Re: Vexing EMC problem

Reed (comments mixed in)

I really hope that you and your Linux buddies take this not as a rebuke but
as a, "there is always more to learn."

>    From: "reed_irion" <Reed_Irion@...>
> Subject: Vexing EMC problem

<s>

> I have managed to get the BDI up and going on my computer.  I think I
> have managed to get it mostly working (no small task..)  I find the
> most useful thing to have when doing BDI is a bunch of Linux friends.

We may be closer to an answer here than we might have imagined. The bdi is
just that and for most installations, ignorance may be an initial advantage.
I have found a number of folk who try very hard to interpose their will into
the install or initial operation process and only succeed in messing things
up.

> Anyhow on to my problem-
>
> The clock signals are not coming out of the correct pins on the
> parallel port.  When I run the 3dtest.ngc example I can see x-axis
> clock coming out on pin 13 and y-axis comes out 3 pins over.  I cant
> see z-axis clock coming out anywhere.  Nor do I see any direction
> signals.

What are you using to view these signals? IO_Show.tcl will do it from the
scripts menu in tkemc. If this is a recent version of that script, you can
toggle through the pin definitions and you will find one that lists a0s for
axis 0 step and such. The direction signal should show correctly but steps
will only show some fraction of the real number of signals.

> I tried it with both minimillio and bridgeportio.  When I look in the
> system information in KDE it has nothing assigned at 378.  I have
> tried every bizzare permutation in the BIOS with the ports.  System
> is a Dell Optiplex GXPro 200MHz.  It has two serial (DB9) and one
> parallel (DB25) connector.  One of my linux friends had me try all
> kind of contortions to get it (linux) to see the port, but to no
> avail.  Get a parallel port card ?  Get a different sytem ?

NO! Linux only shows that it has a parport when Linux is using a parport.
When steppermod or any other EMC related module is using a parport it isn't
linux doing it. The EMC uses its own drivers here and they do not show up as
a part of the normal Linux device drivers in that screen.

I am not trying to rag on your friends or to demean their understanding of
Linux at all but the solution here may be a six-pack when the friends come
over. Linux is a great, open-source project but some advice should not be
taken -- even when you consider yourself to be a newbie and others to be
expert.

> Is there more info somewhere on the parallel port in EMC (as in NOT
> the generic IBM web page on the parallel port)  Like: what is the
> pinout when using the auxilliary port with bridgeportio ?  What is
> the pinout for a fourth (rotary) axis ?

These are all shown in the labels to the parport pins as you toggle through
them in IO_Show. Bridgeportio only works correctly if you are using the
default bridgeport definitions in your ini file.

You might want to test your parport using IO_Exercise.tcl but you will have
to do this when the parport is not being run by steppermod. Start a terminal
and move it to /usr/local/emc if this is a normal BDI. Issue the command

tcl/scripts/IO_Exercise.tcl

and you should get a widget that looks as confusing as all-get-out. Default
here is 378 so if that's your parport address assigned during boot you should
be good to go. If not enter the correct address in both "show address" and
"set address" windows and press both "enter" buttons. If this is a viable
parport the "lights" should be green or some combination of green and red.

Click any pin or combination of pins and you will see the value of that pin
in decimal notation in the "value to set" widget. Press the enter button
beside that widget and it should change the real pins to that value. If it
doesn't, something is wrong with that pin on your parport. (Note that some
pins are reversed in the way that they work)

Enter the value 379 in the view window and you can see the condition of the
input pins from the 378 parport. Enter 37A in both and you can toggle the
value of the extra output pins 0-4. Toggling pin 5 will change them all.

> So close I can taste it, yet so far...

Yes you are!

Ray