[rdsi]

With the release of PathPilot v2.0 (PP2) the base operating system is now supported, at least until 2019, meaning we can easily install additional software to perform desktop duties. PP2 also provides builtin support for the 7I92 Ethernet Anything I/O card from MESA Electronics.

So I decided to upgrade my PCNC 1100 computer to make it more capable with both PP2 and desktop duties. I also wanted a compact computer that I could mount next to my monitor and keyboard for easy access freeing up space inside my stand.

Having 7I92 support means the computer no longer needs a card mounted inside of it making it possible to use a small form factor computer. So the requirements were small form factor, dual NIC’s, compatibility with LinuxCNC and good latency. Yeah, one could forego the dual NIC’s & use WiFi but I much prefer a hardwired connection.

So I found a computer from Shuttle called a DH110 that meets all my requirements. I populated it with a Intel Skylake Dual Core 3.7GHz CPU (I3-6100), 8GB of RAM and a M.2 64GB SSD. This is way more than PP2 needs but like I said I wanted a good performing desktop out of it too. This thing blows the pants off my very expensive Tormach controller I had to buy with my 15L Slant-Pro.

Next I purchased a 7I92H Anything I/O Ethernet card from MESA Electronics. There are 3 versions of this card depending on the connector desire for the P2 location. I chose the 7I92H because it had a standard male 26-pin IDC connector which facilitates a 26-pin ribbon cable between it and the Tormach Break-Out Board or BOB. This gets rid of the 25-Pin Parallel Port cable between the CPU and control box replacing it with a much smaller cat 5e cable.

Next I mounted the computer underneath the keyboard. So now the only cables running from the machine to my console are power for the computer and monitor and 2 cat 5e cables – 1 to the 7I92H board mounted inside the machine control box and 1 connected to my local network.

So the only difficulty I ran into was with the dual NIC’s used on the Shuttle DH110. For reasons I don’t understand the 7I92 would not run reliably using the Intel I211 controller chip which just happen to default eht0 used by the 7I92. Luckily the other NIC used is a Intel i219 and the 7I92 appears happy using this controller chip. While I was researching this problem I noticed talk about the 7I92 having compatibility problems with certain Ethernet controller chips so be careful selecting a NIC controller.

So with the DH110 I was able to change the assignment of eth0 to the Intel I219 controller chip and use the I211 (eth1) for my local network connection without any problem. This means you must know which holes to plug your cables into on the DH110.

Like previous versions of PP the standard install only creates 3 Hard Disk partitions utilizing only 29GB of HD space no matter it size. Since I wanted more for my desktop duties I decided to do the standard install, then use GParted Live to modify them to use all the HD space. So the standard install creates 3 partition as follows:

sda1 ext4 13.22 GiB boot
sda2 swap 1000.00 Mib
sda3 ext4 14.65 GiB

I want to increase the swap file (sda2) to 4 GB then expand sda3 to use the remaining space. Since sda1 is generally reserved for static files utilized by the system it should not be necessary to increase it’s size.

Using GParted Live it’s best to shift/move sda3 by 3GB freeing up space to expand sda2, then expand sda2 by 3GB, then expand sda3 to use all the remaining space.

I decided to increase the swap file size to help prevent swapping when running multiple desktop apps.

Finally I changed the boot process to boot into the desktop, created a PP desktop launcher, adjusted the display resolution to that of the monitor native resolution, setup networking, updated the system and installed my desktop applications. Now I have both PP controller and desktop all in one.

[PCW_MESA]

With Intel MACs you may need to set the IRQ coalescing option off to get reliable performance.
this is done with the ethtool utility:

ethtool -C devicename rx-usecs 0

Also its better to use the EEPROM set IP address ( default=10.10.10.10 ) rather than the setup IP address ( 192.168.1.121 )
since its less likely to overlap existing NAT ranges.

One option on single Ethernet MAC mini PCs is to use a USB Ethernet dongle for general internet/file access and
the on board MAC for CNC

[Steve303]

Very cool. I really like those small form factor computers. I might order one of those 7i92H boards.

[TurboStep]

Having 7I92 support means the computer no longer needs a card mounted inside of it making it possible to use a small form factor computer. So the requirements were small form factor, dual NIC’s, compatibility with LinuxCNC and good latency. Yeah, one could forego the dual NIC’s & use WiFi but I much prefer a hardwired connection.

I went a similar way but for a different reason. I was concerned about a possible ground loop that might cause problems with my modifications. This is eliminated when using the 7i92H. I considered going for a small form factor but I use quad backplanes https://www.amazon.de/Backplane-2-5Z...FSAS+BACKPLANE on both my development and shop machines and just swap drives between them. I can swap the drive on my shop machine for a test version in a few seconds with absolutely no risk of screwing up my productive installation. Installing a second network card was also no problem and with the small form factor I would have lost the ability to ... well, I don't want to spoil the fun!

So the only difficulty I ran into was with the dual NIC’s used on the Shuttle DH110.

In the course of these changes I used the built in interfaces of 2 different machines, a PCIe card and a USB to Ethernet adapter with no issues - perhaps I was just lucky.

