Installing a new PCI ParaPort in linux?

Hi MAG45,
I just looked at the manual for your breakout board. Do you have power to it and have the jumper set for output on pins 2-9? That you are seeing a little action, it sounds like you have the right address. Once you have the board working and wired like your old board, it should be as simple as putting that address in the standdard_pinout.hal of the configuration you used before. Then your machine should work like it did before.

Best, Dan.

No i didnt have any power going to it, just plugged the cable into it so i knew which pin i was checking. I tried my old BOB with that port address and got no response still. I had to do some work today so i switched it all back to the old on board ParPort, at least i can run it semi manual by jogging that way.

Does it make any sense that it doesnt work with my old BOB if the ParPort address is correct?

Well im completely stuck, havent made and progress. Thinking about installing windows and finding software that will work instead.

Well im completely stuck, havent made and progress. Thinking about installing windows and finding software that will work instead.

You have not sorted out your your hardware, no software will work.

I am not surprised you are confused, you have been all over the place with something that should be a simple process of elimination

Wire your new BOB in place of your old one, on the old port, does that work?

If not attach the D25 cable to your card and change the port address, if you don't know which it is, you had a lot of clues, try all of them.

regards

My old BOB still works with the old ParaPort, Im not going to introduce another issue untill I can Get the new ParaPort to work the same, I have done everything you said and gotten no answers. The only port address that seemed to sort of work doesnt work. If I had a windows OS i wouldnt have to try and find the paraport address, and I could concentrate on the BOB.

Unfortunately I dont know anything about linux, and I didnt get to build the machine the first time, I was in a wheelchair, and a friend did it so im at a total loss of how/why things are wired the way they are. Doesnt help its a total rats nest.

I have done everything you said and gotten no answers.

I am not aware that you have done anything I said, you got sucked into a dead end trying to use port testing software.

Your lspci print gave you 4 addresses, you connect your DB25 cable to your card, open your hal file in gedit and change the port address on the loadrt hal_parport line to each of the addresses in turn if necessary
until you find the one that works
I already advised which were the most likely ones

Don't use stepconf and don't try to test it from stepconf, just edit by hand that one line.

Then start linuxcnc, preferably from a terminal as you will see all the errors and test it from there.
If you just have the one port address in the loadrt line, it will soon tell you if it is invalid, don't put both or you could be physically connected to the wrong one and never get anywhere.

If you don't get errors on start then take it out of estop and switch on and test it

The Machine > HAL Configuration menu will let you look at the parport pins when for instance you trigger your limits on and off, so you can be sure it works

regards

ArcEye wrote:

I have done everything you said and gotten no answers.

I am not aware that you have done anything I said, you got sucked into a dead end trying to use port testing software.

Your lspci print gave you 4 addresses, you connect your DB25 cable to your card, open your hal file in gedit and change the port address on the loadrt hal_parport line to each of the addresses in turn if necessary
until you find the one that works
I already advised which were the most likely ones

---I did this, none of the addresses it gave did anything other then the one that allowed me to make the GUI go live

Don't use stepconf and don't try to test it from stepconf, just edit by hand that one line.

---Thats what i did, just edited the hal file not using stepconfig wizard

Then start linuxcnc, preferably from a terminal as you will see all the errors and test it from there.
If you just have the one port address in the loadrt line, it will soon tell you if it is invalid, don't put both or you could be physically connected to the wrong one and never get anywhere.

---Dont know how to start LinuxCNC from terminal, but If you can explain I will try that

If you don't get errors on start then take it out of estop and switch on and test it

The Machine > HAL Configuration menu will let you look at the parport pins when for instance you trigger your limits on and off, so you can be sure it works

regards

I was only replacing this Paraport because it was possible the original had damage nothing proven, Im wondering if i should abandon it for now, use the onboard port and install the new BOB, then come back to this later.

I think that was what I suggested in the first place

www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum...linux?start=30#57361

It was determined my BOB and possibly Paraport were bad

If you don't even know if your port or your BOB or both are damaged, you have to start somewhere to find out what needs replacing.

I don't know how it was determined, or by whom and on what basis

My initial problem was random limit errors in the middle of a program it would say a limit switch was active. The guys at CNCzone said it may be the ParaPort.