Parallel port issue on Shuttle PC,s

[GEFR]

After my old IBM desktops died on me I managed to acquire a couple of Shuttle pc's one of which which will be ideal for fitting inside the under-lathe cupboard (ventilated of course). Unfortunately while they will drive the parallel port for Foam works vsn.3 I just get one pulse repeated slowly on one channel when trying to drive the lathe on EMC2 UBUNTU. So while it is good for windows it gets a bit shy on EMC2! Very sad as my tower has to stand out in the mess or lay on its side in the cupboard. Any ideas?
Regards
Ken

[UUU]

That's a shame - not that I have an answer for you. I'm looking forward to someone coming forward as I have a Shuttle that I'd like to drive my Mill with Mach3 in place of the tower that it currently has, so I'm keen to heaqr if anyone uses one sucessfully.

[Action-KAT]

Hi Lads not sure if this is of any help to you,

I had to use a LPT buffer card with my set up as I didn't have a parallel port on my PC,
Had to use a PCI card for the Parallel port & this didn't give a full 5v needed.
But using the buffer card it now gives full stable 5v & buffered.

Using it with a Gecko G540 & get the green GO light.

Here is the link.
again not sure if this will aid a stable pulse but they are buffered

lpt-buffer
KAT

[GEFR]

Hi Lads not sure if this is of any help to you,
I had to use a LPT buffer card with my set up as I didn't have a parallel port on my PC,Here is the link.
again not sure if this will aid a stable pulse but they are buffered
lpt-buffer
KAT

Hello KAT
At risk of exposing the ignorance due to bluntly refusing to become a specialist but instead spreading my mental energy over a wide range of disciplines:
If it it a voltage level problem then it would be the operating system which would be setting the level. As the port runs the identical stepper driver and motors when my XP hard drive is slotted in I have for the moment discounted that.
Instead I have been reading the parport section in the EMC2 manual. Naturally and - as Mr Fotiadis the Project leader many moons ago said - It is all Greek to me. However my jaded glaze fell upon Figure 8.1: Parport Block Diagram which indicates that the function of the "hard" pins depends upon the software driver and this gets set somehow along the way. As the hardware seems to work for XP but not for Linux I wonder if Linux configuring it for input rather than output. If someone would tell me how to access the relevant file/s then at risk of multiple drive formatting I will gladly dive into the murky world of software manipulation. Any offers? Ken

[Ali Kat]

Not got an answer for this one but I can confrim that the PC8 parallel adapter for the Shuttle is a quick and cheap way to get an LPT port. The Shuttle mother poard has a parallel port header fitted and the PC8 just plugs into this and gets screwed to a knockout section on the back panel. No drivers required and it works fine with Mach3.

[GEFR]

Not got an answer for this one but I can confrim that the PC8 parallel adapter for the Shuttle is a quick and cheap way to get an LPT port. The Shuttle mother poard has a parallel port header fitted and the PC8 just plugs into this and gets screwed to a knockout section on the back panel. No drivers required and it works fine with Mach3.

Thanks for that Ali
I have fitted such a cable between the Motherboard header and the rear panel aperture aand sure enough the port does drive a foam cutter under Foamworks vsn3 on Windows XP. Trouble is that when I insert the hard drive caddie with EMC2 Ubuntu The port doesn't work. I am convinced that there is a difference in the way that the sets up the port for EMC2 than the way that XP does it. I suspect that on the Shuttle the port is set up for input rather than for output. People tell me that I havve to fiddle with my HAL file but I have no idea how to find this file and even just view it let alone reconfigure it. I would need step by step instructions for this.
Best regards
GEFR

[GEFR]

Having had several goes at this over the months (Be year soon) We are thinking that there might be an issue with the motherboard bios and Linux because even though we configure the port correctly and re-run the Stepcofig still no one at home in terms of PP output even though we see the stepping on Halscope and on an external oscilocsope. Maybe someone knows about this? As previously stated we know the poport is working because we get stepping when we run Foamworks with the XP drive in place. This is just so sad... we have manage to get into the file system and remember that someone posted a couple of lines of code which could be added to the HAL file. Anyone remember this?
Best wishes
Ken