Initial Config help needed please

Got the new board installed... No Joy..
Same issue. I can run the X and Y .. but no Z..
Same as the other port, i swap the Y and Z.. the Y axis in the program runs the Z motor.. but the Z axis in the program still controls nothing

Is it a normal thing to have to go through this much trouble to get things working??

Can anyone give me a better reason than "its not a good idea to run from a laptop" to not run this table from my laptop??

Here is what i have so far..
Laptop (compaq nx9005), runs all axis in kcam and mach III.. (tells me the breakout board and driver boards are good... i think)

PC (I have tried 4 now)
I get no movement on the Z Axis at all... ever. Not in KCam, mach III or LinuxCNC
I've never gotten this past the stepconf stage. When i stepconf, i can test the X and Y axis and they both work. the Z axis does nothing. if i swap the motor controllers on the breakout board, (y with z) the z axis software test runs the y motor (as expected), the Y axis software test does not move teh Z axis (this seems to indicate that there is an issue with the Z motor controller.

With this table connected to the laptop, and all axis running as expected, i move the parallel cable to the pc, then nothing from the Z axis. I have verified all of the pins (z is using 6 and 7) on the pcs, i have checked the voltages on the direction and step pins and everthing appears to be the same.

I needed to step away from this as the urge to make an adjustment with something very heavy is becoming overwhelming. I know this is not "supposed" to be this difficult, but for some reason, I just canot make this table run from a PC.

The only reason laptops generally are not recommended is because most of them have pretty bad latency results. If your laptop gives you acceptable performance for your application, then use it.

egropp wrote:

Can anyone give me a better reason than "its not a good idea to run from a laptop" to not run this table from my laptop??

Here is what i have so far..
Laptop (compaq nx9005), runs all axis in kcam and mach III.. (tells me the breakout board and driver boards are good... i think)

PC (I have tried 4 now)
I get no movement on the Z Axis at all... ever. Not in KCam, mach III or LinuxCNC
I've never gotten this past the stepconf stage. When i stepconf, i can test the X and Y axis and they both work. the Z axis does nothing. if i swap the motor controllers on the breakout board, (y with z) the z axis software test runs the y motor (as expected), the Y axis software test does not move teh Z axis (this seems to indicate that there is an issue with the Z motor controller.

With this table connected to the laptop, and all axis running as expected, i move the parallel cable to the pc, then nothing from the Z axis. I have verified all of the pins (z is using 6 and 7) on the pcs, i have checked the voltages on the direction and step pins and everthing appears to be the same.

I needed to step away from this as the urge to make an adjustment with something very heavy is becoming overwhelming. I know this is not "supposed" to be this difficult, but for some reason, I just canot make this table run from a PC.

as requested post you hal and ini files as an attachment ..
are you using the same files on both the laptop and the pc , or are they separately configured ?
any messages showing in dmesg terminal output , try running linuxcnc from the command line , any errors could then show up

if the machine works fine on the laptop and not on the pc then it has to be configuration or pc problem, as you have try'd more than one pc then that would reasonably discount the pc as the problem .

Can anyone give me a better reason than "its not a good idea to run from a laptop" to not run this table from my laptop??

The reason is largely power management.

Laptops are designed to make maximum use of battery power by various means, some done by software, some in BIOS and some at hardware level.
These are not conducive to good latency as some cannot in the main be prevented and will cause spikes,
eg. when you want to output a train of pulses to move a stepper, the computer decides it needs to generate an interrupt which takes precedence, to adjust fan speed.

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You have amply demonstrated that the problem is your BOB (and associated cabling runs) will not work with 3.3v
Not with Linuxcnc, not with Mach or Kam

You either need another one that will, or an intermediate voltage boosting board (uses the 3.3v from the parport to switch opto isolators and output 5v)

PS This is the first one I came across in a search, is a BOB with buffers and opto-couples to counter the exact problems you have
oceancontrols.com.au/KTB-205.html

Ok.. After all the frustration and fighting this setup..
It finally works!!

I bought the C26 Parallel Port Buffer from CNC4PC.com (and after a minor hitch due to not reading the directions... ) Installed the board the correct way around.

Now everythign works form all PC's as advertised.

Not is time to figure out how to get this table to home in the correct direction. (but i think this is aquestion for a different thread if i cannot fidn the answer here).

We are finally well on the way to making chips!!