5i25+7i76 wired pendant help please

I finally read all of the information and now I have all the connectors I need to make the pendant work, however I’ve now changed the machine design slightly and now I’m looking to interface the pendant directly(or indirectly) to the Mesa 5i25, via the 26 pin header (p2 I think).
Is it possible I can use another breakout board on this connector just for the pendant, or would I be best using the redundant paraport on the mb?
My reason for asking this is because I’ve changed enclosures and now I have all the pc hardware in one box including 5i25, and in the other box I have the machine control electronics including the 7i76.
Many thanks

If there is space in the pendant you could consider a 7i73 connected to the 7i76 serial expansion port.

But if you want to connect direct to the extra port on the 5i25 you can.
With care you can connect directly (I have done it many times to other FPGA boards)

I have found these convenient for connecting discrete wires to Mesa board headers: uk.rs-online.com/web/c/connectors/pcb-co...searchTerm=M20%20pcb

They don't have a 2 x 13 that is an exact match to the 5i25, but you can cut them down and put more than one in the header side by side, etc. You may not need all the pins anyway.

Note that terminals are extra and need a rather small crimping tool.

Thanks for the useful information provided here.

Atm I have a 7i76 in p3 of my 5i25, is there any reason why I can’t use a common 5 axis bob plugged into p2?
Pncconf is currently configured for 2x7i76.
Many thanks

You can use a cheap Mach3 BoB connected to P2. Breakout cables to connect a back-panel 25-pin D-sub are inexpensive:
www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=sear...arallel++port+header
If you limit the number of stapgens and smart-serial ports in the config="" part of the HAL file then all those pins will be seen as GPIO. (And you will probably find that there is a handy set of encoder pins available too).

freeby.mesanet.com/7i765a.zip

Contains firmware for a 5i25 with a 7I76 on P3 and a "Ebay special"
5 axis bob on P2 ( 5i25_7i76_5abob.bit )

The source file that defines the pinout is also included in the zip

thanks very much!