questions for emc with the USC

I finally have linux running on a PC.
I installed a copy of EMC.
EMC works fine.
I have a compliant cable connecting the pc to the universal stepper
controller.
The USC has a green light indicating the Estop chain is satisfied.
In its current state, when I run ESC and try to jog an axis, I get a
message that no motion is possible until the estop is reset and the
machine on. I get the message regardless of the actual state of the
estop and machine on. This to me indicates that there's a
communication issue, probably because I don't have the right ini file?

I put the univstep.ini file in the folder with the rest of the emc
stuff, but I don't know how to assign it.

I have a copy of univstepdiags on the linux desktop. I don't know what
to do with it.

Suggestions? =)

Thanks in advance

Jon