ExpressCard Parallelport I/O disabled, adress??

Hello everyone

I ' ve recently bought an expresscard parallelport to control my CNC mill over my laptop computer.
But I have a problem. I am using EMC2 with Ubuntu 10.04 (installed via emc2 live cd). The laptop is a acer aspire 5710.

When I try to find out the adress of my card (which has an Oxford Chip (should be "real" pci, not usb)) via lspci -v I get the following message:

02:00.0 Parallel controller: Oxford Semiconductor Ltd Device c000 (prog-if 02)
Subsystem: Oxford Semiconductor Ltd Device c000
Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 2000 [disabled]
I/O ports at 2008 [disabled]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: parport_pc
Kernel modules: parport_pc

PS: It's DELOCK card and it says that it is compatible with linux

The output adresses are 2000 or 2008? Why does it say "disabled" and how can I enable it???
As much as I know I have to edit a .hal file. Where can I find this file?

Sorry if this was already discussed somewhere but I didn't find anything similar .

Thanks for your help

Thanks, but I did some testing and it seemed to be pretty good.

I'd like to run the machine over my laptop, so it would be nice if someone could help.

Thanks

You might try looking here...

wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?TroubleShooting

There is some info on the parallel port plus look at the info on plug and play, might be better to set plug and play off.

As John pointed out many people have been disappointed with lap tops.

Rick G

Thanks

The parallelport is working now (outputs enabled) (problem with BIOS). I was able to test the output with a LED attached to the optos and I get good direction signals. But now I have another problem:

There seems to be no step signal pulses on the output. I used HAL calibration tool of EMC2 to check the outputs. There is the same problem: the virtual direction control light is blinking when moving the axis, but nothing happens with the step "lights"??!

Does someone know why I don't have any step signals??

Here is my .hal file (i don't see anything wrong?)

# Erstellt von stepconf am Sun Sep 12 18:41:21 2010
# Änderungen an dieser Datei werden beim nächsten
# Aufruf von stepconf überschrieben.
loadrt trivkins
loadrt [EMCMOT]EMCMOT base_period_nsec=[EMCMOT]BASE_PERIOD servo_period_nsec=[EMCMOT]SERVO_PERIOD num_joints=[TRAJ]AXES
loadrt probe_parport
loadrt hal_parport cfg="0x2000 out "
setp parport.0.reset-time 500
loadrt stepgen step_type=0,0,0
loadrt pwmgen output_type=0

addf parport.0.read base-thread
addf stepgen.make-pulses base-thread
addf pwmgen.make-pulses base-thread
addf parport.0.write base-thread
addf parport.0.reset base-thread

addf stepgen.capture-position servo-thread
addf motion-command-handler servo-thread
addf motion-controller servo-thread
addf stepgen.update-freq servo-thread
addf pwmgen.update servo-thread

net spindle-cmd <= motion.spindle-speed-out => pwmgen.0.value
net spindle-enable <= motion.spindle-on => pwmgen.0.enable
net spindle-pwm <= pwmgen.0.pwm
setp pwmgen.0.pwm-freq 100.0
setp pwmgen.0.scale 1166.66666667
setp pwmgen.0.offset 0.114285714286
setp pwmgen.0.dither-pwm true
net spindle-cw <= motion.spindle-forward

net estop-out => parport.0.pin-01-out
net xstep => parport.0.pin-02-out
setp parport.0.pin-02-out-reset 1
net xdir => parport.0.pin-03-out
net ystep => parport.0.pin-04-out
setp parport.0.pin-04-out-reset 1
net ydir => parport.0.pin-05-out
net zstep => parport.0.pin-06-out
setp parport.0.pin-06-out-reset 1
net zdir => parport.0.pin-07-out
net astep => parport.0.pin-08-out
setp parport.0.pin-08-out-reset 1
net adir => parport.0.pin-09-out
net spindle-cw => parport.0.pin-14-out
net spindle-pwm => parport.0.pin-16-out
net xenable => parport.0.pin-17-out




setp stepgen.0.position-scale [AXIS_0]SCALE
setp stepgen.0.steplen 1
setp stepgen.0.stepspace 0
setp stepgen.0.dirhold 29000
setp stepgen.0.dirsetup 26000
setp stepgen.0.maxaccel [AXIS_0]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL
net xpos-cmd axis.0.motor-pos-cmd => stepgen.0.position-cmd
net xpos-fb stepgen.0.position-fb => axis.0.motor-pos-fb
net xstep <= stepgen.0.step
net xdir <= stepgen.0.dir
net xenable axis.0.amp-enable-out => stepgen.0.enable

setp stepgen.1.position-scale [AXIS_1]SCALE
setp stepgen.1.steplen 1
setp stepgen.1.stepspace 0
setp stepgen.1.dirhold 29000
setp stepgen.1.dirsetup 26000
setp stepgen.1.maxaccel [AXIS_1]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL
net ypos-cmd axis.1.motor-pos-cmd => stepgen.1.position-cmd
net ypos-fb stepgen.1.position-fb => axis.1.motor-pos-fb
net ystep <= stepgen.1.step
net ydir <= stepgen.1.dir
net yenable axis.1.amp-enable-out => stepgen.1.enable

setp stepgen.2.position-scale [AXIS_2]SCALE
setp stepgen.2.steplen 1
setp stepgen.2.stepspace 0
setp stepgen.2.dirhold 29000
setp stepgen.2.dirsetup 26000
setp stepgen.2.maxaccel [AXIS_2]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL
net zpos-cmd axis.2.motor-pos-cmd => stepgen.2.position-cmd
net zpos-fb stepgen.2.position-fb => axis.2.motor-pos-fb
net zstep <= stepgen.2.step
net zdir <= stepgen.2.dir
net zenable axis.2.amp-enable-out => stepgen.2.enable

net estop-out <= iocontrol.0.user-enable-out
net estop-out => iocontrol.0.emc-enable-in

loadusr -W hal_manualtoolchange
net tool-change iocontrol.0.tool-change => hal_manualtoolchange.change
net tool-changed iocontrol.0.tool-changed <= hal_manualtoolchange.changed
net tool-number iocontrol.0.tool-prep-number => hal_manualtoolchange.number
net tool-prepare-loopback iocontrol.0.tool-prepare => iocontrol.0.tool-prepared



Thanks for your help

Did you try this?

wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Parallel_Port_Tester

Rick G

Thank you very much Rick

I run the testprogramm with LED attached to the optos and all LEDs blinked. What a relief. That means the expresscard adapter is ok

That means it is a software problem?

What else could prevent EMC2 from correctly accessing the output ports?


Thank you for your help

Dave

Did you use StepConf to create your files, or are you using sample files?
If you are using StepConf make sure you have all the signals correct.

Rick G

Yeah, I'm using stepconf to create my .hal file


But I also tried it with an example configuration file: the same problem!

???

how do you check the outputs ?
Do you have any measuring device ?
Or do you just see your axis are not moving ?
In a previous post, you mention, there is no step pulse. Do you see the direction ouput changing, when you jog to different directions ?
In your hal file I see a reset time of 500 (ns).
Be aware that you will generate output pulses of 0.5 usec. This might be too short for optocouplers or some stepper devices.

Gerd