Firmware File for 7i76e + 7i78

Hello all,

I am running a 7i76e in a cnc milling machine with an atc. To add a sinkEDM feature to the machine I want to use the adaptive feed function and a "virtual encoder" (Stm32 generated sqare wave signal) for controlling the forward and reverse of the GCode.
For this I decided to add a second encoder input. There are no free inputs left on the 7i76e. So I went with the 7i78.

What kind of firmware does the 7i76e require to run with the 7i78? I can see that there is a 7i76e_7i78x1PD.bit but also a 7i76e_7i76x1_7i78x1D.bit file. Which one should I use? I tried the first firmware but the card was not recognized. Do I have to change anything in the .hal file (since it it as passive extension card)?

When I used the 7i76e_7i76x1_7i78x1D.bit firmware, my spindle encoder on the 7i76e did not work anymore....

Thanks for any tipps or hints.
 

The 7I78 card is passive so "7I78" will not show up anywhere in hal
the new encoder on the 7i78 will be hm2_7i76e.0,encoder.01.xxxxx

Hi

Thanks for the help.
Just modified my HAL file accordingly.
This fixed it

Had to change "num_encoders =" to 2 and now the encoder is recognized.

Cheers,
D

I'm trying to set up the same thing for a 6th stepgen.  Would you mind sharing your .hal file.  When I set num_stepgens=6, it says only 5 available.

Thanks

Did you update the 7I76E firmware with 7i76e_7i76x1_7i78x1D.bit?

No. Trying to figure out how to do that with 7i76e_7i78x1PD.bit. AFAICT there is mesaflash or you can specify the firmware to load in the hal file. The former isn't available on my (mint) installation and not available on apt-get, so I assume obsolete. Trying to figure out where to place the file so the loadrt hm2_eth config can find it.

You must update the 7I76E flash memory with mesaflash.
Only on very old cards (5I20, 7I43 etc) can you specify the
firmware on the driver command line.

mesaflash --device 7i76e --addr [card_IP_address] --write 7i76e_7i76x1_7i78x1D.bit

If you flash the correct firmware with mesaflash (make sure you use the latest mesaflash tool) you can just add it in the hal file as you have written in the post above. I changed my hal file: num_encoders=1 to num_encoders=2. That is it (if you use the right firmware on the card).

There is a nice overview for the mesaflash tool. www.mankier.com/1/mesaflash

Thanks for your help. I had something weird going on were apt couldn't find mesaflash on my linux mint machine. I built from git and it worked. Subsequently I decided to do a fresh install of the iso and mesaflash is no available on apt.