Mesa 5i25 and 7176 getting started

Hi Guys,

I'm really new to Linuxcnc and Linux for that matter, still finding my way around. I've just received my new mesa 5i25 pci card with 7i76 daughter board.

I've loaded linux 10.04 and linuxcnc with a live cd. I have then updated to Linuxcnc to 2.6 (forget the version).

I installed the 5i25 into the pci slot and powered on the system expecting to see at least 1 of the leds to power up... hmm nothing, so I load linux cnc, nothing... I then read about hostmot2 not having the 5i25 firmware?? god knows why? I downloaded a 5i25 firmware zip file, unzipped and placed it in the hm2 folder in the firmware file.

When I run the PNConfig I can see the options for 5i25 with 7i76, i go through all the procedures to set up a test machine etc. I can then open and run a test machine, but I there never seems to be any leds on the 5i25 card.

I must state at this point I haven't yet wired anything in, I've connected the 7i76 with the supplied cable, but I'd expect some sort of indication that things are ok before I wire in stuff to test.

Any pointers?

If you bought a 5I25 with a 7I76, the 5I25 will already have the proper firmware
installed so nothing need be done in regards to 5I25 firmware

The 5I25 has 6 LEDS

2 are basically error LEDS (/DONE and /INIT both red) These should blink briefly at power up,

There are 4 green user LEDs, these will only be illuminated if commanded
by the host.

So no LEDs on the 5I25 is a good sign

Thanks for the reply!

Yes I bought both cards together.

Regarding the /DONE and /INIT red led's, I've watched the card when the machine is powered up and nothing happens.

I will try to connect some inputs and outputs and do some bench testing.

I was wondering if it was possible to include the gmoccapy gui in the PNCconfig? At the moment I don't have the option. My end machine would ideally have the gmoccapy gui.

I think maybe 1 of the first things I might add is a simple MPG as this is the feature I'd really like to get working properly, mach3 didn't really cut it for me with the unreliable mpg, so I'm hoping linuxcnc will be better?

Thanks for the info JT. Point taken, always read the manual I will give it a go when I'm back into it

The 7i76 has a MPG input, do you have a real 100ppr MPG? I have a selector switch for axes and one for increments, makes it easy to move around fast or with precision.

Yes I have a proper MPG hand wheel with 100 pulses per rev. The configuration you mention is what I'm looking to achieve. I also want to have selector switches for FRO and spindle speed over ride unless this can also be achieved by using the MPG also?

Thanks for the link JT. They don't mean a whole lot to me at the minute as I'm not quite at that stage, however I'm sure the files will be invaluable once I'm setting up my machine