Setting up Mesa-cards in LinuxCNC

Hi folks.

Can someone please help me get started setting up my Mesa-cards with LinuxCNC?

I plan on using the following setup:

PC running LinuxCNC -> 7I94 -> 7I77 (for analog servo-motor control with encoder feedback and general I/O in the main control cabinet)
7I94 -> 7I70 (for extra digital inputs in the main control cabinet)
7I94 -> 7I72 (for extra digital outputs in the main control cabinet)
7I94 -> 7IA0 (for digital I/O on the machine)

I understand that there is a ton of information out there, but as I am new to the world of LinuxCNC and Mesa-cards, it can be a little bit overwhelming when trying to collect the information I need.

So I would really appreciate it if someone would be kind enough to set up a small list/overview of the steps I need to take to get this up and running.

I have read a bit about PNCconf and if I understand it correctly I can setup a maximum of two Mesa-cards using the PNCconf wizard, and if my cards are not listed in the dropdown-menus I will have to choose cards that are similar and then change the card names in the HAL-file after finishing the configuration wizard and also add any extra I/O-pins, etc. to the HAL-file.

Do I have to edit the HAL-file manually to setup my last two Mesa-cards or is there some other way to fix this?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards:
Frode H.

One way is to use pncconf and create a configuration for a
7i92+7i77, then edit the card name. This should get all of the
7I77 I/O supported.

You should also make sure that the "sserial_port_0="
statement on the hal file enables all sserial channel
( with "sserial_port_0=000000" for example )

I suspect you will need to hand connect the three external
sserial card pins in the hal file, but you can make a pin list
once the cards are connected, powered and running with
say:

halcmd show pin hm2

Hawk83 wrote:

...

I plan on using the following setup:

PC running LinuxCNC -> 7I94 -> 7I77 (for analog servo-motor control with encoder feedback and general I/O in the main control cabinet)
 

I'm not an expert but given that the 7i77 is a 25 pins daughter card I believe that this would be much more straightforward to use a 7i92 or a 7i80DB16 or DB24 as the 'main' card.  All of those have a firmware that support the 7i77 directly and are relatively 'easy' to get started with. Once you're up and running you can 'easily' add some bells and whistle with the vast selection of remote serial cards.

... and in case you're wondering the 7i92 appear to be out of stock everywhere (damn chips shortage ) BUT there's a few 7i80DB-16 in stock there: mesaus.com/product-category/db25-pin-cards/
 

The 7I94 has direct 7I77 support on its one parallel expansion port

Ohhh! I wish I had knew that before since I needed to add a 7i74 to get more smart serial ports from my 7i92 -> 7i77 setup...

Is it then right to say that the 7i94 is pretty much equivalent to 7i92 + 7i74?

Yes, pretty much