The Basics Please -- Help!!!!

Ok fellas --

I have been doing quite a bit of reading lately and I think I am getting it but there's one hurdle I can't seem to get my mind over. I know they have ICs with PWM and step/direction inputs etc. Ok, if I have an IC like what I have described, with all that capability, how does that IC interphase with a computer and control software?

What I am asking, to keep it simple, is that if it tells me what pins to set high/low in order to give a step and direction command to the stepper motor, how does the control software utilize my drawing to set the particular pins high/low in order to get the precise cut that I need? Would any software work on these ICs? Does the software have to be customized to a particular IC?

Bear in mind that I have not built or moved anything yet. I have just been doing a great deal of reading trying to understand this thing as thoroughly as possible. Please break things down to the most basic form possible. I need desperately to understand this part of things very very well. Thx

From the front end of the software interface to the point in which the stepper or servo motor controller inputs are generated from algorithms based on the sections of geometry data plugged into it. That takes on forms of translation software to configure the variables into a format the device or module can react to.

Much of this will be OEM chip oriented. Each may have its own process to do the same function.

In an attempt to keep it generic rather than proprietary. Here is a link that lays out some of the basics in motion control. It describes several approaches in the configuration options available.

Trying to create the entire system on your own takes quite an array of knowledge. Taking advantage of the ready made black box's on the market makes it so much easier to just generate the path via software and let the controller do the hard part. A lot less time involved when the majority of the motion engineering has been done for you at such a cheap price. That comes from my preference in working 100 hrs on something I know verses 1000 hrs on something I don't and not coming close to the desired results.

Motion Controllers 101

DC

likewise trying to come up the curve, here's some stuff that helped me get the very basics of how the computer connects with things. cool site in general

http://www.taomc.com/bits2bots/

next you need some boards, go to Phil's site. if you've an interest in electronics, from the circuits, you can start to understand what is happening from the computer port to the motor connection

http://pminmo.com/

in the software set up, you've got to tell it which pin on the parallel port is for step and direction, for each axis.

Excellent guys! Mcgyver, the site you provided looks promising. I read a few sentences and decided to go get some snacks as I'm sure to be there for a while....connecting "computer to world." Yes! That's where I want to get....


ps: I have been on the Site that you provided for a while now (@Mcgyver)....it's just what I needed. Steep learning curve but I hope to be at the summit sometime. I need more of those links if anyone has additional reccs. tx!