7i96s + Chinese BOB on P1

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05 Jan 2024 12:34 #289858 by Mud
Hi all, I've read what similar threads I could find on the 7i96, but couldn't get sufficiently confident (and those were mostly related to making PWM work) - can I connect the ubiquitous Chinese breakout board to a 7i96s P1 port without issue? Hopefully without changing the bitfile - I'm only after additional basic IO, primarily the inputs. 

I think the inputs are NPN style and commoned to the 12-24v breakout board power input, but not sure if that's isolated from the parallel port - if anyone knows if it's safe please confirm/deny! I don't have the board yet. 

 
Attachments:

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05 Jan 2024 13:39 #289863 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic 7i96s + Chinese BOB on P1
The pinout for P1 is given on Page 7 of the manual:
www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/7i96sman.pdf

It does appear to be a standard parallel port pinout, except that all non-GND pins are bidirectional.

Depending on the firmware flashed on the 7i96 you might need to limit some functions in order to have their associated pins become available as outputs.

And you will also need to set up the input / output direction to match the hardwired directions of the BoB.

Which firmware are you using?

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05 Jan 2024 13:41 #289864 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic 7i96s + Chinese BOB on P1
If you don't have the BoB yet, then the 7i84 is a good way to add more GPIO (and it still leaves P1 free as it attached to the serial expansion)
It's more expensive than a BoB, but also offers more.

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05 Jan 2024 14:11 #289866 by Mud
Replied by Mud on topic 7i96s + Chinese BOB on P1
The 7i96s is running the firmware it came with - I'm struggling to find if I can pull the specific firmware name from the card, but this is the dump from mesaflash:
Configuration Name: HOSTMOT2

General configuration information:

  BoardName : MESA7I96
  FPGA Size: 20 KGates
  FPGA Pins: 256
  Number of IO Ports: 3
  Width of one I/O port: 17
  Clock Low frequency: 100.0000 MHz
  Clock High frequency: 200.0000 MHz
  IDROM Type: 3
  Instance Stride 0: 4
  Instance Stride 1: 64
  Register Stride 0: 256
  Register Stride 1: 256

Modules in configuration:

  Module: DPLL
  There are 1 of DPLL in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 7
  BaseAddress: 7000
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: WatchDog
  There are 1 of WatchDog in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 3
  BaseAddress: 0C00
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: IOPort
  There are 3 of IOPort in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 5
  BaseAddress: 1000
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: OutM
  There are 1 of OutM in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 1
  BaseAddress: B000
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: PWM
  There are 1 of PWM in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 5
  BaseAddress: 4100
  ClockFrequency: 200.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: StepGen
  There are 5 of StepGen in configuration
  Version: 2
  Registers: 10
  BaseAddress: 2000
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: QCount
  There are 1 of QCount in configuration
  Version: 2
  Registers: 5
  BaseAddress: 3000
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: SSerial
  There are 1 of SSerial in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 6
  BaseAddress: 5B00
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 64 bytes

  Module: SSR
  There are 1 of SSR in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 2
  BaseAddress: 7D00
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: InM
  There are 1 of InM in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 5
  BaseAddress: 8500
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

  Module: LED
  There are 1 of LED in configuration
  Version: 0
  Registers: 1
  BaseAddress: 0200
  ClockFrequency: 100.000 MHz
  Register Stride: 256 bytes
  Instance Stride: 4 bytes

Configuration pin-out:

IO Connections for TB3 -> 7I96_0
Pin#                  I/O   Pri. func    Sec. func        Chan     Sec. Pin func   Sec. Pin Dir

TB3-1                   0   IOPort       InM              0        Input0          (In)
TB3-2                   1   IOPort       InM              0        Input1          (In)
TB3-3                   2   IOPort       InM              0        Input2          (In)
TB3-4                   3   IOPort       InM              0        Input3          (In)
TB3-5                   4   IOPort       InM              0        Input4          (In)
TB3-6                   5   IOPort       InM              0        Input5          (In)
TB3-7                   6   IOPort       InM              0        Input6          (In)
TB3-8                   7   IOPort       InM              0        Input7          (In)
TB3-9                   8   IOPort       InM              0        Input8          (In)
TB3-10                  9   IOPort       InM              0        Input9          (In)
TB3-11                 10   IOPort       InM              0        Input10         (In)
TB3-13,14              11   IOPort       SSR              0        Out-00          (Out)
TB3-15,16              12   IOPort       SSR              0        Out-01          (Out)
TB3-17,18              13   IOPort       SSR              0        Out-02          (Out)
TB3-19,20              14   IOPort       SSR              0        Out-03          (Out)
TB3-21,22              15   IOPort       OutM             0        Output4         (Out)
TB3-23,24              16   IOPort       OutM             0        Output5         (Out)

