Mesa Card Basics

1A is more than enough
( Ignoring added Encoder or Expansion board load, the 7I96S only draws about 200 mA)

Hello there,
i am a new user of linuxcnc, recently i purchased a Mesa 7i92T card to go with the two 5 Axis Chinese bobs i already had for the plasma machine that it needs to control.
i am bit confused and can't find my answer anywhere.
are the step/dir outputs also capable of being an input? or do i need a different bob for all the end stop/switches etc.?

cheers, Robbin

Any IO pins that aren't used for a specific purpose revert to IO pins.

Just be sure that the second BoB you get supports changing the 8 pit port to either input or output, other wise you'll be stuck with 12 outputs & 5 inputs per card.

Something such as this is a example:
cnc4pc.com/bi-directional-parallel-port-card.html

This is one I have, unfortunately out os stock:
www.homanndesigns.com/index.php?main_pag...nqrjh2mun1b5lp4aubc2

This is the one i have, probably not suitable for what i want?

It'd be ok for driving the steppers and some extra outputs and 5 inputs. Really depends on how inputs you need.

That's the common "Mach 5 axis" breakout board (BOB)
that's compatible with 7I92t_5abob.bin firmware.
It does have 5 inputs