Greenie problems configuring 6i25 with 7i77, using Granite Devices VSD-E drives

I imagine that the majority of people using MPGs with 7i77 cards just use the ordinary encoder inputs for the MPG inputs. (I could easily be wrong I have no way of knowing.)

Yeah, that is pretty much where I'm coming from. I started with pncconf's generated HAL file. However, that does not bind the physical pin with the net for things like homing, etc. (interestingly, a lot of the fields in pncconf were grey'd out too, so I couldn't enter things I wanted to). My next step was to take the boss control sample because it is one of the few that seems to use analog and index pulses for homing. I'm not sure this was the right decision because it looks like the Boss control has a fair amount of PLC stuff too (loads something called 'boss_plc' which, unfortunately, I didn't see in my quick check of files. . That is where I am now. I didn't do the a 'man motion'. That is a good idea.

I did read the homing ini documentation that you referenced. It does a good job of introducing the capabilities. Where it fell apart for me, however, was in the actual implementation. Everything described is for the INI file but one still needs to somehow bind a physical pin so that the boiler plate can work. Or maybe I'm over complicating all of this.

Pncconf allows you to setup 7I77 inputs for homing and limits (or combined homing and limits)
and also allows setting up homing using the encoder index, so should make the proper net statements
in hal to connect motions pins to the 7I77s hal pins.

Are you saying you selected these options and pncconf did not make the correct connections in the hal file?

Yes, I am saying that I didn't really have much success there. However, I'm at work right now and I can't take any screenshots of what I was experiencing. I'm happy to do that if it will help. It is also entirely possible (in fact, I'd say it is probably likely) that this was the result of user error.

The hal and ini files that pncconf makes should be pretty close
I just tried and was able to create a file set with what looks like the
correct net connections between 7I77 and motion pins:

( this was setup for shared home/negative-limits and inverted limit switch signals)
# --- MIN-HOME-X ---
net min-home-x <= hm2_5i25.0.7i77.0.0.input-00-not

# --- MIN-HOME-Y ---
net min-home-y <= hm2_5i25.0.7i77.0.0.input-01-not

# --- MIN-HOME-Z ---
net min-home-z <= hm2_5i25.0.7i77.0.0.input-02-not

and later in the file:

net min-home-x => joint.0.home-sw-in
net min-home-x => joint.0.neg-lim-sw-in
...
net min-home-y => joint.1.home-sw-in
net min-home-y => joint.1.neg-lim-sw-in
...
net min-home-z => joint.2.home-sw-in
net min-home-z => joint.2.neg-lim-sw-in

( This is LinuxCNC 2.8 so motions names will be a bit different than 2.7s )

I also enabled home to index and the proper connections seem to be made there as well:

net x-index-enable joint.0.index-enable <=> hm2_5i25.0.encoder.00.index-enable
...
net y-index-enable joint.1.index-enable <=> hm2_5i25.0.encoder.01.index-enable
...
net z-index-enable joint.2.index-enable <=> hm2_5i25.0.encoder.02.index-enable

as well as the proper ini file entries to enable home to index

Off the top of my head, I'm guessing that my problem may be that there is an expected (probably defined in motion) name for the limit switches and such. I used my own convention which probably was not the right thing to do (?).

I think I'll still need a PLC in here though. For instance, I have some fault lines that I want to monitor in a estop chain. When tripped (or, for that matter, probably whenever I'm enabling the amps), I first want to toggle the fault_reset lines. Alternatively, maybe it would be better to add a few indicators that show the state of the three fault lines visually and allow me to reset from that too. After all, I *shouldn't* be getting servo faults if everything is working properly.... Hmmm...

I'll definitely be looking over my configuration again though. Clearly there is a difference in the experience you have versus me so I'm doing something wrong.

Yes, signals (the first token after a net command) are arbitrary and just chosen for readability.

so

net min-home-x <= hm2_5i25.0.7i77.0.0.input-00-not
net min-home-x => joint.0.home-sw-in
net min-home-x => joint.0.neg-lim-sw-in

is exactly equivalent to:

net grunfangus hm2_5i25.0.7i77.0.0.input-00-not
net grunfangus joint.0.home-sw-in
net grunfangus joint.0.neg-lim-sw-in

and also equivalent to:

net ring_dot_polymorph hm2_5i25.0.7i77.0.0.input-00-not joint.0.home-sw-in joint.0.neg-lim-sw-in


Pins and parameters on the other hand are typically fixed and unchanging, determined by the module
they are exported from.

Some parts of some pin/parameter names can be changed depending
on component command line options. Pncconf does this with the PID component, for example,
naming the instances pid.x,pid.y,pid.z and pid.s rather than the default numbers (pid.0 etc)

OK. That makes sense and is what I would have expected.... Unfortunately, I wasn't able to run through pncconf again last night, but given that naming conventions are left up to the individual integrator, I don't think there is anything different that I would have experienced than before.

I need to correlate the HAL file you have provided with the one that resulted from my run through pncconf. However, it occurred to me that I mailed a copy of that from my Linux box to my Mac (which I generally use for stuff like forums) and hence it is easy for me to attach it here. That just seems more complete and may help others that find this thread. To that end, the attached files are the original, unmolested, files generated by pncconf.

Those do not look like untouched files from pncconf
What version of LinuxCNC are you using?

Damn! You are correct... I forgot that I did some editing of the INI file prior to sending off to my email account (I think the HAL one is virgin though). Shoot! Sorry for my obviously incorrect statement. Unfortunately, however, I can't send the actual unmolested version because I am not at the machine right now.

To answer your question, however, it is the most recent version: 2.7.12

[on edit]
OK, the changes I made to the INI file were more organizational in nature and specifically dealt with setting the homing sequence. I added the index parameters and such in the appropriately market areas. That is pretty much it. Unfortunately, I don't have the originals now; I thought I did, but I don't. However, I do have the pncconf setup file, if that helps. It is attached to this message