Moving from parallell port to mesa 5i20

[henrikw]

Hi all,

I currently have emc2 running through the parallell port connecting to a hobbyCNC pro board.

I would like to have more pins available for hardware buttons, therefore I am considering a Mesa 5i20. is there anything I should be aware of when going down this road? how are you guys interfacing your driver board? any easy Mesa-to-parallell(HobbyCNC) cable available? Do I also need an opto coupled BOB for the buttons etc?

Thanks!

Henrik.

[andy55]

I built this kind of optoisolators for my m5i20 controlled mill:
http://www.anderswallin.net/2006/08/...i20-servocard/

mesa also sells similar isolator cards for 79$.
Check your stepper/servo drives, if they have isolated inputs it's not worth it to have double isolation.

I don't think there's a mesa-to-parallel-port adaptor available.

This kind of test panel is useful when you first get your card to see how everything works:
http://www.anderswallin.net/2007/09/...-4-test-panel/
(it may actually come with the EMC2 distribution)