H & J Johnson wrote: >I'm a new user when it comes to Linux and am interested in moving from Mach3. >However not being a programer of any depth, I'm a little leary of taking a >working machine and trying to convert it to linux and possibly ending up w/ a >machine that isn't working. > There's no need to be a programmer to set up a Linux/EMC2 PC. You should read as much documentation as you can stand before doing it, to reduce the duration that the machine is unusable.
> My main reason for moving to Linux is to install a 5 axis [Spindle mounted to > a B/C axis] system on my router. Because of my encoder count numbers, my > machine would be best served by some form of an independant Motion board > [Mesa or some other]. > > Note that the Mesa boards, and indeed all boards that are supported by EMC2, are not motion control boards. They're I/O interfaces of some kind, which can do things faster and better than a PC CPU. What I mean by this is that the Mesa cards can output step/dir or analog (PWM) commands to a motor drive (or whatever you want to connect them to), the Motenc cards output analog, both have encoder inputs. These cards do not do anything other than taking the high speed counting and PWM/step tasks away from the PC - the software running on the PC is still controlling all motion, using closed-loop control (in the case of servos). >To start w/, does anyone have some good links to help a new user better >understand the Linux language [writing a HAL file & compiling etc] that a >person could read to increase knowledge etc. > There is extensive HAL documentation on the linuxcnc.org website, both in PDF and HTML form: <http://www.linuxcnc.org/docs/2.3/> You don't need to know anything about compiling unless you want to write your own software. It's unlikely that you will need to do that, though it's possible, if we don't have a kinematics module that can be directly applied to your machine setup. That's mostly a math problem though, as there's a very nice tool called "comp" which will compile and optionally install any custom code you write. Comp should also be documented at the link above. >I'd be interested in buying books even, but rather than just pointing and >shooting, thought I'd as which would be recommended first. > >Btw does DSCMP/IP now have an interface to enable connection to EMC2? > No, there is no ethernet support in EMC2 yet. I'm assuming you're talking about DSCP, the quality of service protocol. > Is there a general concensis as to which of the add-on motion control modules > is the best option for EMC while using step & Dir for servo control? I'm > currently using Granite Devices servo cards and would prefer to stay w/ them > if possible. > > It appears that all the Granite Devices servo drives accept step/dir, and that some also accept analog velocity control. For step/dir, there are several supported hardware interfaces (Mesa, Pico Systems, parallel port). If you want to use analog as well (either for servos or spindle control), then you can add a couple of others to that list - like Motenc. If you want to mix and match, then Mesa is probably your best bet, since it supports both analog and step/dir simultaneously with the same hardware (which the parallel port also does, albeit much slower). - Steve ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
