Remora - Rpi Software Stepping Using External Microcontroller via SPI

Wow thats only 17usd on ali
www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001580514204.html

and like 25$ on amazon
www.amazon.com/DEVMO-STM32F407VET6-Corte...pment/dp/B08HK7JGG3/

Hey scotta, on the stm32 boards what is the best way to find what the pins are for the qei?

More info to find this board

stm32-base.org/boards/STM32F407VET6-STM32-F4VE-V2.0.html

os.mbed.com/users/hudakz/code/STM32F407VET6_Hello/

www.aliexpress.com/item/32618222721.html

When you say already supported is there a Hal and conf already made out there with a pinout. i would love to try this

Aaroncnc wrote:

Wow thats only 17usd on ali
www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001580514204.html

and like 25$ on amazon
www.amazon.com/DEVMO-STM32F407VET6-Corte...pment/dp/B08HK7JGG3/

Hey scotta, on the stm32 boards what is the best way to find what the pins are for the qei?

Hi Aaron, 

Currently the QEI module is hard coded to give access to the QEI pins available on the SKR2 EXP headers, for the BLACK_F407VE this opens up lots of potential for multiple encoder inputs. QEI inputs are associated with the STM32 timers. Currently Remora uses Timers 9, 10 and 11 on the STM32F4. The Mbed core also uses Timer 5. 

STM CubeMX is a good tool to see what config options are available

Timer 1: Encoder mode = PE_9 and PE_11
Timer 2: Encoder mode = PA_0 and PB_3
Timer 3 or 8: Encoder mode = PC_6 and PC_7
Timer 4: Encoder mode = PD_12 and PD_13

The QEI module would need to be modified to allow the pins (and timer?) to be configured from the config.txt file.

Cncninja wrote:

When you say already supported is there a Hal and conf already made out there with a pinout. i would love to try this

Hi, the Hal config for Remora does not change significantly from board to board as it is mapping the LinuxCNC pins to the data packet that is sent to the controller board. 

The config file for the controller board is where the physical pin mapping is done, translating the data packet info to the modules and pins. The BLACK_F407VE is totally open for your definition.

So to configure it for my use case i would need to compile the code myself?
I am using a skr pro 1.2
github.com/bigtreetech/BIGTREETECH-SKR-P.../SKR-PRO-V1.2PIN.PDF
To make it work for multiple boards would it be possible to load 2 different QEI depending on the board set in the config? 

Aaroncnc wrote:

So to configure it for my use case i would need to compile the code myself?
I am using a skr pro 1.2
github.com/bigtreetech/BIGTREETECH-SKR-P.../SKR-PRO-V1.2PIN.PDF
To make it work for multiple boards would it be possible to load 2 different QEI depending on the board set in the config? 

Hi, I'll need to look a the 407ZGT to see what encoder pins are available on the extra ports the chip has. It does not look like the pins I listed earlier are available on this board either.

From a config perspective, if there is encoder pins exposed it would be possible to update the config parameters for the QEI module to include the pin definition. From there the correct timer could be selected and configured.

BTW, it looks like a really nice board. The software encoder module would be your fall back, you can use any available pin with that module.

any one tested the software encoder on these stm32 boards to find the max input before it starts to drop pulses.

Aaroncnc wrote:

any one tested the software encoder on these stm32 boards to find the max input before it starts to drop pulses.

I've tested the STM32F407 with a base thread of 80khz, the base thread frequency will be the limiting factor.

I'm putting in more work to get Ethernet connectivity up and running. Found this project which is pretty active on the RU CNC club forum.

oshwlab.com/apilsec/lcnc_bb

It might be a good start for Remora-Net capable BoB...