slowly making progress. but still a long way to go.

here is my .hal and .ini files.  

You should post actual . hal and .ini files here, not .doc files

 

i apologize for the doc files. i will have to post the config files when i am in front of that machine tomorrow. i ssh into that machine from my office to play with the halcmd and i have to copy/paste the files to some kind of editor. and the files i tried to upload they didn't accept so i converted it to doc so it would take it. i hate anything doc anyway. not a big fan of anything that bill guy makes. as far as the machine goes, i will verify the wiring and try again. one question i have is; is the spindle light on tb2, on the mesa 7i96s supposed to come on when i turn on the spindle? is that normal? i mean there is nothing physically connected to it. so why would that light come on? i know there is a way i can change that. but i am at the mercy of you fellows for now until i can get more familiar with this awesome program. and i am still learning hal to be able to spot if something is connected or not. this speed control is not that big of a deal for me. if i get it working through the mesa board fine but if not i am not going to sweat it. i was just going through the manual for that drive (for the tenth time at least) and i can control the speed with a pot if thats the way i have to go for now. its a mountain of information to go through and i only started a couple months ago with linuxcnc. and its not in laymen terms. and i am a layperst.

one question i have is; is the spindle light on tb2, on the mesa 7i96s supposed to come on when i turn on the spindle? is that normal?

Yes, that is normal, it is an indicator to show that that output is activated.
 (all TB3 inputs and outputs have this feature)

If you have ssh you should also have scp to copy the files as-is.

The 7I96S analog output is designed to replace a potentiometer.