DMM Servo DMB4250-8B Breakout Board Compatibility

I'm considering the DMM servo kit and wanted to know if the breakout board DMB4250-8B attaches directly to the parallel port of the computer?

In other words, no additional cards(mesa, etc) or hardware needed in the computer? I just want to be clear before I dive in.

Product link: www.dmm-tech.com/multiaxissolutions2.html

It can connect directly to a parallel port, but in that case you will also have the usual software step generation speed limitations, that go along with such a setup. I think you could also have the option of using one of Mesa's DB-25 FPGA cards (5i25, 7i92...) to get hardware step generation for high speeds with high resolution.

Thanks. Dumb followup question...

Does LinuxCNC "close the loop"? meaning, all PID Control is processed in LinuxCNC? Do the servo drives merely send the feedback signals through all the hardware in between the drives and LinuxCNC?

With that board there would be no feedback to Linuxcnc. The loop is only closed between the motors and the drives. For that setup (or any made to work with Mach3/4), it will only look like a simple stepper system to Linuxcnc.

To close the position loop with Linuxcnc and a DMM product, you would need to use their DYN4 drives, and use a hardware interface capable of reading the drives encoder feedback (such as a Mesa 5i25+7i77 combo) instead of DMM-Tech's breakout board.