finalizing my control hardware - Double check me?

I want to get going on offloading step/dir from the PC . I have a stepper system, 3 axis someday 4 and want spindle On/Off + RPM control in the future too. I had two options I was looking at:

One is the PICO Systems stepper board. I like that one because the setup looks straight forward and there is a lot of stuff I would like to get already built into the board like relays and watchdog limits. I note it makes the steppers appear as fake servo drives. That said the $250 price tag is rather steep. Which leads to the next thing.

The MESA 7I43

I can't find much info on how that all is connected though nor exactly which if the cards is best. I guess that it is also fed by the PC Parallel port or is it the USB port? From there the firmware can implement the step/dir signals and EMC treats it like what... A servo as the other card or something else? I like the configuration tool that can be used with it but I need to be certain that with a stepper based system I just need this card, no other daughter boards or what-have-you?

If I go with the MESA cards which should I look at?

7I43H Anything I/O High speed USB - 400K FPGA - 48 I/O 119 95 90 86
7I43-P Anything I/O parallel only - 200K FPGA - 48 I/O 79 63 60 57
7I43-U Anything I/O USB/parallel - 200K FPGA - 48 I/O 89 71 68 64
7I43-U-4 Anything I/O USB/parallel - 400K FPGA - 48 I/O 99 79 75 71

I'm leaning towards the PICO board for a cleaner setup in my mind but the price of the MESA cards really pulls at me too.

Because it needs real time access to the hardware, EMC2 can only use the EPP parallel port interface of the 7I43 which means
that the 7I43-P will work fine. The step/dir hardware on the 7I43 is basically like a velocity mode servo,
the hardware generates the step signals (up to MHz) and EMC tracks the step count and adjusts for dir change delays
clock differences etc. For a simple stepper based system with 5V limit switches and where the 7I43s 3.3V output drive is
sufficient for your step drives, you can get by with no daughtercards.

Thanks a bunch for that info. Assuming I need to get it up to 5v logic levels I take it there is a daughter card to handle that? I see the 7I42/7I42TA Breakout/FPGA protection and the 7I37COM Isolated I/O card. I like the second for ease of setup. I tend to like 5V stuff for the better noise margin and the isolation wouldn't be a bad idea. Right now my drives are all set to operate active high.

Hi

I intend to go the same direction and ordered just few days ago a 7U43-U.
I think in future it could become an advantage to gave spenf 20$ plus and got USB plus double memory....
Your 3.3V shocked me a bit so I read the manual .... what you should never do by principal )

I saw:
HARDWARE CONFIGURATION
CONNECTOR POWER
The power connection on both I/O connectors (Pin 49) can supply either 3.3V or
5V power. Supplied power should be limited to 400 mA total. W1 selects the power
supplied to both P3 and P4 . When W1 is in the "UP" position, 5V power is supplied to the
connector. When W1 is in the "DOWN" position, 3.3V power is supplied to P3 and P4.
Note that most Mesa I/O adapter cards that connect to Anything I/O cards require 5V.
BUS SWITCH MODE
Jumper W2 determines bus switch mode for all user I/O pins. When jumper W2 is
in the "UP" position, 5V tolerant mode is selected, when ‘down’, 3.3V mode is selected.
Note that 3.3V mode is not 5V tolerant. The FPGA can be damaged by input voltages
greater than 4V in 3.3V mode.

For me that says.
Set correct switches and run on 5 Volt ..

I hope thats correct.

Mike

Yes, for most things 5V tolerant mode is what you want
3.3V mode its really only needed for high speed signals
(> 10 MHz or so)

THX

looking foward to the HW, will get it when my daughter comes back from the US...
But we men are used to waît for the ladies

Mike

Ok
Would have been Fater and eventually a bit cheeper

But it's ok the way it is.

THX