IO Connections for TB1/TB2 -> 7I96_1
Pin#                  I/O   Pri. func    Sec. func        Chan     Sec. Pin func   Sec. Pin Dir

TB1-2,3                17   IOPort       StepGen          0        Step/Table1     (Out)
TB1-4,5                18   IOPort       StepGen          0        Dir/Table2      (Out)
TB1-8,9                19   IOPort       StepGen          1        Step/Table1     (Out)
TB1-10,11              20   IOPort       StepGen          1        Dir/Table2      (Out)
TB1-14,15              21   IOPort       StepGen          2        Step/Table1     (Out)
TB1-16,17              22   IOPort       StepGen          2        Dir/Table2      (Out)
TB1-20,21              23   IOPort       StepGen          3        Step/Table1     (Out)
TB1-22,23              24   IOPort       StepGen          3        Dir/Table2      (Out)
TB2-2,3                25   IOPort       StepGen          4        Step/Table1     (Out)
TB2-4,5                26   IOPort       StepGen          4        Dir/Table2      (Out)
TB2-7,8                27   IOPort       QCount           0        Quad-A          (In)
TB2-10,11              28   IOPort       QCount           0        Quad-B          (In)
TB2-13,14              29   IOPort       QCount           0        Quad-IDX        (In)
TB2-16,17              30   IOPort       SSerial          0        RXData0         (In)
TB2-18,19              31   IOPort       SSerial          0        TXData0         (Out)
Internal-TXEn          32   IOPort       SSerial          0        TXEn0           (Out)
Internal               33   IOPort       SSR              0        AC Ref          (Out)

IO Connections for P1 -> 7I96_2
Pin#                  I/O   Pri. func    Sec. func        Chan     Sec. Pin func   Sec. Pin Dir

P1-01/DB25-01          34   IOPort       None          
P1-02/DB25-14          35   IOPort       None          
P1-03/DB25-02          36   IOPort       None          
P1-04/DB25-15          37   IOPort       None          
P1-05/DB25-03          38   IOPort       None          
P1-06/DB25-16          39   IOPort       None          
P1-07/DB25-04          40   IOPort       None          
P1-08/DB25-17          41   IOPort       None          
P1-09/DB25-05          42   IOPort       None          
P1-11/DB25-06          43   IOPort       None          
P1-13/DB25-07          44   IOPort       None          
P1-15/DB25-08          45   IOPort       None          
P1-17/DB25-09          46   IOPort       None          
P1-19/DB25-10          47   IOPort       None          
P1-21/DB25-11          48   IOPort       None          
P1-23/DB25-12          49   IOPort       None          
P1-25/DB25-13          50   IOPort       None          

A 7i84 would be lovely, but I would need to buy it with some other hardware to get over the current landed import cost to the UK. I will get one at some stage, and probably make a more featured MCP. 

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05 Jan 2024 14:25 #289868 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic 7i96s + Chinese BOB on P1
It looks like all pins on P1 (IO 34-50) are unallocated in your firmware, so it should be straightforward to use the BoB.

Re 7i84
Maybe there is an opening for a UK stockist. It used to be the case that EU suppliers (like eusurplus.com/index.php?route=product/pr..._61_74&product_id=59 ) were just as good, but I am not sure that still works as well)

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05 Jan 2024 14:50 #289869 by Mud
Replied by Mud on topic 7i96s + Chinese BOB on P1
I get a better price buying from the US, but they're out of stock :(

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05 Jan 2024 15:45 #289875 by PCW
Replied by PCW on topic 7i96s + Chinese BOB on P1
7I84Ds are available and Mesa should have 7I84s in a few weeks
You can use 7i96s_5abobd firmware if you want additional step/dir
outputs or PWM/Analog on the Mach3 BOB

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