On 4/10/2012 1:46 PM, Kirk Wallace wrote: > On Tue, 2012-04-10 at 11:25 -0400, Dave wrote: > >> On 4/10/2012 11:11 AM, gene heskett wrote: >> >>> there is no source >>> >>>> > of power on that side of the interface in the G540 >>>> >> This is the key part of his message... Sure, that could be remedied, >> but the G540 would become twice the size and need another outside power >> source, not really >> practical with the existing design. I was thinking that some simple >> pull up resistors on the G540 side would do the trick, and that >> Geckodrive might have missed that, but with no pull up power source.. >> that isn't practical. >> >> If the LPT port can be put into EPP mode, there seems to be no issue. >> >> Dave >> > Dan from the DIY-CNC list has loaned a G540 to me (it might be here > Wed.). I plan to investigate this pull-up issue and document it, maybe > on the wiki. One of my hopes is to come up with a "just works" type of > solution. Many of us on this list understand electronics and software > enough to not think twice about adding a resistor here, or a bit check > there, but in the real world of CNC, many people don't want to or can't > get that deeply into the machine's workings. They just want something > they can buy and it just works. LinuxCNC might become more popular if it > had more "just works". > > My first guess is to have the "epp" option added to hal_parport and have > a check box for it in Stepconfig. On the other hand, will the G540 > become popular enough to warrant the effort? > >
The G540 is an extremely popular stepper drive, so I think this is justified. I agree, it should not be this difficult. However I am a little confused. Dan said that he is using a Dell PC with an onboard LPT port. If he turns on the EPP mode in the Dell PCs bios, then why is his PC not working with the G540? I had a G540 here and I had it connected to an Intel D525MW motherboard that has the EPP mode enabled in the bios and the G540 charge pump function worked fine with his hal file?? But Dan told me the same hal file did not work on his PC. IE, the G540 fault light did not go out when the charge pump was active. Does that mean his Dell PC have a screwed up LPT port? He says the charge pump function works fine with Mach3 on the same PC. So.... I think we are missing something. Dave ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
