macmini's pata instead of parallel?

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23 Jun 2017 19:49 #94869 by flipflop
I have an old macmini with core2duo processor and willing to install linuxcnc and use PATA port, initially used for DVD drive, as a parallel port. Is it at all feasible?

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24 Jun 2017 01:23 #94877 by andypugh
It's feasible, I think. But I have not looked in detail.

You need port-level access to the pins, but I think PATA has that.
You would need to write a driver, but it would end up looking a lot like the parallel port driver, on a different port.

This is the parport driver, it's not super complicated:
github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/blob/master...rivers/hal_parport.c

You could even try using halcompile and the comp format. This is a driver for an ISA card, really very little to it once you have the port address.
github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/blob/master.../drivers/pcl720.comp

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24 Jun 2017 10:03 #94882 by flipflop
forgot to mention, no linux experience here, at all, but from your answer it basically looks like that the whole thing is boiling down to reusing the code and changing just the address value?

disassembled the pata drive from my macbook, which seems to be the same as in mac mini - there will be sort of a challenge ot resolder the connector to get a proper parallel port.

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24 Jun 2017 16:16 #94891 by andypugh

forgot to mention, no linux experience here, at all,


In that case, a relevant question is: "Do you want a project, or do you want a CNC machine?"

Using Apple hardware and an unsupported interface is adding two unknowns to what is already quite a complex task.

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24 Jun 2017 23:16 #94904 by flipflop
indeeed. I carefully considered the risks and came to a conclusion that there are probably much simpler and more efficient solutions ;-)
probably even opting for a standalone controller from china..

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25 Jun 2017 09:44 #94914 by andypugh
Well, I would (naturally) still recommend LinuxCNC, but for simplicity running on a basic Mini-ITX x86 motherboard. There are other options, but they are all a bit more work at the moment.

The first non-Apple hardware I ever got was bought to be my CNC controller, I started off exactly where you seem to be a few years ago (knowing nothing about Linux or CNC)

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25 Jun 2017 19:58 #94944 by flipflop
okay, if you insist. there is some board waiting for me - with celeron processor.
Is BOB enough for that purpose (Leadshine EM806 drivers + a spindle cotrolled either by voltage or over modbus)? Why are MESA boards so popular? What's their role?

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26 Jun 2017 00:35 #94949 by andypugh

okay, if you insist. there is some board waiting for me - with celeron processor.
Is BOB enough for that purpose (Leadshine EM806 drivers + a spindle cotrolled either by voltage or over modbus)? Why are MESA boards so popular? What's their role?


A Basic BoB should work, but you only have a total of 17 IO pins and can only generate steps at about 20kHz.

The Mesa (and Pico, and GM, and Motenc, and other) boards come in when you need more IO pins (Mesa can give you up to 1536 IO pins per PCI slot with current hardware, potentially twice that inside the driver limits) and when you need higher step rates (Mesa can do MHz step rates, Pico similar)

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26 Jun 2017 07:11 #94954 by flipflop
okay. one more question. is there any open source DIY card similar to mesa? (linuxcnc is OS project, isn't it?) or, which is the cheapest one? and which 'shell' would you suggest for a small gantry mill? (I'd prefer the most documented one)

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26 Jun 2017 09:27 #94968 by flipflop
seems that I can get 7I96 and reuse my macmini over the ethernet?

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