Finally I changed the boot process to boot into the desktop, created a PP desktop launcher, adjusted the display resolution to that of the monitor native resolution, setup networking, updated the system and installed my desktop applications. Now I have both PP controller and desktop all in one.

What! You're not using dual monitors? I keep all unnecessary stuff off my shop PathPilot controller - I don't feel the need to turn it into a desktop. I'm less concerned about enabling the beep than I would be about installing all manner of desktop apps. That stays on my laptops.
Step

[rdsi]

Also its better to use the EEPROM set IP address ( default=10.10.10.10 ) rather than the setup IP address ( 192.168.1.121 )
since its less likely to overlap existing NAT ranges.

Yeah, I'm am using the default EEPROM IP address. Right now things are happy on the I219 but if I run into any issues I have put your suggestion into my notes - thanks.

I keep all unnecessary stuff off my shop PathPilot controller - I don't feel the need to turn it into a desktop. I'm less concerned about enabling the beep than I would be about installing all manner of desktop apps. That stays on my laptops.Step

So I have a NAS where all my stuff is really kept. I thought having both a workstations in my shop & another in the house/office would be enough but I found myself still going between my machines and the workstation. I suppose if I were just running parts it would not be an issue but everything I do is one-off. So having access right on the controller, for me, saves a lot of back & forth.

If you really want a neat sounding keyboard I came across this app called BuckleSpring that you can install into PP2. It emulates the old click clack noise of the original IBM keyboard. I tried it out & it sounds pretty good if you have a monitor with speakers are something. I've been thinking about modifying this program such that if you pressed certain keys like "Page Down" instead of playing the "Click Clack" recording for that key it would play a recording that says "Jogging Z down" are whatever ...

[mountaindew]

I went a similar way but for a different reason. I was concerned about a possible ground loop that might cause problems with my modifications. This is eliminated when using the 7i92H. I considered going for a small form factor but I use quad backplanes https://www.amazon.de/Backplane-2-5Z...FSAS+BACKPLANE on both my development and shop machines and just swap drives between them. I can swap the drive on my shop machine for a test version in a few seconds with absolutely no risk of screwing up my productive installation. Installing a second network card was also no problem and with the small form factor I would have lost the ability to ... well, I don't want to spoil the fun!


Step

Please do spoil the fun

I also live a simpler life having front load solid state disk drives in everything.

[kstrauss]

I haven't seen anything more on using a 7i92. Is the installation simply connecting the 7i92 via Ethernet and rebooting or are PP configuration changes required? Have there been any problems?

[rdsi]

It is pretty much plug & play. You just mount the 7i92 inside the electronics bay near the BOB pcb & connect the ribbon that went to the PC to the 7i92. As I mention there are 3 version of the 7i92 card. You need the 7i92H version to facilitate the ribbon IDC.

Then you just connect an Ethernet cable between the 7i92 & your computer. So when PathPilot boots if it doesn't find an internal card it looks for a 7i92 on your LAN port. If it finds one your off & running...

Depending on your hardware there could be some minor tweaks. In my situation I needed to change some BIOS settings pertaining to the dual NIC's.

Otherwise, I have not experienced any problems. I thought the new machines have switched over to this configuration?

[kstrauss]

Thanks! A few more questions if you don't mind:
Does PP automatically try 192.168.1.121 and 10.10.10.10 or does mesaflash change the address or... ?
If there are dual NICs how does PP know which to use?
Can I share a single NIC between the 7i92 and other connections (the other connection is for file transfer and will not be active when milling)?

[rdsi]

Does PP automatically try 192.168.1.121 and 10.10.10.10 or does mesaflash change the address or... ?

I messed around with different IP addresses but in the end stuck with 10.10.10.10 (Don't remember all the details now).

If there are dual NICs how does PP know which to use?

In Linux ports get assigned eth0, eth1, etc. PP assumes the 7i92 is attached to eth0. If you have more than 1 LAN port you need to know which one is assigned eth0.

Can I share a single NIC between the 7i92 and other connections (the other connection is for file transfer and will not be active when milling)?

I tried this & was not successful. For reasons I don't understand the 7i92 just did not like having a network switch between it & the PC. Since the MB I wanted to use came with dual NIC's this wasn't a problem. So 1 port is dedicated to the 7i92 & the other port is connected to my network. You could use a wireless connection for networking & internet then you only need 1 NIC, but I prefer a wired connection.

[Ftoggle]

I gotta admit, I've been following this thread with interest as well. But I've got one nagging question --

In your photo of the cab interior, it looks like there are two other cables, attached to the 7i92, just below the green 5v/Gnd terminal block.
I thot those were the W5 and W6 jumpers, so can you tell us what's up with what we're seeing in this picture?

By the way, thanks for posting this (and other adventure articles); I've found them extremely helpful, and they tend to parallel a lot of my own curiosities.

Edit: Also, when you ordered, what did you select for the Available Options configuration?

[rdsi]

In your photo of the cab interior, it looks like there are two other cables, attached to the 7i92, just below the green 5v/Gnd terminal block.
I thot those were the W5 and W6 jumpers, so can you tell us what's up with what we're seeing in this picture?

