Re: Re: Vexing EMC problem; SUCCESS !!!!

Reed

Fantastic. Thanks for your feedback. Some of it will go in the revised
Handbook.

>    From: "reed_irion" <Reed_Irion@...>
> Subject: Re: Vexing EMC problem; SUCCESS !!!!
>
> IT
> WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<S>

> I'll take guided learning from an expert any day over wading
> aimlessly through mountains of documentation without a clue.  I
> started from square -1 with Linux.  My friends vastly accelerated the
> learning curve.

To good points. The majority of the Linux documents are written by code
slingers who do the writeup because it is required for them to get their
stuff into the pipeline. Since they have struggled with the code so long,
they document only the most interesting parts and assume that the other stuff
is intuitively obvious. Yea, Right!!

Yes frends help a lot. Thanks for taking this the way I intended it. This
is the real value of the LUGs (Linux Users Groups) around the world. EMCUG
just doesn't seem to have the right ring to it though. <g>

<s>

> I was using an "oscilloscope" to view the signals.  I tried the
> parallel diags you listed here as per your suggestion.  They are
> quite useful.  I do however feel that the oscilloscope is a much
> better verification of proper system function.

You're right on that one. There is nothing as satisfying as seeing the real
output do something. Led's, analog multimeter, Oscope are all very
satisfying. What we ought to do is make a small jumper with a switch box in
the middle that goes from the parport to the mic in and setup Xoscope to
watch these. The IO scripts do watch the values of the pins but it is not
the same.  

<s>

> Turns out the problem was a SERIAL DB25 cable masquerading as a
> PARALLEL cable.  I was chagrined as that darn cable has screwed me
> before.  I marked it so it wont happen again

Boy. I've heard of this happening and this comment has to make it into the
Handbook. I like to use the ones that say IEEE 1284 compliant.

<s>

> Yes I found it.  I still wish the auxiliary port pinout was detailed
> in the docs somewhere

This is another big okay for the book!

> > 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
>
> For "newbies" I would suggest recommending using the menu driven
> IO_exercise in the default TKEMC window; under "scripts".  Until a
> few days ago I had no idea what a "terminal" or a "script" was.

More good advice. Once you've been working with it for awhile you forget how
difficult each step is for the first timer. Maybe we can ship you an early
copy of the revisions and have you look them over and compare with your
thoughts in the context of your experience?

Ray