 mm (larger is faster)
[xhi] x homing input              1 [input 1-N or 0 to disable homing this axis]
[xhd] x homing direction          0 [0=search-to-negative, 1=search-to-positive]
[xsv] x search velocity        3000 mm/min
[xlv] x latch velocity       100.00 mm/min
[xlb] x latch backoff             4.000 mm
[xzb] x zero backoff              2.000 mm
tinyg [mm] ok>

$x    --- Show all X axis settings in inches mode (issue g20 beforehand) ---
[xam] x axis mode                 1 [standard]
[xvm] x velocity maximum       1575 in/min
[xfr] x feedrate maximum       1575 in/min
[xtn] x travel minimum            0.000 in
[xtm] x travel maximum           16.535 in
[xjm] x jerk maximum            197 in/min^3 * 1 million
[xjh] x jerk homing             787 in/min^3 * 1 million
[xjd] x junction deviation        0.0000 in (larger is faster)
[xhi] x homing input              1 [input 1-N or 0 to disable homing this axis]
[xhd] x homing direction          0 [0=search-to-negative, 1=search-to-positive]
[xsv] x search velocity         118 in/min
[xlv] x latch velocity         3.94 in/min
[xlb] x latch backoff             0.157 in
[xzb] x zero backoff              0.079 in
tinyg [inch] ok>

$3    --- Show all motor 3 settings ---
[3ma] m3 map to axis              2 [0=X,1=Y,2=Z...]
[3sa] m3 step angle               1.800 deg
[3tr] m3 travel per revolution    1.2500 mm
[3mi] m3 microsteps               8 [1,2,4,8,16,32]
[3po] m3 polarity                 0 [0=normal,1=reverse]
[3pm] m3 power management         2 [0=disabled,1=always on,2=in cycle,3=when moving]
[3pl] m3 motor power level        0.450 [0.000=minimum, 1.000=maximum]
tinyg [mm] ok>

$sys  --- Show all system settings ---
[fb]  firmware build            100.10
[fbs] firmware build "           100.09-10-g4477-dirty"
[fbc] firmware config "settings_makeblock.h"
[fv]  firmware version            0.98
[hp]  hardware platform           3.00
[hv]  hardware version            0.00
[id]  TinyG ID   0084-7bd6-29c6-4ad
[ja]  junction aggression         0.75
[ct]  chordal tolerance           0.1000 mm
[sl]  soft limit enable           0 [0=disable,1=enable]
[lim] limit switch enable         0 [0=disable,1=enable]
[saf] safety interlock enable     1 [0=disable,1=enable]
[mt]  motor idle timeout          2.00 seconds
[m48e] overrides enabled          1 [0=disable,1=enable]
[mfoe] manual feed override enab  0 [0=disable,1=enable]
[mfo]  manual feedrate override   1.000 [0.05  mfo  2.00]
[mtoe] manual traverse over enab  0 [0=disable,1=enable]
[mto]  manual traverse override   1.000 [0.05  mto  2.00]
[spep] spindle enable polarity    1 [0=active_low,1=active_high]
[spdp] spindle direction polarity 0 [0=CW_low,1=CW_high]
[spph] spindle pause on hold      1 [0=no,1=pause_on_hold]
[spdw] spindle dwell time         1.0 seconds
[ssoe] spindle speed override ena 0 [0=disable,1=enable]
[sso] spindle speed override      1.000 [0.050  sso  2.000]
[cofp] coolant flood polarity     1 [0=low is ON,1=high is ON]
[comp] coolant mist polarity      1 [0=low is ON,1=high is ON]
[coph] coolant pause on hold      0 [0=no,1=pause_on_hold]
[tv]  text verbosity              1 [0=silent,1=verbose]
[ej]  enable json mode            0 [0=text,1=JSON]
[jv]  json verbosity              2 [0=silent,1=footer,2=messages,3=configs,4=linenum,5=verbose]
[js]  json serialize style        1 [0=relaxed,1=strict]
[qv]  queue report verbosity      0 [0=off,1=single,2=triple]
[sv]  status report verbosity     1 [0=off,1=filtered,2=verbose]
[si]  status interval           250 ms
[gpl] default gcode plane         0 [0=G17,1=G18,2=G19]
[gun] default gcode units mode    1 [0=G20,1=G21]
[gco] default gcode coord system  1 [1-6 (G54-G59)]
[gpa] default gcode path control  2 [0=G61,1=G61.1,2=G64]
tinyg [mm] ok>

Configuration is non-moded; that is, configuration lines and Gcode blocks can be used without changing modes. However, it is not recommended to intermingle configs with Gcode blocks, as changing configuration during a job may have unpredictable results. See the Operating Model for details. Please note: in some future release configuration commands that arrive during a gcode cycle (i.e. job) may be rejected.

Updating Settings

To update a setting enter $token=value

Tokens are a mnemonic plus a group prefix (system settings have no prefix). The setting is taken and the value is echoed in a descriptive text line. No spaces are allowed. The following are examples of valid and invalid inputs.

Request	Response	Notes
$yfr=800	[yfr] y_feedrate_maximum 800.000 mm/min	Set Y axis feed rate maximum to 800 mm/min
$yfr=16000	[yfr] y_feedrate_maximum 16000.000 mm/min	Set Y axis feed rate maximum to 16000 mm/min
$2po=1	[2po] m2_polarity 1 [0,1]	Set motor 2 polarity
$ex=1	[ex] enable_xon_xoff 1 [0,1]	Enable XON/XOFF protocol
$ted=1	error: Unrecognized command $ted	Example of an error