7i77 testers wanted

yep i agree.

What I don't understand is you should not have seen 5i25 as an option without the firmware installed.

is that what happenned?

In the mean time did you confirm the sserial tabs do come up for you? Thanks

I did see the 5i25 option even though there was no firmware files. Heres a screen shot showing that /lib/firmware/hm2/5i25 is empty and that pncconf still provides a 5i25 option. There are some warning thrown in the shell from pncconf.

I got some smart serial tabs (although I don't really know what to do with them)

Ok thanks. Yes if the 5i25 folder is there but no firmware is in it, then pncconf would not catch that.
Did you add the 5i25 folder or did it come with the rest of the hostmot2 firmware. (it didn't used to come with them)

don't worry about those warnings.

The sserial tab1 (and 4 if you have two 7i77 cards) has the analog (pwm) output selections.
tab 0 (and 3 for two 7i77 cards) select the 7i77's I/O points.

Thanks for testing that for me.

I think you're right. I'm a little overwhelmed with the ways of getting things installed in linux. I just attempted to update linuxcnc with synaptic package manager but unfortunately it said it wasn't able to retrieve the package "something wicked" happened. I guess I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks guys.
Max

To be honest I'm unsure how the /lib/firmware/5i25 directory was created. I went back and looked at the install packages for linuxCNC as well as emc and didn't find any references to this directory.

So it would seem that I am a victim of my own doing. I must have created when I first started working with pncconf several months back.

Sorry for the red herring.

Not at all.
Thanks for your help !

After updating linuxcnc I did get tabs for smartserial, which is pretty intuitive. I set the PWM outputs appropriately. When I finally get to the A axis config tab I am not sure how to use the open loop test feature - I get errors if I press either "Enable Amp" or "Reset Encoder" (I'm assuming this is because I haven't defined outputs for these functions). What do "Fast Dac Speed" and "Slow Dac Speed" mean? I'm familiar with the acronym but I see no units and I don't know what I should expect to happen when I do something with them.

I tried running LinuxCNC to check the HAL meter but I get errors when starting it too. Do I need to have a field power supply connected just to try to look at an encoder input or will the 5i25-supplied 5V suffice? I know the encoder is being powered and the lights are on.

Thanks,
Max

if you run pncconf from a terminal you mat see error messages while trying to use open loop.
slow speed dac and fast speed dac are just preset voltage outputs. select one and adjust it to a value you like.
I suggest a low number for the first trial.

could you post your HAL and INI files?