LitexCNC: firmware and driver for 5A-75B and 5A-75E

NOTE: Suffix 

[cli]

 required!
The suffix 

[cli]

 is required to install the command-line interface. Without this suffix the scripts referenced below will not work.

• GPIO
• Stepgen
• PWM / PDM
• Encoders

• 3 I/O connectors:
  • each 17 pins of freely addressable inputs / outputs;
  • selectable 10 kOhm pull-down or pull-up resistor;
  • optional 5V power supply on the connector;
• 2 RS489 connectors for communication with VFD's or other peripherals (powered by Rasberry Pi);
• number of GPIO can be extended by using serial connection through the three I/O connectors (up to 64 GPIO per serial channel);
• eco-system of break-out boards designed for the HUB75HAT is under development. Currently the following boards are available:
  • BOB4STEPGEN: 4 differential stepgen drivers with ENA, DIR, PULSE outputs and ALARM input. The board also has 4 inputs for homing switches, which can be individually selected to be either NPN or PNP.
  • BOB4ENCODER: 4 differential encoders with A, B and Z (index) channels. Per channel it can be selected whether it is differential or single ended, allowing re-use of possible unused channels. This board also features connectors for serial daughter boards for expanding GPIO or attaching other sensors.

• the space around the 40 pin connector of the HAT is a bit tight with the mounting points of the RPi. The solution to work with the current board is to use plastic stand-offs and cut part of these away.
• the enable signal should be inverted on the board, because the buffer Output Enable (OE) is active LOW. I rather send a HIGH signal to the board to enable it (safety).
• enable LED is not working (can also be a problem with the buffer IC, had some trouble with soldering this buffer). However, even if this LED was working, it would indicate that the board would be disabled (see previous point);
• The 3 I/O headers do not have space for shrouded headers. Instead, I chose to use colored pin headers to show the different functions of the pins;

• install_litex: DEPRECATED, the functionality has been transferred to install_toolchain.
• install_toolchain: Also installs Litex, and on a RaspberryPi also OpenOCD.
• flash_firmware: Flashes the firmware to the LED-card using OpenOCD. Designed for flashing with a RaspberryPi, however other adapters can also be selected by their name.
  

• An updated watchdog module with an enable pin. This enable pin is HIGH as long the watchdog is happy. It will go LOW when the watchdog bites, for example when the communication gets disrupted. This enable pin can be used to control / disable buffers to bring the machine to a safe state. When recompiling a card, modification of the configuration file is required.
• Several bug-fixes:
  • in the CLI (correct detection of 64-bit RPi);
  • PWM does not generate errors / warning at compilation;
  • pin numbering of HUB75HAT has been corrected (connectors were mirrored);
  • resolved error with GPIO when there are only inputs or outputs defined..

TOLP2 wrote:

the space around the 40 pin connector of the HAT is a bit tight with the mounting points of the RPi. The solution to work with the current board is to use plastic stand-offs and cut part of these away.

TOLP2 wrote:

the space around the 40 pin connector of the HAT is a bit tight with the mounting points of the RPi. The solution to work with the current board is to use plastic stand-offs and cut part of these away.


imo,just dont do it that way. it makes everything tall and awkward, and honestly it sucks this way. PCW said for the new 7c81, he offset the bottom header so its not longer like that
 

• my machine is only a 3 axis machine with 4 joints (there is a slave axis);
• to dial in a machine, more information is required.

pip install litexcnc[cli]
litexcnc install_toolchain
litexcnc install_driver

{
    "board_name": "example",
    "board_type": "5A-75E v6.0",
    "clock_frequency": 40000000,
    "connection": {
        "connection_type": "etherbone",
        "tx_delay": 0,
        "ip_address": "10.0.0.10",
        "mac_address": "0x10e2d5000000"
    },
    "watchdog": {
        "pin":"j1:8"
    },
    "modules": [
    {
        "module_type": "stepgen",
        "instance": [
            {
                "pins" : {
                    "stepgen_type": "step_dir",
                    "step_pin": "j1:0",
                    "dir_pin": "j1:1"
                },
                "soft_stop": true
            }, {
                "pins" : {
                    "stepgen_type": "step_dir",
                    "step_pin": "j2:0",
                    "dir_pin": "j2:1"
                },
                "soft_stop": true
            }, {
                "pins" : {
                    "stepgen_type": "step_dir",
                    "step_pin": "j3:0",
                    "dir_pin": "j3:1"
                },
                "soft_stop": true
            }, {
                "pins" : {
                    "stepgen_type": "step_dir",
                    "step_pin": "j4:0",
                    "dir_pin": "j4:1"
                },
                "soft_stop": true
            }
        ]
    ]
}

litexcnc build_firmware sample_config.json -a --build
cd example/gateware
litexcnc flash_firmware <filename-with-extension-svf>

loadrt litexcnc connections="eth:10.0.0.10"
show pin
show param
show function