Parallel port problems on new build; pins 14 and 16 not working for spindle

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03 Jul 2019 17:39 #138549 by trebuchetguy
This is my first post on this forum, please let me know if it's in the wrong category, and I thank you in advance for your assistance.

I have a CNC mill setup using a PMDX-126 and PMDX-107. I'm using two parallel ports. It worked great with an old PCI parallel port card for about a year, but I had to rebuild the PC recently and had to switch to a new PCIe card.

With the new PC (same configuration as the old PC), everything seems to work (X, Y, Z movement), except for the spindle control using pins 14 and 16 on the main parallel port. HAL seems to think that it's sending the correct signal to those pins, but my multi-meter and the PMDX-126 seem to disagree.

The PMDX-126 is hardwired to use pins 14 and 16 for spindle control, so I need to get those specific pins working.

I've tried two different dual parallel cards with no success; same problem with both.
-First attempt: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EA0WKDG/ref...05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
-Second attempt: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0090EE12U/ref...00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I think my issue is similar to this one: www.forum.linuxcnc.org/38-general-linuxc...port-pin-1-14-16-and

Am I out of luck and need to buy yet another card? Or is there something I can do to get one of these cards working? Please let me know if you need to see any specific configurations.

Many thanks for any assistance!

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03 Jul 2019 18:43 - 03 Jul 2019 18:43 #138559 by PCW
Did you try setting the mode of the hal_parport driver to "epp"?

If that does not work, I would take Andy's advice on the last port of the forum thread you linked,
and add a stiff pullup resistor to pins 14 and 16 of the parallel port.
(perhaps on the back of the parallel ports DB25)
Last edit: 03 Jul 2019 18:43 by PCW.

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03 Jul 2019 20:08 #138563 by trebuchetguy
Thanks for the quick response; I did try setting the driver to epp, but then when I start axis, it throws a "cannot find parallel port" (or something like that) error.

I'll try to see where I can easily add a pull-up resistor on the PMDX-126.

Thanks!

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03 Jul 2019 20:11 #138565 by PCW
Are you sure you got the hal_parport syntax correct?
(throwing an error suggests a syntax problem )

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03 Jul 2019 20:13 #138566 by trebuchetguy
Good question, let me double check. I thought it was, but maybe I did something wrong.

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03 Jul 2019 21:12 #138571 by trebuchetguy
Re: EPP, this is what I have in my HAL config:
loadrt hal_parport cfg="0 epp 1 epp"
It gives this error (twice) upon AXIS start: "Linux parallel port @65535 not found"

If I change it to: "loadrt hal_parport cfg="0 out 1 out"" It starts up without an error.

However, both configs still seem to allow XYZ movement without a problem.

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03 Jul 2019 21:29 #138574 by PCW
Sounds like maybe a parsing bug in hal_parport
(the port index fails when epp is selected )

Did you try with port addresses instead of indexes?, that might be a
work-around
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04 Jul 2019 02:49 #138586 by trebuchetguy
Thanks for your help.

loadrt hal_parport cfg="0xe030 epp 0xe010 epp" yields the same "Linux parallel port @65535 not found" error.

This weekend I'll try to get a pull up resistor in place. I should be pulling it up to 3.3v correct?

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04 Jul 2019 03:25 #138589 by PCW
I think a pullup to 3.3V would be safest

I cannot duplicate your error but my hardware is quite different=1 port on motherboard

peter@dc7800:~/linuxcnc/configs$ halrun
halcmd: loadrt hal_parport cfg=" 0 epp"
Note: Using POSIX realtime
config string ' 0 epp'

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04 Jul 2019 11:58 #138618 by andypugh

loadrt hal_parport cfg="0xe030 epp 0xe010 epp" yields the same "Linux parallel port @65535 not found" error


"epp" is not a valid modifier in the parport cfg. You can use "in" or "out" or "x"

The EPP setting is done in the BIOS, not in HAL.
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