Mesa 5i25+7i77 plug-n-go configuration

If you want to simulate quadrature, you can use the stepgen component
with ctrl_type = v (velocity)
and step_type = 2 (quadrature)

or with a little more trouble, reconfigure the 5I25 with 7I77_7I76 firmware and use the hardware stepgen outputs on P2 to do the same thing (though with this arrangement you can go up to MHz rates)

PCW,
thanks for that.
This will give me something else to work on too.

2.5.1 on 10.04
The Mesa 5i25-7i77 combo arrived with zero documentation. This a first for me for any hardware purchase of any kind. I read the on line manuals which I hope are current.
5i25 W2 up.
7i77 W1 lh, W5 lh, TB2 pin 1 12V, pin 8 0V both from PC.
Plugged in the 5i25 connected DB25 cable to 7i77, switch PC on.
2 yellow and 1 red LED on 7i77 light up, later the red changed to flashing green - have not found them in the manual.

Downloaded BJTs 7i77.ini and added it to folder ~linuxcnc/configs/hm2-servo.

I feel like asking the question that the O/P asked but since one of the answers was to read 320 pages of both Integrator and HAL manuals I won't.

So my first question is how do I 'see' the 7i77 and know that it is the 7i77 I am looking at on AXIS and not just a piece of code?

The green and red LEDs are new additions to 7I77 rev. B and later cards.
These are a debugging aid and work like the red/green LEDS on many other sserial remotes. That is, red indicates a fault (at the minimum, a watchdog fault which is guaranteed at startup) Green indicates host communication. At a 1 KHz update rate, it will blink at about 1 Hz (1024 cycles)

We have not had printed manuals since about the year 2000, paper documentation is really a pain since the customers copy is almost never current.

As John says, you can verify 7I77 connections via the show hal configuration menu in Axis. Note that some hardware that the 7I77 uses will always be present whether the 7I77 is connected or not. This hardware includes encoder counters and GPIO.

Thanks guys.
So I guess I should spend time getting familiar with HAL or is there some other stuff I should be doing at the same time?
As you can tell I'm wandering around in circles.
From my (electrical engineering) perspective LinuxCNC lacks a process/block diagram/flowchart or whatever to enable a non Linux/Unix person to start at one end and emerge at the other somewhat battered but with a goal achieved.

I guess the first question is what goal do you wish to achieve?

The LInuxCNC documentation will provide most of whats needed
to install and configure LinuxCNC for a specific machine:

For beginners the Getting Started Guide gives some
good basic installation and setup info for simple machines.

The Integrators Manual and HAL Manual provide detailed
information on machine configuration. This information is supplemented
by the manual pages on the individual HAL components and hardware
(type "man pid" or "man hostmot2" in a terminal window for example)

and finally for machine operating information: the Users Guide

I might point out (since you guys are in the PNCconf thread) that PNCcong can help with the linuxcnc barrier.
There are a few hoops to jump for the 7i77 ( with PNcconf) unfortunately but then it can be considerably easier to get reasonably complete
configuration for basic XYZ machines and by making changes and looking at the HAL file you can see how some things are done HAL wise.
PNCconf has help pages and a section in the manual.

Just another option.

Chris M

Sorry for omitting pncconf as a learning tool
which is great for creating initial hal files even if
you have a complicated configuration that will
ultimately require hand editing

I was not sure whether the goal was to understand
the LinuxCNC system or get a machine up and running

I should be more specific about my goal.
My interest in Linux and other software is limited to achieving the goal, at least initially.

I bought a BP Interact 1 Mk2 CNC mill currently driven by a Heidenhain TNC150. Everything works. The Bosch servo controllers including PID work fine as does the KTK spindle drive and motor. I will replace the Heidenhain analog encoders with some digital ones.

The initial goal is to replace the TNC150 with a PC (running Ubuntu 10.04 and LinuxCNC 2.5.1) and Mesa 5i25+7i77 which is all set up and ready to run.

So what software/steps do I need to use/learn to achieve this goal?

I have read through a lot of the documentation on the LinuxCNC website. I'm sure it is very useful to those who know which software they want to use.