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Successful stepconf user buys Mesa5i25 wants to use experience in pncconf. How??

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7 years 8 months ago - 7 years 8 months ago #125934 by clunc
Replied by clunc on topic Successful stepconf user buys Mesa5i25 wants to use experience in pncconf. How??
Chris,

Yes, that helps. There's also a serious oil-on-troubled-waters effect when the author of pncconf looks in on your post. ;o)

Peter,

> I think most people running Pathpilot on non-Tormach hardware (like Novakons) change the startup script
or change the bitfile out from under the script so they can use an appropriate configuration for their hardware.

Yes, I've come to the conclusion that the approach to "Let PathPilot and a Tormach-flashed Mesa 5i25 believe that there is a real, live Tormach machine at the end of the chain--by merely (used ironically) rewiring the non-Tormach's controller to meet the 5i25's expectations" is Madness, Pure and Simple. The concern was that "Customizing" PP or 5i25 config files will require maintenance downstream as new PP versions come out. However, no amount of "rewiring" is going to change a non-Tormach spindle of Type Whatever to something that will respond to signals for a Tormach spindle of Type SomethingElseIndeed.

Q. Does linuxcnc have a mechanism for applying "customizations", from separate file(s), over-riding "stock" INI/HAL files?
(Although that won't help if the Mesa firmware is incompatible with downstream hardware to begin with.)

[EDIT: as I consider this, I think the sane approach is to "Let PathPilot behave normally--but edit its startup script, /home/operator/operator_login to skip the Mesa firmware check" (which shuts down the machine if unsatisfied!) AND "Let the CNC Controller behave normally" and concentrate on, as has been recommended a number of times already, "finding a 5i25 variant that 'looks close' and concentrating on its perfection, tweaking it possibly for new versions of PP and machine modifications. I guess that's known as "middleware."]

> sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --readhmid > someoldpinout.txt

I take it this queries the installed card.
Q. Is there something similar to get PIN info out of BIT files?
I ask because I have to do a lot of my background research away from the machine, but I have noticed that the PIN file contents are included verbatim in the HAL file, at least the one generated for me when the 5i25 firmware was flashed by PathPilot.
Last edit: 7 years 8 months ago by clunc.

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7 years 8 months ago - 7 years 8 months ago #125937 by clunc
Replied by clunc on topic Successful stepconf user buys Mesa5i25 wants to use experience in pncconf. How??
BTW, attached is a file of my results for "finding something close" among the firmware PIN files to choose from among those provided by the 5i25_support-software.zip downloaded from mesanet.com.

% cd 5i25/configs/hostmot2/
% ls [5a-z]*pin [NB I'm not interested in 7iNN daughterboard configs]

File Attachment:

File Name: p3_firmwar...ates.txt
File Size:14.27 KB

File Attachment:

File Name: find_firmw...h.sh.txt
File Size:2.97 KB


I created a set of files from commands similar to this one:
Code:
grep -E "^ 3\s*4 " 5i25_[5a-z]*pin|grep " Dir " > p3_pin03_dir_out
for all pins 1 through 17 and then cat'd|sort'd the resulting files into the one attached, so I can see, in one place, which firmwares have "all the pins I need" and simultaneously if "those pins are of the type and in the directions too."

Later readers will need to modify the egrep commands to meet the needs of their CNC controller's pins. In my case, I don't have a(ny) daughterboards, so excluded "7i" boards from the search. Too, I also eliminated lines with pins of wrong type or direction with a second grep.

[Edit: attached also is the complete list of 17 grep lines I used, saving some typing possibly for a future visitor.]
Last edit: 7 years 8 months ago by clunc.

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7 years 8 months ago - 7 years 8 months ago #125944 by clunc
Replied by clunc on topic Successful stepconf user buys Mesa5i25 wants to use experience in pncconf. How??
After all that work, I think the Very First firmware pin file is the best match, for my interpretation of the controller's requirements. :^p
Following, in bold, are pins that are not what I see as exact matches.

Q. At this point do I copy and edit a new PIN file to match perfectly, somehow, and from that make a new BIT file, somehow?
===========================
Pin Name from JP-3163B controller schematic
1 Spindle PWM
2 X-axis Step
3 X-axis Dir
4 Y-axis Step
5 Y-axis Dir
6 Z-axis Step
7 Z-axis Dir
8 A-axis Step Available--don't have an A-axis
9 A-axis Dir Available--don't have an A-axis
10 ToolHgt Guessing a touch-plate, so In
11 X-limit In
12 Y-limit In
13 Z-limit In
14 Enable Relay 2 Sounds like an Out
15 Emergency Stop Guessing an Out
16 N/C Available
17 SpindlePWM 0-10V
===========================
# OBJECTION: 5ABOBx2: p11,p12,p13 quad inputs, not simple
# OBJECTION: 5ABOBx2: p16 don't need StepGen, N/C
# OBJECTION: 5ABOBx2: p17 want PWM, SpindlePWM 0-10V
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 1 0 IOPort PWMGen 0 PWM (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 2 2 IOPort StepGen 0 Step (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 3 4 IOPort StepGen 0 Dir (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 4 6 IOPort StepGen 1 Step (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 5 8 IOPort StepGen 1 Dir (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 6 9 IOPort StepGen 2 Step (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 7 10 IOPort StepGen 2 Dir (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 8 11 IOPort StepGen 3 Step (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin: 9 12 IOPort StepGen 3 Dir (Out)
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:10 13 IOPort None [Action: nothing. GPIO pin defaults to (In)]
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:11 14 IOPort QCount 0 Quad-A (In) [Action: change to GPIO]
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:12 15 IOPort QCount 0 Quad-B (In) [ditto]
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:13 16 IOPort QCount 0 Quad-IDX (In) [ditto]
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:14 1 IOPort None [Action: configure as (Out) in HAL file]
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:15 3 IOPort None [ditto]
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:16 5 IOPort StepGen 8 Step (Out) [Action: change to GPIO, just to clean up]
5i25_5ABOBx2.pin:17 7 IOPort StepGen 8 Dir (Out) [Action: change to PWM]
Last edit: 7 years 8 months ago by clunc. Reason: add proposed Actions

