StepConf setup of Z-Axis Home and Limit switch

Hi,
I'm refreshing / updating a minimill I built back in 2010.  It's been idle for probably 12 years or so, and I decided to dust it off and see if it still worked (and if I remembered anything at all about it!). This was partially prompted because I learned that maybe FreeCad could generate tool paths...?  (unconfirmed, but I think hearing that is what piqued my interest again.)

Anyway, it's an old beast - I've installed a new disk and installed the latest linuxcnc I could download, set up the RTAI kernel (I'm using a parallel port, not a Mesa board - for now at least, and my latencies were sometimes getting up above 100 nS).

Sorry, that's all just context - the point: My home / limit switch is not working for my Z-Axis.  Mind you, electrically it works - I had it operating under the old OS / EMC2 before upgrading, and I've confirmed with a voltmeter that it's getting a 5v signal, and the switch opens when I push it.  But when I push it, I see no indication in LinuxCNC that limit has been hit.  
This was discovered right after running through the StepConf wizard. I looked around a bit, and saw that StepConf had written "max-home-u" instead of the expected (by me) "max-home-z" into my .hal file.  For x & y, it had written "min-home-x" and "min-home-y".  

So, I double-checked that I'd selected the right entry in stepconf wizard (I had), and tried again.  Same.  In fact, the error even existed in the .stepconf file:
<property type="string" name="pin12" value="max-home-u"/> <!-- Jason: Should be max-home-z instead, and that's essentially what was shown in the UI. -->

So, I manually changed the entry in the hal file to say the max-home-z value that I expect is correct.  I also saw that max-home-z was already present in another part of the file (where that value is 'mapped' to the limit and the home inputs.). EDIT : When I came back to add detail and attachments, I couldn't confirm this - I swear I saw it before, but maybe I was actually looking at the info for the X or Y axis.  I can't find it for Z now.  That's my leading suspect at the moment, now!

net max-home-u      <= parport.0.pin-12-in-not
became
net max-home-z      <= parport.0.pin-12-in-not

I restarted linuxcnc, and that didn't fix it.  I restarted the whole computer, and it still didn't fix it.  I'm at a bit of a loss.  

I did a lot of searching, and my AI sidekick told me I'd found a known issue in StepConf Wizard, but I don't actually see much confirmation of that in reality.  I did find this thread (forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-configuratio...is-homing-and-travel) so I suspect it at least one person before has been affected by it. Unfortunately, I didn't see any indication that that issue was ever really resolved.  

I guess you'll like to see my .hal and .ini files, if you are inclined to look into this at all (helpful unknown reader!), so, I'll attach them as soon as I have them handy.  I'm walking back and forth to do everything now, because that computer is too uncomfortable to sit and type at for any stretch, and I don't have SSH working yet.

Thanks!
Jason 

 

This was a case of needing to really dig into it "one more time" - The problem I was facing (and just couldn't see until I was documenting it all for 'You', was that the following section was also missing from my hal file:

net max-home-z => joint.2.home-sw-in
net max-home-z => joint.2.neg-lim-sw-in

At some point in the process, I thought I saw it - I don't know if I misread it (seeing either the X or Y version) or if I somehow accidentally deleted it right after seeing it, but putting it in allowed the home switch to work, and now the mill is one step closer to working.

I am having some teething issues with getting Z set up nicely (why is Z always the complicated one!?), but I think I'll get that sorted out soon enough once I dig into it tomorrow.

Although this is resolved already, I'll just leave it out here for the benefit of anyone else searching for help on this problem.