Can Linux control a Logosol analog drive?

Henk wrote:

If you want to use a uart on a mesa card, would that require special firmware on the fbga card?

Yes, though there might well be a suitable firmware available already. 

Look for a bitfile with "UA" somewhere in the filename. 

The Logosol drives communicate over RS-485 using their LDCN (Logosol Device Control Network) protocol.

The protocol is pretty simple, though I'm more familiar with their LS-231SE drives, which have a 256 point path-point buffer.

Alternatively, the drives can be controlled via step & dir or ±10V.

I have a large number of LS-173E drives, which seem almost identical to the LS-131-2010 in the picture. Unfortunately these simpler drives have no step/dir or analog input, so the RS-485 command language is the only option. Logosol very admirably continues to make their (now quite old) software and documentation freely available for download. I've tested the drives under Linux using their software in a Windows XP VirtualBox VM, with USB passthrough to an RS-485 dongle.