MESA Card Recommendation

Thanks Rod and Tecno
It was the Zsync clarification that was confusing me

Hello Clive

When you have tried that out, if you can post a brief update about how easy/difficult that was and how successful, I would be very grateful. Thanks. Also, what ethernet card are you using?

Regards
Jono

Regarding determination of how many axis' I require on the mesa card(s) :

- for my two servos on X-axix (one each end of gantry), am I correct in assuming that the two sets of servo drive inputs are just twisted together and connected on the single mesa card axis interface?
[with encoders connected to servo drives]

Jono

A much better way would be to use Master branch and the Joint Axis features now incorporated therein so you can run the gantry motors each as a separate joint. This means you will use separate 7i76e stepgens.
Linuxcnc can then square the axis during the homing sequence for you and you adjust for square using the homing offsets. See homing sequence in the master branch documentation.

Jono wrote: Hello Clive

When you have tried that out, if you can post a brief update about how easy/difficult that was and how successful, I would be very grateful. Thanks. Also, what ethernet card are you using?

Regards
Jono

I am sure I am not the correct person to give this sort of advise. There are many on here much more qualified to comment.
I am using a 5i25-7i76 very successfully for my mill and lathe and very happy with it.
I am thinking of changing from Mach3 with a Purlogic controller that does twin axis homing to a 7i76e mesa on my router but I had forgotten that I need to do it with the Master branch and the Joint Axis features as Rod says above.

Edit: Update: I have tried the Stretch Version (linuxcnc-stretch-uspace-amd64-r1.iso 23-Jun-2017 17:13 1.1G) Iso and it loaded first time it also had the 7i76e board in the Pnconf list.. Happy days. I don't have a 7i76e board yet to try but it looks fine and seems quick.

Hi guys!
I'm little bit confused about the Mesa cards. If everything looks like fine, but I'm not really happy with a parallel port speed, which one is a good choice for me? I only need for 3 axis STEP/DIR outputs for ACS606 drivers. Looks like 7i43 will fit, but I did not find a STEP frequency. With a 4000ppr encoder I cant really have a fast enough motions.