I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
25 Oct 2011 17:47 #14240
by Harry_Y
I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2) was created by Harry_Y
About 6-7 years ago I bough a Sherline Mill, and was originally using
EMC but had problems with the electronics (but no fault with EMC)
Through trying to get the electronics straightened out, I wound up
using DeskCNC, then wound up putting it all in storage for a while.
Recently I loaded up EMC2 and was quite impressed with it.
So now I'm thinking about switching back to EMC.
I would need to rebuild the current computer since
what I have now is older hardware (old p3 600)
The main questions I have are:
How stable is the current EMC2 (on Ubuntu 10.04)?
What motherboard would you suggest purchasing to ensure EMC runs well?
Thank you
EMC but had problems with the electronics (but no fault with EMC)
Through trying to get the electronics straightened out, I wound up
using DeskCNC, then wound up putting it all in storage for a while.
Recently I loaded up EMC2 and was quite impressed with it.
So now I'm thinking about switching back to EMC.
I would need to rebuild the current computer since
what I have now is older hardware (old p3 600)
The main questions I have are:
How stable is the current EMC2 (on Ubuntu 10.04)?
What motherboard would you suggest purchasing to ensure EMC runs well?
Thank you
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25 Oct 2011 19:14 #14243
by BigJohnT
Replied by BigJohnT on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
If it has a CD drive see if one of the LiveCD's will boot. If the hardware is too old a popular motherboard is the D525 Atom at about $60. It has good latency, built in parallel port and a pci slot.
EMC2 version 2.4.7 is very polished and stable. Version 2.5 is in the wings waiting for some cleanup work to be done.
In case you missed it there are Sherline sample configs that you can copy and get you up and running fast.
I assume steppers, what kind of drives do you have?
John
EMC2 version 2.4.7 is very polished and stable. Version 2.5 is in the wings waiting for some cleanup work to be done.
In case you missed it there are Sherline sample configs that you can copy and get you up and running fast.
I assume steppers, what kind of drives do you have?
John
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25 Oct 2011 19:22 - 25 Oct 2011 19:25 #14247
by Harry_Y
Replied by Harry_Y on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
Thank you
I was pleasantly surprised to see how far EMC has come
I'm a fan of Linux and open source so I'd rather go with EMC over what I have
The driver is currently an older Xylotex Unipolar driver board
Though I'm considering upgrading to a Gecko g540 driver.
I will have to load up the Live CD and see it it works on the current PC.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how far EMC has come
I'm a fan of Linux and open source so I'd rather go with EMC over what I have
The driver is currently an older Xylotex Unipolar driver board
Though I'm considering upgrading to a Gecko g540 driver.
I will have to load up the Live CD and see it it works on the current PC.
Last edit: 25 Oct 2011 19:25 by Harry_Y.
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25 Oct 2011 20:25 #14252
by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
Harry_Y wrote:
Old is not necessarily bad where EMC2 is concerned. Try both LiveCDs (10.04 and 8.04) and see if they work and give decent latency.
You can probably just start up the Sherline sample config on each one, and see how it goes.
I would need to rebuild the current computer since
what I have now is older hardware (old p3 600)
Old is not necessarily bad where EMC2 is concerned. Try both LiveCDs (10.04 and 8.04) and see if they work and give decent latency.
You can probably just start up the Sherline sample config on each one, and see how it goes.
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25 Oct 2011 23:03 #14259
by BigJohnT
Replied by BigJohnT on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
The new Mesa 5i25 can drive the G540 directly and is really cost effective and neat way to do that. Iirc there is a xylotex config too...
John
John
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25 Oct 2011 23:42 #14261
by Harry_Y
Replied by Harry_Y on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
andypugh wrote:
It did not seem to like the 10.04 one, I'm pulling down 8.04 now
BTW I run Ubunti 10.04 as my main OS at home
Though I'm a Windows Server Admin for my day job
I'm not a real fan of Windows for critical apps
Harry_Y wrote:
I would need to rebuild the current computer since
what I have now is older hardware (old p3 600)
Old is not necessarily bad where EMC2 is concerned. Try both LiveCDs (10.04 and 8.04) and see if they work and give decent latency.
You can probably just start up the Sherline sample config on each one, and see how it goes.
It did not seem to like the 10.04 one, I'm pulling down 8.04 now
BTW I run Ubunti 10.04 as my main OS at home
Though I'm a Windows Server Admin for my day job
I'm not a real fan of Windows for critical apps
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25 Oct 2011 23:47 #14262
by Harry_Y
Replied by Harry_Y on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
BigJohnT wrote:
Interesting
is it basically a fully configurable I/O card?
The new Mesa 5i25 can drive the G540 directly and is really cost effective and neat way to do that. Iirc there is a xylotex config too...
John
Interesting
is it basically a fully configurable I/O card?
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26 Oct 2011 11:38 #14281
by BigJohnT
Replied by BigJohnT on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
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26 Oct 2011 12:49 #14295
by Harry_Y
Replied by Harry_Y on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
BigJohnT wrote:
From what i am reading it is basically an I/O card that is fully configurable
like a Parallel port only better
I don't understand your question.
www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/5i25man.pdf
John
From what i am reading it is basically an I/O card that is fully configurable
like a Parallel port only better
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26 Oct 2011 13:04 #14297
by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Re:I'm thinking about switching back to EMC (EMC2)
Harry_Y wrote:
It is more and less, than that.
It does on-board step-generation, PWM generation and encoder counting, all up to MHz frequencies, like the other Mesa cards.
So, it can emulate what a parallel port would look like connected to a computer with 100nS latency (20,000nS is more usual).
It can also be configured to be individual IO lines, or to connect to various daughter cards (such as the 32 + 16 GPIO, encoder, stepper, spindle-drive 7i76)
However, Unlike the other Mesa FPGA cards it is not possible to switch the onboard configuration file from within EMC2. (You can set pins to be inputs and outputs, but not change which stepgen/encoder/pwm modules are loaded)
One available configuration will wire direct 1:1 to a Gecko G540 though.
There are two ports on the board, (the second is on a header and needs a scond backplate) you can have different configs on each port
From what i am reading it is basically an I/O card that is fully configurable
like a Parallel port only better
It is more and less, than that.
It does on-board step-generation, PWM generation and encoder counting, all up to MHz frequencies, like the other Mesa cards.
So, it can emulate what a parallel port would look like connected to a computer with 100nS latency (20,000nS is more usual).
It can also be configured to be individual IO lines, or to connect to various daughter cards (such as the 32 + 16 GPIO, encoder, stepper, spindle-drive 7i76)
However, Unlike the other Mesa FPGA cards it is not possible to switch the onboard configuration file from within EMC2. (You can set pins to be inputs and outputs, but not change which stepgen/encoder/pwm modules are loaded)
One available configuration will wire direct 1:1 to a Gecko G540 though.
There are two ports on the board, (the second is on a header and needs a scond backplate) you can have different configs on each port
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