Mesa 7i96 Ethernet board

The 7I96 inputs are GPIO so are supported but the isolated outputs are driven by a
new AC output firmware module that is not supported yet by hostmot2

It is possible to drive them using the raw-write facility but its a bit awkward:
(this is all setup , done only once)
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_address 0x7e00
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_data 0x1030 # enable AC out, set frequency to 2 MHz
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_strobe true
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_address 0x1100
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_data 0x1f800
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_strobe true
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_address 0x1200
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_strobe true # setup DDR and AltSrc register for AC out bits (same data)
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_address 0x1104
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_data 0x103ff
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_strobe true
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_address 0x1204
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_strobe true
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_address 0x1104
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_strobe true # setup DDR and AltSrc registers for AC drive signal (same data)
halcmd setp hm2_7i96.0.raw.write_address 0x7d00 # set raw write address to point to AC out register

Any subsequent raw-writes now write to 0x7d00 which is the AC out register (bits 0..5 of this register
enable the 7I96s isolated outputs 0..5)

Yes, I think Sebastian will work on it when he has time

Hey guys,

just came back from my vacations, quite effective if we talk about 7I96 card thanks to PCW and Andypugh.
had only laptop, mesa card and little board with leds on it with me and its blinking lol
had no time to play with inputs but four axes outputs are blinking well, so did a little step forward with it

PCW,
can you please share example config file you have for 7i96?
playing with inputs for limit and home switches and have some trouble with founding which physical terminal corresponds to which in pncconf. i'm planning to use home+limit and all other limits as e-stop so need to configure 4 inputs.
i have 2 tabs in pncconf I/O connector 2 and 3 set some pins as limits and home with pin type GPIO input, now EMC is crashing on startup

I don.t think pncconf is going to help much beyond creating a simple starting HAL/ini
file set, however the GPIO/7I96 input mapping with the default firmware is quite simple:

GPIO00 = IN0
GPIO01 = IN1
...
GPIO10 = IN10

LinuxCNC is probably not crashing, it is simply exiting because there is an error in the hal file
(and it will typically print the error and the line number in the hal file where the error occured)

mea culpa.
after playing with same config via pncconf it deleted info about board config and ip.
"crashing" issue fixed, i've added couple of lines to hal, now EMC "see" limits triggered and doesn't allow to turn on machine. tried in and in_not values with same result - can't enable machine
is board "expects" gnd or +5v signal on inputs? tried to connect inputs to com terminal without success.
example file can help me much with understanding eth boards, LPT was much easier

added lines:
# external input signals
# --- ALL-LIMIT ---
net all-limit <= hm2_7i96.0.gpio.000.in
# --- HOME-X ---
net home-x <= hm2_7i96.0.gpio.001.in_not
# --- HOME-Y ---
net home-y <= hm2_7i96.0.gpio.002.in_not
# --- HOME-Z ---
net home-z <= hm2_7i96.0.gpio.003.in_not
# --- HOME-A ---
net home-a <= hm2_7i96.0.gpio.004.in
# --- ESTOP-EXT ---
net estop-ext <= hm2_7i96.0.gpio.005.in

I don't have an example file that uses limits but all of this is standard LinuxCNC hal "wiring"

The first thing I would do is verify that you can get a single switch to work

The 7I96 isolated inputs have a single common pin.

If you have 5V signaling and your switch common is connected to +5V you should connect the 7I96 input common pin to ground, then when a switch is closed (and 5V applied to the input pin)
the corresponding GPIO bit should read high

If you have 5V signaling and your switch common is ground, you should connect the 7I96's input common to +5V
then when a switch is closed (and the 7I96 input pin grounded) the corresponding GPIO bit should read high

You can use the "watch" command in axis to look at the GPIO pins in real time

gotcha, thank you.
wasn't sure what to do with com pin and not mach info about that in board manual too.
will check your clues and leave a note here.

PS.
that was it, input com connected to +5 and giving gnd to inputs changes state of pin in axis. at least triggering e-stop and machine enables.
things looks much better now.
now have to connect inductive switches powered with 12v to 5v board, however this is much easier

I got my board yesterday and upgrade my systom from Ubuntu 12.4 to Debian doing a complete new install via CD.
when I check for the presence of the board i get the following;

stever@debian-LP:~$ uname -a
Linux debian-LP 3.4-9-rtai-686-pae #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 3.4.55-4linuxcnc i686 GNU/Linux
stever@debian-LP:~$ halrun
halcmd: loadrt hostmot2
halcmd: loadrt hm2_eth board_ip=192.168.1.121
<stdin>:2: Can't find module 'hm2_eth' in /usr/realtime-3.4-9-rtai-686-pae/modules/linuxcnc

Is it possible my board needs flashed or is there something else I'm missing?