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

I will try to explain a bit,
Open the folder where you extracted the 5i25 support files with nautilus or caja or whatever file browser you are using (not in a terminal yet ), inside there should be 2 folders named "configs" and "utils", open "configs", there are 2 folders so open the "hostmot2",there are plenty of .bit and .pin. and .xml files.
Look for 5i25_something.pin, open in a text editor and check the pins if it has something you can use. When you find something usable, copy the .bin file with the SAME name to your home folder.
Now open a terminal and type as below
sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --write name_of_the_bin_file.bin
it takes about a minute to flash, when done type
sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --reload
If it does reload, you are all set to move on to configuration, if not turn the computer off and on again.
If by any chance there is also a .xml file with the same exact name, you can copy that to somewhere ( i can not recal where ) for pncconfig to find it so it is much easier to configure.
If not, use pncconfig to create a config simillar to what you need and then proceed to edit the hal and ini files manually.

PCW wrote: I think I would just look at the pin files and find one that's close to what you need

But that's the problem: I'm finding it difficult to match what I need with what I find in the pin files.

I would also read the hostmot2 manual page

I thought I had, but what I found wasn't what I read, which I guess now was motmod. There's a lot in there addressing my questions about Mesa terminology, but of course it's a lot to swallow too for someone who "just" wants to do a simple conversion like must have been done dozens of times. (After all, pncconf is called a wizard . Wizards wave wands for people and the right stuff happens without going into a lot of detail. :^) )

Note that a PWM, Step/DIr or encoder pin _can_ be used as GPIO

if you can disable it (you disable some modules by setting the number of instances in the driver load config line) so for example if you had an unwanted PWM gen on a pin you wanted for GPIO, you could set the number of PWM gens to 0 and the PWM pin would revert to GPIO

I don't understand well enough to know when I'd want a pin for GPIO, which I take as "general-purpose IO". Are pins GPIO when they don't have pulse trains, either step/dir or PWM, on them? used perhaps for lims and enables?

Thanks, tommylight.

I guess it's turning on the phrase "find something usable." Just not sure newcomers can see the forest in all those trees. Still, my grep methods above are hunting for things that match my controller's schematic.

How about considering the other direction?

A lot of CNC operators declare Tormach's PathPilot just what the doctor ordered from an operator's standpoint. But when booted, it will insist that the Mesa card it finds be configured for a "standard" Tormach firmware.

Have you an idea about how to go about letting PathPilot and the 5i25 believe they are talking to a Tormach model and "fixing" the wiring to match what the 5i25 expects?

Can the necessary information be found as simply as reading the PIN file, if it exists, for the "Tormach standard firmware" after it is installed?

Thank you all.

Yes, GPIO pins are simple bit I/O like parallel port pins so suitable for things like
limit switch inputs, spindle enable out etc etc

All pins that don't have an _enabled_ secondary function are available as GPIO
That is, if you set num_stepgens=0, num_pwmgens=0, num_encoders=0, you would have
all pins available as GPIO. (but no stepgens etc)

Unlike parallel port pins GPIO pins must be explicitly set to output mode in the hal file
( GPIO pins default to inputs )

So after you figure out what the 5I25 is flashed to and set pncconf to that firmware..

Some things I would suggest, since you are not using any sserial daughter boards - is on the mesa configuration tab set the smart serial ports to 0 before pressing the accept component changes button.
This will eliminate the unneeded SmartSerial tabs from showing up.

Also setting the step generators to just the amount you need will free up pins for GPIO.

pin component numbers as you have discovered arn't the same as the connector pin numbers.
The component numbers map well when using daughter boards but not so when using bare connectors.
But the physical layout in pncconf does make some sense on the connector.
eg on connector 3 I/O tab the component (with a 7i76 firmware it's step gen 0 -direcction) on the top left is pin1 on connector 3 of the 5i25.
Under that in pin 2 (step gen 0 direction pin) etc.
When you get to the bottom of the page it continues on the right side.

Hope that helps a bit

Chris M

A lot of CNC operators declare Tormach's PathPilot just what the doctor ordered from an operator's standpoint. But when booted, it will insist that the Mesa card it finds be configured for a "standard" Tormach firmware.

Have you an idea about how to go about letting PathPilot and the 5i25 believe they are talking to a Tormach model and "fixing" the wiring to match what the 5i25 expects?

Can the necessary information be found as simply as reading the PIN file, if it exists, for the "Tormach standard firmware" after it is installed?

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.

Note that you would have to edit or create your own hal/ini files for a non-Tormach machine

You _can_ create a pinout file of current FPGA firmware with mesaflash:

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