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I have just pushed 7i77 support to PNCconf into the 2.5 repo

I am looking for testers.
here is a zipped folder to place into /lib/firmware/hm2 ( unzip it first )
You will need sudo rights to do that ( sudo nautilus typed into a terminal will fire up a graphical sudo file broswer)

if your 5i25 was supplied with 7i77x2 firmware then PNCconf can configure it.
there is actually firmware support for 7i76x2 and prob_frx2 in that folder too if you have those firmware preloaded.

I expect there will be an odd bug as I can not actually test it, besides looking at the files it produces.
Live testing in PNCconf surely doesn't work.

Please give feedback here.
Thanks

Chris M This attachment is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.

Hello Chris,

I attempted to run PNCconf with the 7i77 file (attached above) this weekend, and while it came up I could not do much with it. I would love to use PNCconf to setup my system, although given my limited Linux abilities, I am not sure how helpful I will be for any in-depth troubleshooting.

First, a little background on my setup. I installed LinuxCNC v2.5 pre-release onto a dedicated control PC (Intel D510MO based - specific built to avoid hardware issues). I have a Mesa 5i25 + (single) 7i77 along with a 7i69. The 7i69 breakout is connected to two Opto22 boards, and connected back to the PC thru the RS422 on the 7i77. The machine is a Sajo knee mill, which arrived to me with a dead Heidenhain TNC151 control. Its been a long term project, but now that my garage is insulated I am determined to finally figure it out. I started the project with a Vital System Motenc Lite (4 axis) card, which I was able to read/write I/O thought the Opto22 boards, but never got spindle or axis control working (limited by lack of 380v 3phase supply). It has a rotary 4th axis also, which is why I am now going the Mesa route (to get 4th axis and rigid tapping).

On the Mesa0 I/O page, I have the 7i77x2 firmware and can get past this first page. The next step gives me a number of tabs, here is where I can select a 7i69 or other daughter card and assign other I/O pins. The final tabs have selections for PWM output, which I believe should be Analog output. Once past this step, I get to the point where I can configure the X axis. The axis configuration does not go well... I am unable to test the axis, or move forward to any further selections. The ability to move forward to finalize/create an initial configuration would be helpful (or perhaps I did not get the right thing together to un-grey the selection).

While I was experimenting with the PNCconf for the 7i77, I thought of two features that would really be useful. The first is the ability to select 5i25 ports (only one 7i77, for example) on the first page, which would hide the unused tabs generated on the second step. The second feature that I thought would be useful, would be the ability to define custom I/O names (maybe load a text file on the initial page). The custom I/O names would then be imported into the selections for assigning the I/O in the subsequent step.

Anyway, If you can post an updated version that allows selection of Analog output to axis drives I would be glad to give it another shot. Thanks for all the work you've done to make setup much more accessible.

- Brian

Brian

First thanks for testing and reporting.
How long ago was your 2.5 updated. I want to make sure you have the most updated version - though I'm pretty sure you do.

First if you want to deselect the second 7i77 from the second 5i25 port :
go to the configuration page set the encoders to half (6) the number of channels to half (3) and press accept components.
do this before configuring anything. It will hide the unused tabs and free up some GPIO pins on the 5i25's second I/O port.
Yes I know it's not initiative - something to work on.

second if you can't move forward nor test then either an encoder, a pwm or the scaling of the encoder has not been selected.
If the encoder or PWM wasn't selected you should have got a warning window pop up to tell you, so did you set the scaling?

custom names are available by typing in an unique name and pressing return.
Yes having them loadable for a new config would be a nice feature.
One way around this, assuming you always use the same board type is to reload a config that has all your custom signal names then rename and edit it.

Peter (from Mesa) and Andy (driver writer) have kept me very busy trying to keep up.
PNCconf is my attempt to give back to linuxcnc and help lesson the steep learning curve.
It is easier to keep working on something if you can at least get it to move in fairly short time!

