Mesa 7i96 Ethernet board

So when the channel is high, OUT+ would be closed to OUT-?

Yes

Is there any downside to compiling the 7196 branch? If I compile for the 7i96 am I going to have an issue swapping to say a 7i76e on the same version?

There should be no disadvantage other than that at some point (soon)
it will be merged with master so you would need to change to master to
get the latest updates.

( The 7I96 branch is a full master branch with support for all LinuxCNC hardware
so the 7I76E should just work )

I have the 7i96 branch compiled on mint 18.3 and a 4.9 preempt kernel. Wasn't really as big of a deal as I thhhought.

The 7i76e did just work out of the box with an INI from my last build after the migration that 2.8 pre1 seems to need because of the new joint thing it has going on.

Now about the 7i96:
Is the SSR output on the 7i96 capable of the same switching speed as the (transistor?) output on the 7i76e?

Also since there is no analog out on the 7i96, are the step channels capable of being reconfigured to PWM with a bitfile change like the 7i76e was supposedly capable of? I haven't tried to tackle that yet but I'd like to know that it's capable. My thought is using a Clearpath servo in PWM torque or velocity mode as a drive motor similar to speed control for a spindle. The Clearpaths don't accept analog anyway.

The 7I96 SSR outputs are about as fast as the 7I76E field outputs (5 KHz or so max)

Yes, step/dir outputs can be traded for other output functions. I just have not had time
to make a full set of optional bit files for the 7I96. Additional features coming are
programmable debounce and MPG options on the inputs.
( And of course support for additional daughtercards on the expansion connector )

Hello
I am trying to build a Cnc with Linux cnc and plane to buy a mesa card 7i96.
To understand the chalenge, will the control of the 3 stepper motor work if
I install linuxcnc
Configure the network
Plug the mesa card
?

I mean, is there a default configuration that define to wire the x axis on the tb1 step0 and so on?
Or is it much more complicate?

If so what howto do you recommand ,

Many thanks for all your future advice

andypugh wrote:

Ewok2 wrote:

Hello
I am trying to build a Cnc with Linux cnc and plane to buy a mesa card 7i96.
To understand the chalenge, will the control of the 3 stepper motor work if
I install linuxcnc
Configure the network
Plug the mesa card

There will be a bit more needed than that. But help is available both from this forum and from the IRC.

You need to install the Uspace version of LinuxCNC, I would strongly advocate using the disk image here:
www.linuxcnc.org/testing-stretch-rtpreempt/

The 7i96 configuration will look a lot like a 7i76E configuration. You may only need to change the [HOSTMOT2]BOARD entry in the INI.

Does that contain the changes necessary to get the 7i96 working? As PCW said, I'm running the 7i96 branch of 2.8pre which I assumed was required, other than the workarounds listed earlier.

Yes, even with the Stretch ISO you need to update to 2.8 to get the driver support for the 7I96 isolated outputs (the Stretch ISO comes with LinuxCNC 2.7)

You can do this (install 2.8) by just fetching the 2.8 binary from the buildbot