On Fri, 28 Jun 2013, Hugh Currin wrote: > Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:55:30 -0700 > From: Hugh Currin <[email protected]> > Reply-To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" > <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Emc-users] Atom D525MW Configuration Problem ? > > Folks: > > It is time to update my CNC controller. I'm now using a 1GHz Pentium III > computer, with 4Mb memory, running EMC2 2.0.3. It works fine but would > like to access CAD (Varicad) and CAM (Sheetcam) software in the shop. > This old computer isn't up to running those. I have a Lenovo desktop > I've planned (for a couple of years) to move to the shop, however after > loading LinuxCNC the latency (300,000) was terrible. After some fiddling > and tuning I gave up on the Lenovo. > > So, I read the Intel D525MW miniITX board works well with LinuxCNC. Too > old to be found through NewEgg, etc. but I found one through Amazon. It > shipped from Mega Micro Devices but I don't see it on their site. I've > mounted it in a miniITX case with one 2Gb memory stick, 500Gb hard drive > and CD Drive. I put a PCI single parallel card in but don't currently > plan to use this second port. > > I loaded LinuxCNC 2.5.2 without a problem. Latency tests show "Jitter" > around 16.3 uS (16,300 nS) out of the box. After turning off > hyper-threading this came down to around 10 uS, but I didn't run the > test for very long. I used the "Stepper Configuration Wizard" to build > the *.ini and *.hal files. All seemed to work. > > I then connected the D525MW up to my converted mill. It uses a PMDX-131 > breakout board with three (XYZ) Gecko G202 drives. This circa 2007 > controller works very well with the old Pentium computer. > > Well, the motion using the D525MW is very ragged and doesn't conform to > the requested motion. I have Trav-A-Dial readouts on X and Y which show > the ragged motion. It's a ragged motion all the time, not a burp once in > a while. Asking for G1 X0.5 F10 gives a jerky motion of 0.1" or 0.2". > Something is terribly wrong. I don't think this is a tuning problem and > I've tried different BASE_PERIODS without any noticeable change. I > pulled the second parallel port out with no change. > > I don't know what else to do. I compared the *.ini files from EMC2 2.0.3 > and LinuxCNC 2.5.2 and don't see anything amiss. The pinout in the *.hal > files seem the same. Also, there is action on X, Y and Z when jogged > leading one to believe the pinout is OK. > > I spent a few minutes trying to configure it to use the PCI parallel > card rather than the onboard parallel port. I found the card (lspci -v) > but couldn't get it configured in LinuxCNC. The I/O ports are at 1000, > 1010, 1018, 1020, 1028, & 1030 but I may have a format error when I > enter these into the HAL file. > > I hope there's something simple amiss and someone can assist me in > finding it. I can post the configuration files if asked, please let me > know which ones and how best to include (inline, attached, etc). Any > additional tests to run? > > Thank you in advance. > > PS. I seem to go though this every five years or so when I get the bug > to update my controller. Please bear with me. > > -- > Hugh Currin > Klamath Falls, OR > USA >
The stepgen length and space timings changed from base thread periods to ns some time from EMC 2.x to LinuxCNC 2.5.x. I would guess this is a likely source of your troubles > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows: > > Build for Windows Store. > > http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > Peter Wallace Mesa Electronics (\__/) (='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your (")_(") signature to help him gain world domination. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows: Build for Windows Store. http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