Again thanks for the feedback
Chris M

Hello Chris,

The version I have is 2.5.0-pre2, which I compiled from source on using instructions found on the wiki. I pulled the version of the 2.5 branch that was most recent on git, this past Saturday night (3/24).

I tried again tonight, and set the encoder scales. This worked and I was able to move on to the point where a configuration was generated. I encountered two issues. First, while setting up any axis in Open Loop Test, I would get the following error when enabling the amp:

I am not sure if the is expected / normal but the + / - jog would become un-greyed after this step. When I would click either, I get a similar error as above but with reference to the Jogminus or Jogplus. I did not assign any I/O to these, but did assign I/O (on the 7i69 card) for amplifier enable.

My next issue is that once the configuration is created and a shortcut is on the desktop, emc will simply not start. I get a splash screen here, but axis will not come up. I do have axis coming up while loading the 5i25 + 7i77 configuration that Big John T has put up in the Mesa FAQ section of the forum. This is where my lack of experience shows, as I do not have the slightest clue how to begin to diagnose.

I agree that seeing motion is a great start - tonight I was able to move my X, Y, and Z axis servos using the AAA battery trick. My Y axis servo drive seems to be messed up, but thats another issue. It will only turn one direction, and resist motion in one direction - it can be spun by hand in the other. I swapped the Y motor to the X axis, and it worked fine using the X axis drive/cables (both directions). I verified cables, but have not yet tested the X axis motor with the Y (suspect) drive. Suggestions are welcome here, although its quite off topic.

Tomorrow night I will try to get motion on the X axis from EMC, hopefully with the Mesa setup.

I do like the PNCconf setup!

- Brian

Hi Brian.

Ok I am assuming that you have an installed version of linuxcnc and a git version. Is this true? What is the installed version if yes.

open a terminal cd to the folder you compiled the git version.
type :
. scripts/rip-evironment
after that you can run pncconf by typing it's name or start linuxcnc by typing its name.
this is the preferred way to run these when debugging because some messages are printed to the terminal that you usually can't see.

for instance the "broken pipe" error is most likely an actual HAL error - the message would be printed to the terminal.
maybe a misspelled pinname.

try running the pncconf config from the terminal instead of the shortcut. The shortcut works well on an installed version - often not so good on compiled versions. this is because the shortcut always runs the installed version. if the installed and compiled are different then that can cause problems.

Chris m

Hi Chris,
I'm not sure how helpful I'll be but since there don't seem to be too many replies on this thread I'll give this a shot. I'm new to LinuxCNC, Mesa cards, and linux, so getting this running is a bit of a challenge for me. I've set up a computer with a 5i25 and 7i77 with my machine and installed LinuxCNC 2.5 using the buildbot. I haven't connected all of my I/O yet; I was thinking I'd start with one axis (4th - C axis), see if that works, and then add everything else on from there. I know that axis can't really do any damage if something goes wrong. I've connected the encoder to the encoder 3 pins (TB4:1-8). I copied the xml files onto my machine as directed and ran PnCConf. I basically ignored everything but the encoder assignments where I set
Encoder 0 - X axis
Encoder 1 - Y axis
Encoder 2 - Z axis
Encoder 3 - A axis (I'll have to change this to C at some point but for testing purposes I imagine this works)
Encoder 4 - Spindle Encoder
Encoder 5 - multiaxis handwheel
This is the way I was intending to connect everything finally. I set the W2 jumper on the 5i25 to supply logic power to the 7i77 and I see yellow LEDs on it but I did not apply any field power - I wouldn't think it was needed just to look at an encoder.

I was able to go through all the dialogs and start EMC2, selecting the configuration I had generated. I tried using HAL Scope to look at the encoder 3 signals (all of them) while I ran the 4th axis manually and I saw no activity. However I attached a scope to the input pins and saw +5V/0V square waves coming in from the encoder. Please pardon my ignorance - can you tell me what I'm missing? Thank you,
Max