Hi Andy, Peter, > > > So that begs the question. Am I the first to try using a 7i92H to replace > two > > > parallel ports for LinuxCNC? If it has been done is there not a simple > > > template for even just one of the DB-25 with simple step/dir, limit, > estop, > > > machine enable?
> On Sun, 23 Jun 2019 at 22:47, Peter C. Wallace <p...@mesanet.com> wrote: > > No, but it does require some hal knowledge and understanding that the > card is > > electrically compatible with parallel port breakouts but the hal file setup > is > > compleley different due to the fact that the fast I/O is done in hardware > From: andy pugh [mailto:bodge...@gmail.com] > In theory you could use the software stepgen and drive the Mesa GPIO > in the base thread (that functionality is available in the driver) but > at that point you might as well use an actual parallel port. > > The way to think about this is to draw a box around the Mesa card that > moves the stepgen, pwmgen, encoder counters etc into the Mesa card, so > the HAL connections that used to go to the stepgen now go to the Mesa > card. > > In general the pin names are just the same, but prefixed by the board name. > > So: > > net Xpos cmd <= joint.0.motor-pos-cmd > net Xpos-cmd => stepgen.0.position-cmd > > becomes > > net Xpos cmd <= joint.0.motor-pos-cmd > net Xpos-cmd => hm2_7i92.0.stepgen.00.position-cmd > > And then the link from the stepgen to the physical pins is determined > by the FPGA firmware. > > The downside is that you have to find a firmware to suit the hardware > pinout. > The upside is MHz step rates. So I think what you are both saying is the pncconf setup is not workable for what I want to do and I have to start with something it created and then try and figure out how to make the pins match my existing PMDX-126 BoB. I wish I'd known that before I bought the 7i92H. I understood from previous postings that the two ribbon cables matched the DB-25's and based on the 7i92H manual, I could set the pins in the HAL to be the step/dir along with enable and charge pump and eventually my limit switches. That the driver for the Ethernet 7i92H would take care of translating that. Ie From the pdf page 10 (marked page 5) of the 7i92H manual DB-25-2 is P2 Header Pin 3 (IO2) which for me is X Step. DB-25-3 is P2 Header Pin 5 (IO4) which for me is X Dir. I don't see anything in the MESA 7i92H manual that would lead me in a step by step fashion to create the HAL file. I really thought that the pncconf would provide the template and the manual was a detailed reference for the FPGA. For now, I've still got encoder noise issues to deal with. The LinuxCNC can't step faster than about 25khz on the parallel port so tuning the STMBL drivers was great until I ran MACH3 with the USB Smooth Stepper and 55kHz. Now the STMBLs keep faulting with loss of position when they try to go to fast. The HP_UHU drives go right up to 150kHz step rate but with them I'm losing the occasional step. I've put the handles back on my now again manual mill. John John _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
