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Pin 17 on the parallel port activates the relay on the breakout board
That was a suggestion based on the fact that the VFD in your picture
is connected to the breakout boards relay contacts.

Actually the RPi5 seems to handle longer cables better than the RPi4. Only noticed when bench testing my Frankenstien boards.

Ethernet is definitely the go.

Could do with some of them Down Under when our PM lets China invade.

unknown wrote:

You sticking up for the RPi now ?

No, not at all, just for what is right.
Despite me not liking RPI i do understand why humans are obsessed with it, still, ethernet is much better than SPI, and the only option if the other board is 15CM or more far away from RPI.

unknown wrote:

Sorry to the OP for derailing the thread, but the Ethernet comment really needs to be addressed.

+1

Posted another video, a compilation with only a smidge of editing, should be more coherent.

tommylight wrote:

langdons wrote:

..... connection via ethernet seems a bit stupid.
Now why the hell would you say that ???
And, just in case, do not say "SPI is.... " as it is not.

You sticking up for the RPi now ?

Sorry to the OP for derailing the thread, but the Ethernet comment really needs to be addressed.

So I have to connect pin 17 to the VFD? Thank you!

langdons wrote:

..... connection via ethernet seems a bit stupid.

Now why the hell would you say that ???
And, just in case, do not say "SPI is.... " as it is not.

Hi Will, I am using the waveshare PCIe TO Gigabit ETH USB3.2 HAT+ which is working well and has some extra USB ports if needed. I was getting some power dropouts when using a 5v 3a power supply so be sure to use a 5v 5a one that works.

I’ve made some further progress and have probe basic working well. I might be able to help you out with the homing issues more directly.

unknown, I might be looking to test an Odroid H4+ and you seem to be the main proponent for them. I have had some slowness on the pi in a couple of cases with ethercat chatter to and from the drives and monitoring Ferror. But I think they’re just fine generally. Have you tried the H4+? I believe it has 2x 2.5gb intel I226-v NICs so avoids the realtek issue. Is there any other tweaking involved in getting them set up?

Yes, typical VFDs have an analog 0 to 10V control method.

The breakout shown converts a PWM signal from the PC parallel
port to a 0 to 10V analog signal for the VFD.

Stepconf can set this up:  


 

Yes, I have the same breakout board from the picture. I thought that the spindle speed is controlled by an analog signal with 0 V to 10 V. I found about this in the documentation (spindle control) but I don't know how to implement it.

The RPi-400 may also be a solution, it's clocked a little bit faster that a RPi-4.
The new RPi-500, whilst a little $$$ does have a NVMe slot built. From experience the RPi5 is quite snappy with a NVMe drive.

"Yep, I have at least 5 or 6 different MiniPCs around here for LinuxCNC testing and general use and none are
line operated, they all have laptop like power dongles (either 12 or 19.5V) "

I thought I had too many PCs & RPi's for testing purposes, but think I might be a little below par.

What you need to do depends entirely on your interface hardware.

What interface hardware do you have?

If this is for a parallel port interface with the particular breakout card pictured,
you would use stepconf  to add a spindle PWM generator to pin 1 for the spindle
analog speed control, and perhaps use the breakout cards relay output for spindle
enable (pin 17)

"Yes the RPi5 requires an external PSU (does that really need to be mentioned ?) but some mini PC's require an external as well. Lenovo is one brand that comes to mind, I think the power blocks are similar to the Laptop power blocks."

Yep, I have at least 5 or 6 different MiniPCs around here for LinuxCNC testing and general use and none are
line operated, they all have laptop like power dongles (either 12 or 19.5V)

The extra money would only be spent & wasted. (VB\Jack Daniels doesn't agree with my head, women are way too much hassle and I'm way way too decrepit for the the Circle Pit or Wall of Death nowadays ).

Must try to remember I'm not 18 anymore.