Multiple BOB's and parallel ports, and different driver card issues

Another thing to try (not that I really expect it to make a difference)
Try changing your loadrt hal_parport line to...
This takes the addressing guess work out of addressing your parallel ports and may highlight if there is a problem with Linux recognizing your 2nd parallel port card.

kborsum wrote: ....... Also, changing "ldrt_parport cfg="0xe010 out 0xd010 out" to cfg = "0 out 1 out" caused an immediate error when loading the GUI.

I can also recall that not working back when i was using 2 or 3 cards in one PC, but it did work when the addresses were used.
In about an hour i will be in my workshop so i can check the BIOS on some of the PC's i have there.
BTW, BIOS is in the PC, it has nothing to do with Debian or Linux as far as this issue is concerned.

I've been playing around with a HAL configuration that uses only one of the two parallel ports, but covers the movement in 4 axes. the AXIS GUI seems to execute the move commands reasonably well with no apparent lost steps...BUT the Z axis will only move in short increments. Moving to GMOCCAPY seems to agravate this problem.
On both GUI's I do get a PORT NOT FOUND error that keeps popping up. In AXIS, its when I command a move, in GMOCCAPY, its when the app loads. If I ignore the error, things seem to continue to work.

My next step is to resurrect the original Dell Tower system, and see if the problem remains when I use it's older parallel port card. The system worked solidly for all the time I've had it, but it was getting old and needed new hard drives...and the control box was a complete rats nest of 30 gage wire.

The major problems seem to boil down to interference between two Parallel port cards installed at the same time.
DELL Bios editor does not have any way to set up the parallel port cards. If there is a setup file somewhere that I can edit, that might work. I'll try Dell tech support, but no real hopes there. Let me know if you know of something.
I've got everything working great, BUT with only one card installed. Installing the second card always generates a port not found error, and a real-time error as well. If I can figure out how to get the Vout (Pin1 on the BOB) to give me an on-off signal, then it can control the brake, and I have enough spare inputs to run the limit switchs in parallel.
This has been traumatic.
I found the paper on cleaning up the system, and will go through it on Thursday.

kborsum wrote: DELL Bios editor does not have any way to set up the parallel port cards.

No, the BIOS can only control onboard parallel ports.

I've got everything working great, BUT with only one card installed. Installing the second card always generates a port not found error.

Does it halt at that stage, or carry on? Maybe the error is a fault in LinuxCNC. (though you mention that they are on the same IRQ, and that doesn't sound right, though Google does suggest that IRQs can be shared, so perhaps it makes sense that two identical cards would be on the same IRQ).

HI
IF only ONE board is installed, the port not found error may pop up once at some point, then never again. Wtih TWO boards installed, it always pops up right when I load the GUI and crashes the GUI load...Also the real time error (DMESG) shows up too.
Actually I don't know that the cards are on the same IRQ since the reporting by linux gives the IRQ=11 for one card, and nothing for the second...so its may be safe to assume they are one the same port. The installation disk provided only supports Windows OS's.
FYI I tried almost every available parallel port card that fit in the PCIe slots in the Dell motherboard. ONLY the SIIG "Legacy" cards worked at all.