Alex, So you are back to EMC2? :) As I said earlier, a good place to start is the hal tutorial in the user's manual. See: http://www.linuxcnc.org/docs/EMC2_User_Manual.pdf
You really need to go through the tutorial to understand how hal works, and in the process how to configure your system. While configuration is not as simple nor much like many other CNC systems, it is extremely powerful and flexible, hence allows you to do things which very few other systems can. I have not done much with EMC and steppers, so there may be a better reference, however look at the univstep configuration (config/univstep/univstep_io.hal). You will see commands such as "newsig" and "linksp". Those are the commands which are creating signals, assigning signals to pins, etc. in this case for the Pico systems board. Specifically: newsig Xminlim bit newsig Xmaxlim bit newsig Xhome bit Which is assigning signals for the home and end of travel limits for the X axis. linksp Xminlim <= ppmc.0.din.01.in linksp Xmaxlim <= ppmc.0.din.02.in linksp Xhome <= ppmc.0.din.00.in Which links physical inputs to the above signals. linksp Xminlim => axis.0.neg-lim-sw-in linksp Xmaxlim => axis.0.pos-lim-sw-in linksp Xhome => axis.0.home-sw-in Which links those signals to the respective axis pins. IOW, ppmc.0.din.01.in => Xminlim => axis.0.neg-lim-sw-in The same basic principles apply for any system, but the I/O has to be assigned based on what drivers, etc. are loaded. In the univstep configuration, they are found in the file univstep_load.hal. The most important one to notice is "loadrt hal_ppmc" which is loading the pico system driver. For the parallel port there will be a similar command such as "loadrt hal_parport". Once the driver is loaded you can start assigning signals, etc. to it. This is where halcmd comes in handy, because you can run a configuration such as "stepper_inch", then run "halcmd" to "show" the available signals, pins and parameters, and hence what is available, which determines what you can assign and link to. Regards, Eric > I tried to read all the relevant information regarding > setting up Hal and ini files for configuring the parport in > ouput mode according to the manual. > For examle I couldn't find any reference for setting up home switches. > Configuring appears very complex to me, though in another cnc > control programs I tried for Dos and Windows, it was a snap > (excluding TCNC). > In the manual there are 2 modes of operations of the parport > - input and output. > In the output mode it will take in 5 inputs - 4 can be > designated for homing axices and 1 for limit switch. > Why don't you provide a sample Hal and INI configurations for > these 2 modes of the parport, to make life easier for people > like me who are having a hard time trying to figure it out? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
