newbie with xylotex kit

[cyclestart]

I have the electronics acuity of a newborn so please assume nothing

A new ready-to-go xylotex kit is sitting on my desk. I'm currently waiting for the rest of the X2 conversion bits-and-pieces to arrive. In the meantime it would be nice to confirm the motors spin.

Questions.
Is it safe to plug everything in and start the configuration or are there steps that must be taken first?

Should the pinouts be configured before plugging anything in?

Downloaded a xml file from the xylotex yahoo group. I'm reading up on this at the moment but any pointers on applying it are welcome.

Forgive the newbish questions. I have a lot of money **by my standards anyway** stuck into this project and want to leave nothing to chance.

[ger21]

I'd set up the pins in the software first, then follow the instructions on the Xylotex website, exactly as they tell you.

http://www.xylotex.com/Setup%20Instructions.htm

[cyclestart]

Thank you

The next sound you hear will be me dancing around the desk while the motors spin out a sample gcode After reading and puzzling over this for hours I decided it was safe to proceed. The Ents from LOTR were hasty by comparison.

The page you linked had a lot of useful advice. I think it wasn't included in the xylotex shipment because I ordered the "ready" kit. I've printed it for future reference.

One last silly question. What's the procedure for for powering the drive box on/off? Is it safe to do this while the computers running? I do this all the time with my laser printer. I can ask xylotex support if you (or any other members) are unsure.

[ger21]

Haven't actually seen a kit, but normally the PC should be on with the control software running before powering up the board.