New Mill Build...Can I use LinuxCNC?

Digging around in the documentation I ran onto “JT’s Tutorials” ...I see that he has some extensive documentation for the 7i96 board, seems very helpful to a noob like me...can anyone elaborate on the difference between the 7i76e and the 7i96. The pros and cons? Thanks, Andy

Mayberry Customs wrote: ...can anyone elaborate on the difference between the 7i76e and the 7i96.

Since i never used a 7i96 i am not best suited to reply, but as far as i know 7i96 has less I/O and is better suited for plasma while 7i76E has everything needed for a mill and then some.

Ok thanks...ya that’s what it looked like to me and as far as I can tell no built in spindle control, definitely want that...any walk through tutorials or video suggestions for the 7i76e? I found what appeared to be a good video on YouTube but it’s in German! I’m sure there’s plenty of info out there, just trying to find what I can ahead of time.

On the first post there is a PDF attached that has wiring diagrams and a lot of explanations, very nicely done:
forum.linuxcnc.org/27-driver-boards/3191...76e-connection-sheet

The 7i96 is for sure is a nice baord with built in relays but it does not support the spindle without extenral hardware and the PWM is at the expense of a stepgen or something similar. You can add 2 MPG's to it but that is at the expense of input pins so if you add another bord for more IO you are up to tthe 7i76e in cost.

This is more of a general Linux question…I was thinking about the fact that I would be using a separate computer to do the CAD and CAM and would like to share the G code file across the network to the controller computer...When I got to thinking about this though I realize that the Mesa card would be using my ethernet connection… Is there a way to use this ethernet connection for that purpose, but also have a Wi-Fi connection that is functional so I can share and access files on the network? I know this is trivial and I can use a USB stick to transfer the file, but it would be nice for convenience just to be able to access it on a network. Thanks, Andy