Configuring LinuxCNC 2.9.4 Mesa 7i95t Newbie.

Hello! First of all I’m sorry if this is placed in the wrong category. I’m pretty much new to Linux and LinuxCNC and been busy building a CNC mill but I’ve stumbled up on a lot of problems. 

My first thought was to get some help by using AI (Copilot) to configure Linux CNC but it doesn’t work that well because info online is limited on 2.9.4 so the AI is trying to use solutions that’s outdated for previous versions of LinuxCNC. 

The progress I’ve made so far is to configure and flash firmware to 7i95t with MesaCT and edit hall and ini files to run QTdragonHD and get the stepper motors to move but then I wanted do add 3 MPGs to jog each axis. 

Well that didn’t work that good.. these are the things I hope to accomplish one day: 

1. X-Y-Z MPGs with incremental and continuous movement. 
2. E-stop circuit (input) with reset. 
3. Add limit switches 
4.Closed loop feedback by using glass DRO scales. 
5.Spindle control 0-10v VFD or just relay control. 
6. Inputs/physical buttons: cycle start, cycle stop, 3 position resolution rotary switch for MPGs, 
7. Joystick (switches) to feed X and Y. (Like a power feed on  a manual machine) with a potentiometer to adjust feed rate) 
8. Output for fogbuster/flood coolant. 
9. Output for Compressed air nozzle. 

The list is long, 

I don’t know where to go from here.. 

Errors I’ve got earlier is missing motion.so and other modules, I’ll post the basic ini and hal files to.
 

for # 1 and #7 I would use the built-in MPG encoders.

I don't know what if any MPG setup options MesaCT has
(it should be able to setup limit/home switches and spindle controls)

No sure if any configuration utility knows the 7I95/7I95T
MPG count pins but they would be:

hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc0-count
hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc1-count
hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc2-count
hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc3-count




 

This is the basic function, it’s possible to jog the machine with buttons in QTdragon 

At one point I got these pins to register counts in Halmeter:

hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc0-count
hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc1-count
hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc2-count
hm2_7i95.0.inmux.00.enc3-count

But ended up getting errors for missing module: Motion.so so tried clean install and wiped everything,

MesaCT is a useful tool but haven’t found any encoder settings other than motor encoder setting,

I’ve tried to flash different firmwares also because some firmwares doesn’t have all settings available for encoder and spindle in MesaCT,

At the moment I’m running 7i95t_1pwmd

I think 7i95t is only supported by MesaCT, tried to use pncconfig because I’ve seen posts about people using the 7i95 config and edit I/O mapping and such, but couldn’t find the 7i95 either.

Yes, you will probably need to setup the MPGs manually

MesaCT should allow you to setup home/limit switches,
your coolant outputs and the Spindle control outputs
(not sure about the spindle PWM)

So I would setup the limit/home switches and various outputs
next ( since support for these is built into MesaCT )

Yes, start with all the settings that’s possible to get in MesaCT, 

Spindle relay would probably be good enough for now because the mill has a gearbox and 2 speed motor but that’s possible to fix easily outside of software if necessary, 

For some reason there’s a lot of modules that’s missing and causing faults, I don’t know maybe the new changes to 2.9.4 don’t need them and the AI think they should be there and write HAL with functions that’s not supported any longer 
 

I would use pncconf  (the new one in the link) or MesaCT
and avoid AI as it's really just a time sink here.

I have never seen a missing module in 2.9.4

( There is no motion.so in LinuxCNC so don't take bad advice from AI )