Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

rodw
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04 Dec 2023 06:05 #287167 by rodw

Replied by rodw on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

Probably the most important value to note is the steps per in Mach3
This is equivalent to Linuxcnc's STEP_SCALE in the ini file

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hpeyerl
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05 Dec 2023 13:24 #287271 by hpeyerl

Replied by hpeyerl on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

Thanks.

While I wait for my card to arrive, I was playing with 'mesact', configuring the joints. When I configure 'scale', it appears in the file as "SCALE = " instead of "STEP_SCALE". From the documentation, it appears these two are maybe the same?

Anyway, I spent the day yesterday trying to get Debian to boot on my PC's so I could try pncconfig.

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PCW
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05 Dec 2023 16:13 #287286 by PCW

Replied by PCW on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

INI file names are mostly arbitrary, the important thing is how they are used in the hal file.

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hpeyerl
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14 Dec 2023 18:17 #288145 by hpeyerl

Replied by hpeyerl on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

> the configuration would be a bit odd because the stepgens
on the 7I96S's expansion connector start at stepgens 5.

If I understand you correctly, I can connect a 26pin ribbon cable from P1 to the IDC connector on my custom controller (photo above) and then configure P1 pin functions to add extra stepgens for my X/Y/Z/A instead of using the ones on TB1/TB2.

I received my 7i96s yesterday and just powered it up. I was able to do --readhmid and the angels did sing.

So I found some 26pin idc connectors and fabbed a 1:1 ribbon cable. Now I'm in pncconf and find myself confused because I want to set 036 (pin 2) to a Stepgen but I don't really see a way to do that. The 'function' drop-down doesn't seem to have any applicable options that will let me set the pin type to an output (as opposed to an input). It feels like I'm in the wrong place or I misunderstand what you said.

I'll keep reading.

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PCW
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14 Dec 2023 18:54 #288148 by PCW

Replied by PCW on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

Here is firmware that puts stepgens 0..4 onto the P1 expansion connector
With this firmware installed you should be able to use pncconf for standard
7i96s_d firmware and have the stepgens 0..4 end up connected properly
to P1 (verify with the included pinout file)

Any GPIO inputs and outputs on P1 would still be setup normally

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File Name: 7i96s_5abobdr.zip
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hpeyerl
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14 Dec 2023 19:25 - 14 Dec 2023 19:31 #288149 by hpeyerl

Replied by hpeyerl on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

Awesome. Ok so now readhmid is telling me there are StepGen's on P1

[code][code][code]IO Connections for P1 -> 7I96_2
Pin#                  I/O   Pri. func    Sec. func        Chan     Sec. Pin func   Sec. Pin Dir

P1-01/DB25-01          34   IOPort       PWM              1        PWM             (Out)
P1-02/DB25-14          35   IOPort       None
P1-03/DB25-02          36   IOPort       StepGen          0        Step/Table1     (Out)
P1-04/DB25-15          37   IOPort       None
P1-05/DB25-03          38   IOPort       StepGen          0        Dir/Table2      (Out)
P1-06/DB25-16          39   IOPort       StepGen          4        Step/Table1     (Out)
P1-07/DB25-04          40   IOPort       StepGen          1        Step/Table1     (Out)
P1-08/DB25-17          41   IOPort       StepGen          4        Dir/Table2      (Out)
P1-09/DB25-05          42   IOPort       StepGen          1        Dir/Table2      (Out)
P1-11/DB25-06          43   IOPort       StepGen          2        Step/Table1     (Out)
P1-13/DB25-07          44   IOPort       StepGen          2        Dir/Table2      (Out)
P1-15/DB25-08          45   IOPort       StepGen          3        Step/Table1     (Out)
P1-17/DB25-09          46   IOPort       StepGen          3        Dir/Table2      (Out)
P1-19/DB25-10          47   IOPort       None
P1-21/DB25-11          48   IOPort       QCount           1        Quad-A          (In)
P1-23/DB25-12          49   IOPort       QCount           1        Quad-B          (In)
P1-25/DB25-13          50   IOPort       QCount           1        Quad-IDX        (In)

[/code][/code][/code]

Not sure what I should be seeing in pncconf:

Last edit: 14 Dec 2023 19:31 by hpeyerl.

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PCW
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14 Dec 2023 19:57 #288153 by PCW

Replied by PCW on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

Pncconf doesnt know about that firmware configuration so just setup
stepgens 0..N as X,Y,Z etc (the firmware routes these to the correct pins)

7I96S I/O will work as normal

The GPIO on P1 can be set up to match what misc ins/outs are present
on the breakout board

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hpeyerl
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14 Dec 2023 21:10 #288165 by hpeyerl

Replied by hpeyerl on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

oh ok. cool! You'll be surprised to hear it didn't "just work". I tried to 'tune' each axis and saw no movement.

Anyway, will start to dig now. I'm in new (for me) territory.

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PCW
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14 Dec 2023 21:40 #288171 by PCW

Replied by PCW on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

Note that a very common cause for no movement is too short step pulses
(Don't use the manufacturers minimum values)

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hpeyerl
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14 Dec 2023 22:13 - 14 Dec 2023 22:14 #288174 by hpeyerl

Replied by hpeyerl on topic Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

When I'm tuning on X and put my scope on P1:3, I see -3v with periodic pulses up to 0v seemingly corresponding to the tuning cycles with a 1s pause between cycles. P1:5 seems to alternate between -3v and 0v.

However, nothing seems to be happening on the STEP pin of the Gecko 201.

Also, strangeness. When I click on Tune, my linuxcnc machine stops pinging. It restarts again when the test stops. This suggests that the IP stack is being pre-empted maybe?

I tried setting the driver type to 'Sherline' (because the pulse lengths are far longer) but still no movement. The pulses are 10us.

Last edit: 14 Dec 2023 22:14 by hpeyerl.

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Will a Mesa 7i96s work in my case?

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