Purchasing PathPilot

I was thinking of buying PathPilot to replace Axis 2.7 I currently have installed on my machine. I am struggling to learn Linux Axis on my own. The documentation is thorough but confusing to a novice The Conversational Programming PathPilot provides looks interesting, that with the tutorials they have I thought might make it a little easier to learn CNC. I understand they provide no support for PathPilot installed on Non-Tormach machines. I come from a background in PC's building, installing Windows, etc but have limited experience with Linux. I specifically have two questions. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but I bought a machine with a fourth axis. Does PathPilot have the option for a fourth AXIS? and do I need to replace my Parallel port card with a Mesa card and if yes which one?


Thanks-ed aka NewToRouting

PP does support a forth axis, this is setup in the SETUP tab. you may have to tweak a parm to get the rotation correct but it's fairly easy.

You don't need to replace a parallel port with MESA card but it will limit you in some ways in I/O ports and number of input and outputs available for other things.

there are some tutorial on that topic.

once you've got your INI and HAL files correct PP is very easy to use.

Thanks for the reply I really appreciate it. I'm really hooked on learning this. Which MESA card do you recommend?

PP was designed around the 5i25/6i25 cards and V2 added the 7i92 ethernet card so your choice, you will need a BOB also I use a 7i76 myself but you can use any BOB you want.

When you say BOB are you referring to a Brake out board? I have a 6040Z router. Would the BOB in that controller be ok?

yes and break out board, I don't know the construction of that router but I would think they would have something in there