Welcome to LinuxCNC.org

I'll also look into adding a "spinabs" parameter on 7I77 axis 5 analogout
(though this will take a 7I77 firmware upgrade)

excuse me if i missed it but posting your complete config files would be helpful.
also what version of linuxcnc are you using and how did you get it? ( buildbot 2.5 has fixes in it that are not released yet)

some answers to some questions.
Why does pncconf not use the regular analog enables ?
- actually it does, it is just not on the config page because you cannot config it for anything but enable.

pncconf should work fine for the 7i77 and 7i76 without having to hand edit for for fairly standard machines.
if you do have to hand edit it should be possible to put it all in a custom hal file to keep it separate from pncconf changes.
the 7i77 and 7i76 cards are new and I have not up to recently had any cards to test on so there are still bugs - I will work on the soon ( I'm away at work)


having pncconf inquire pin names from the card automatically is actually not that helpful unless that info comes with context.
and it makes it so building a config without the card present is not possible ( maybe not such a big deal except when developing )

pncconf does have help pages have you read them?
The 7i77 and 7i76 are new and could use some specific info on them.
They do things quite differently them regular hostmot2 and all the docs on the web show the regular way of doing things.
This is where pncconf will help bridge the gap ( when i fix most of the bugs)

Chris M

Hi Chris,
We covered a lot of ground in the last few pages. I think I have it mostly sorted out now. The only real PNCConf issue I had was that when I assigned pins to be X amplifier enable, Y amplifier enable and Z amplifier enable the HAL file it generated called those pins xenable, yenable and zenable but later referenced them as x-enable y-enable and z-enable, which left them disconnected from the LinuxCNC functions. I fixed that manually. The other thing I will have to change is to make the spindle PWM output absolute since my VFD won't respond to negative voltages.

I'll post my HAL file when I get home. I'm still trying to figure out the MPG thing but I think the problem is that I have no means of telling LinuxCNC I want it to use the MPG input to direct motion.

Attached are my HAL and INI files, linear axes still untuned. I didn't have much time tonight but I'm going to continue reading up on HAL commands/syntax so i really understand what I'm doing when I put in those lines to switch the PWM output to an absolute value. At the moment I don't fully understand signals, pins, nets, =>... This attachment is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.

maxvdh wrote:
"Pins" are how values are transferred between HAL components.
"Signals" are the names you give to those values. All pins associated with a signal will have the same value.
The "net" command connects signals and pins. The first word after the net command is the signal name. Then there is a list of zero or more pins.
Only one "output" pin is allowed to be associated with any signal.

Two important things to remember are that the signal names have no meaning at all to LinuxCNC. It doesn't go looking for signals, you need toconnect them. Also, the <= <=> => symbols you see mean nothing at all to LinuxCNC, those are just there to make things clearer to you.

Thanks, some of that I've been reading but that's a quick synopsis.

By "output" pins do you mean physical output pins on the 7i77, 5i25, or parport? Or are there also HAL pins that are considered outputs? Why is it limited to one output pin? For instance, I have two physical relays that should be driven by the same "machine is on" signal in linuxCNC - why wouldn't it allow that?