How I Got Here:
About 10 or 15 years ago I designed a CNC system that was used in Smithy
brand mills and lathes. I try to support these machines the best I can,
and the most common failure is the compact flash card that the system
boots from. I am usually able to read the card and transfer the old
system directly to a new SATA SSD. Lately though I am seeing
motherboards go bad. The original design used a Gigabyte motherboard
with an ATX form factor and "solid capacitors". IIRC some of the model
numbers were P41, P43, and P45. These systems also featured USB keyboard
and mouse connections, A PCI Express 16 interface video card with HDMI
output, and were powered by a 120Vac input ATX power supply. These have
been reliable, but time does go by... Most of these systems used 5i20
cards from Mesa, although there are a few obscure systems with software
stepping/parallel port interfaces. If need be, the parallel port systems
could be converted to Mesa FPGA Anything I/O technology using any one of
many printer port compatible solutions offered by Mesa. I also have been
preserving the existing Ubuntu Linux and EMC 2.4.x software because it's
easy and familiar, but also because some systems don't work using the
latest LinuxCNC. My own mill with an 8i20 servo drive on the spindle
doesn't run with the current software, and I also couldn't get a lathe
tool turret controlled with Classicladder to index. I'd really like to
transition anyone I encounter to the current version.
What I Would Like To Know:
1. What AT/ATX (including miniature versions sharing at least 4
screwhole locations) form factor PC motherboards that are or have the
following features, are available:
A. Currently purchasable new from stock.
B. Low Latency (no real time errors). This probably means no onboard
video, so a slot for a video board is needed along with BIOS setup
options to disable fancy real-time ruining features.
C. 1 available PCI slot for the existing 5120 card.
D. Some expectation of long term reliability (if possible).
I asked Claude.ai about this, and his opinion was that the PCI slot
support that allows reusing the 5i20 is antiquated in 2026 and that
switching to a Pci-E or ethernet connected Mesa board would be a more
future proof course of action. Whatever FPGA card is used needs to have
at least 2 50 pin ribbon cable connections to preserve the existing 7i37
and 7i47 Mesa daughter boards. Converting these boards to something else
would cause a lot of wiring work... Something like the 7i80HD or 7i93
for ethernet, or the 6i24 in Pci-E.
2. How about industrial ATXish motherboards that don't have slots, or
have 1 slot for a video board, connected to the FPGA card through
ethernet
3. It's 2026! Should I just consider switching to a Raspberry Pi (or
other SBC) and another FPGA card from Mesa that uses an Ethernet or SPI
interface and provides at least 2 of the Opto22 style I/O connectors?
4. The ideal situation would be a pre-integrated LinuxCNC machine that
came in a DIN rail mountable case that could be snapped in and be ready
to plug in the existing USB, HDMI, network, and Mesa ribbon cables and
24Vdc or 90-250Vac power. If anyone knows of something like this...
I'd love to hear about how people are handling this aspect of things,
especially if a consensus has developed around a particular hardware
configuration.
Thanks,
Matt
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