Configuring a 7i90HD

I need to interface about 80 i/o lines on a lathe retrofit. We are using a 7i76/7i77 setup. We would like to use two 7i90's for the i/o, in different locations. Since they are shipped with EPP format, do I need to buy a pci parallel port card and cable to flash the 7i90 so I can use it with the 7i77 in RS422 mode?

Can I use two 7i90's with the 7i76/7i77 setup?

Should I buy 2 parallel port cards and use both 7i90's in EPP format?

Thanks for any help?

Bill

Honestly it is a pain to find a PCI parallel port that supports EPP mode properly
If you want to program a 7I90, its better to program it with a system with a motherboard parallel port

Also if you ask before shipment we can pre-program the 7I92's with a sserial firmware as the primary
configuration (and EPP as secondary for backup)

Note that you can also use a 7I69 or 2 for this task (though its a bit more expensive)

I would not consider using EPP for any significant distance

And yes you can use 2 sserial cards of any type with that configuration (the 7I76 and 7I77 both have a free RS-422 port)

I was going to try to flash a 7i90 with an ubuntu based computer with an onboard parallel port, but the os did not list the port.

I also have an old windows xp machine with an onboard parallel port.
Are there any instructions available for using the windows-based mesaflash.exe? Does it use the same terminal commands? I'm assuming the mesaflash.exe program is terminal-like. Is it worth a try?

There is no support for 7I90 EPP access via Windows
On the other hand, you should be able to move a Ubuntu or
LinuxCNC hard drive to a machine with a parallel port temporarily

I do have access to the 7i90 through a linux computer and mesaflash now. Which bit file should I use? I assume a serial one? I'll connect the 7i90's to either a 7i77 or 7i76.

freeby.mesanet.com/7i90_ssremote.bit

(make sure you only program one flash chip with this as EPP in the only easy way to re-program the 7I90)

Is this the right command?

sudo mesaflash --device 7I90 --epp --write 7i90_ssremote.bit

Do I cd to the directory where I put the bit file and then run the above command?

Yes, that should work (but you may need to supply a port address)

mesaflash --help

lists the mesaflash command line options

Thanks, Peter. That worked great.

With the epp connector on the left, are the pins of the connectors, P1-3, numbered from bottom to top, with the "not" pins in the right column of each connector?

Can I specify each pin as either input or output in the hal file?

I really appreciate your help,

Bill

P1 through P3 are numbered top to bottom (White square is pin one end)
even pins (row on right) are all ground

All pins are set for open drain I/O and active low so inputs must be written as 0 and a pin written as 1
will be set low (and cannot be used as an input) this is to match I/O module rack conventions
(the pinout matches 24 I/O racks)