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7 years 8 months ago #125949 by clunc
Replied by clunc on topic Successful stepconf user buys Mesa5i25 wants to use experience in pncconf. How??
Here's the edited version, 5i25_5ABOB1x2_mod.pin.
* all P2 pins set to GPIO [unnec., done just for a clean look]
* P3 11.12,13 set to GPIO, default to (In) for 3 limit switches
* P3 16 set to GPIO [unnec., clean look again]
* P3 17 set to PWM
* corrected numbers of Modules (e.g., IOPort,StepGen,PWMgen,QCount) affected by the foregoing changes
* Timer and Register lines left alone
Code:
Configuration Name: HOSTMOT2 General configuration information: BoardName : MESA5I25 FPGA Size: 9 KGates FPGA Pins: 144 Number of IO Ports: 2 Width of one I/O port: 17 Clock Low frequency: 33.3333 MHz Clock High frequency: 200.0000 MHz IDROM Type: 3 Instance Stride 0: 4 Instance Stride 1: 64 Register Stride 0: 256 Register Stride 1: 256 IDROM Type: 3 Modules in configuration: Module: WatchDog There are 1 of WatchDog in configuration Version: 0 Registers: 3 BaseAddress: 0C00 ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz Register Stride: 256 bytes Instance Stride: 4 bytes Module: IOPort There are 2 of IOPort in configuration Version: 0 Registers: 5 BaseAddress: 1000 ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz Register Stride: 256 bytes Instance Stride: 4 bytes Module: QCount There are 0 of QCount in configuration Version: 0 Registers: 5 BaseAddress: 3000 ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz Register Stride: 256 bytes Instance Stride: 4 bytes Module: StepGen There are 8 of StepGen in configuration Version: 2 Registers: 10 BaseAddress: 2000 ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz Register Stride: 256 bytes Instance Stride: 4 bytes Module: PWMGen There are 2 of PWMGen in configuration Version: 0 Registers: 5 BaseAddress: 4100 ClockFrequency: 200.000 MHz Register Stride: 256 bytes Instance Stride: 4 bytes Module: LED There are 1 of LED in configuration Version: 0 Registers: 1 BaseAddress: 0200 ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz Register Stride: 256 bytes Instance Stride: 4 bytes Configuration pin-out: IO Connections for P3 Pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Pin func Pin Dir 1 0 IOPort PWMGen 0 PWM (Out) 14 1 IOPort None 2 2 IOPort StepGen 0 Step (Out) 15 3 IOPort None 3 4 IOPort StepGen 0 Dir (Out) 16 5 IOPort None 4 6 IOPort StepGen 1 Step (Out) 17 7 IOPort PWMGen 1 PWM (Out) 5 8 IOPort StepGen 1 Dir (Out) 6 9 IOPort StepGen 2 Step (Out) 7 10 IOPort StepGen 2 Dir (Out) 8 11 IOPort StepGen 3 Step (Out) 9 12 IOPort StepGen 3 Dir (Out) 10 13 IOPort None 11 14 IOPort None 12 15 IOPort None 13 16 IOPort None IO Connections for P2 Pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Pin func Pin Dir 1 17 IOPort None 14 18 IOPort None 2 19 IOPort None 15 20 IOPort None 3 21 IOPort None 16 22 IOPort None 4 23 IOPort None 17 24 IOPort None 5 25 IOPort None 6 26 IOPort None 7 27 IOPort None 8 28 IOPort None 9 29 IOPort None 10 30 IOPort None 11 31 IOPort None 12 32 IOPort None 13 33 IOPort None

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7 years 8 months ago #125950 by PCW
Replied by PCW on topic Successful stepconf user buys Mesa5i25 wants to use experience in pncconf. How??
So that bit file would work as-is except for the PWM

It might be that you can use software PWM on pin 17 if the filter on your breakout is slow enough

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7 years 8 months ago #125960 by clunc
Replied by clunc on topic Successful stepconf user buys Mesa5i25 wants to use experience in pncconf. How??

PCW wrote: So that bit file would work as-is except for the PWM


That goes back to your earlier comment that a pin can be "disabled" and it will revert to a GPIO pin? (all of which, save pin17, are of that type)

I'm not sophisticated enough, or dumb-lucky enough, to rely on the slowness of a filter. I really need to put a PWMgen on pin 17, for the sake of future transparency too.

"I thought I saw" (old age) that a BIT file could be generated from a PIN (or other text) file, but the only reference I see now is to a sophisticated use of Xilinx (FPGA) "ISE Design Suite". (A PIN-to-BIT parser would have to be pretty sophisticated too I guess.) Is that the only way?

Thank you.

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