There are three connections: Ethernet, Ribbon & +5VDC (the power supply). In the pic the power supply wires are coming up crossing over the W5 & W6 jumpers into the green terminal block. There are 2 other wires running up between the BOB & 7i92 board but they go to the Series 3 Suppressors mounted above the 7i92.

Also, when you ordered, what did you select for the Available Options configuration?

This is the board I ordered: 7I92H Anything I/O Ethernet card

[ShortTrack]

I am about to head in this direction myself. I am at the end of the utility lines - I blow up a garage door opener every year or so because of nearby lightning strikes. I want the Ethernet isolation between CPU and machine controller. Too much info., I know..

Sooo, I asked Tormach to see if they sold this setup. Not trying to tattle on anyone at Tormach, but I was told today this would not work. I have machine controller board 31045.

Anyone know of any reason this might not work - other than what is stated in the posts above (2 NIC's, IP addressing, etc)?

I am up for a challenge.

Thanks in advance,

-ST

[rdsi]

Yeah, I deal with lightening strikes all the time where I'm at. You're not necessarily going to get galvanic isolation using this setup - it depends on several things. Besides this, your computer & machine are still sharing the same ground wire.

If lightening hits close by and gets into your wiring there is not much you can do about that. It just going to take things out no matter.

But I do run a whole house surge protector, and then I have industrial surge protectors on key appliances, then run regular surge protectors on all my computers. This helps a lot for everything that's not a real close hit.



This was a tree in my backyard that got hit - blew all the bark off the tree. I get several strikes around the house every year.

So my PCNC 1100 S3 use the same 31045 board as yours. From the BOB view point it cannot tell whether it's hooked up to a 5i25 or 7i29. The port it's connected to is identical. I've been running this setup now for 7 months without any hiccups.

So I think Tormach is just blowing some hot air up your butt. What I really like about this setup is that there is now an extra port inside the cabinet that has another 17 I/O lines available. I'm using these lines to control some air solenoids & some other ideas I have. You can control these line through G-code such as M1xx, the user define M codes, and others. You could even connect a spindle encoder up to them. No need for Tormach's expensive USB I/O expansion box.

Anyway, I planning on making a post about this when I get all my documentation together.

[kstrauss]

I eagerly await your post on user defined M codes.

I hope that you meant "7i92" rather than "7i29". I have a 7i92 and 7i75 in the Christmas mail from Mesa and hope to try them very soon.

[rdsi]

Yep, 7i92...

One thing to consider when driving things with these I/O lines is their state during power-up. They are essentially an input with a 4.7K resistor pull-up on their output until PP gets running. As such your interface logic must ensure the correct state is maintained until the I/O lines gets programmed the way you want.

My circuit to control some air solenoids looks like this:



I'm using these parts to control 2 solenoids for now & I have 2 spares.


These parts are pretty cheap on Amazon:

MW 5VDC Power Supply
MW 24VDC Power Supply
MW 12VDC Power Supply
Electronic-Salon Adapter Board

I decided I didn't need the 7i75 but it doesn't hurt to use it. After getting the Electronics-Salon adapter board I wasn't that thrilled about the area for adding your own circuits. I got my parts in there but it's not as versatile as I had hope. I think there are better options. The MW 5VDC power supply is to replace my wall wart running the 7i92 & to run the Electronics-Salon relay board. The MW 24VDC power supply is for operating my air solenoids.

These MW power supplies are so cheap, $13.68 I ordered another 12VDC unit to replace the wall wart running my PDB.

So I have ran everything while temporarily hooked up to the machine & can toggle my relays using M1xx codes. Now I'm just working to get everything permanently installed.

So I'm thinking of mounting a plate on standoffs above the BOB to mount all this stuff on. For the years I've had my PCNC I've never had to do anything on the BOB so I feel comfortable doing it this way.

Edit: Oops, just noticed the Electronic-Salon Adapter board uses 2mm IDC instead if the std 0.1" on the 7i92. I changed the link to the correct board with 0.1" spacing. This board also has a better prototype area too. Since I already got the board with 2mm spacing I decided to pull the IDC & wire the ribbon directly the board. I put some 5-min epoxy between the PCB & ribbon so it should be fie.



So this is what I'll be mounting inside the cabinet above my BOB. The ribbon cable goes to the extra port on the 7i92. This gives me 4 relay outputs plus I still have 13 more I/O lines available for whatever.

[touser]

I'm looking to buy my first tormach PCNC 1100 for hobby use and this looks like exactly what i've been after. I have tons of linux experience so that isn't an issue, but i'm not sure how I get the pathpilot installer? Does this include an installer: https://www.tormach.com/store/index....06&portrelay=1 or are you required to buy the whole "controller" from tormach up front to get the installer?

[rdsi]

Does this include an installer: https://www.tormach.com/store/index....06&portrelay=1

That link includes a printed manual, you can buy PP without it for $24.95 here. Then just download the manual as a pdf here.

Are you required to buy the whole "controller" from tormach up front to get the installer?

I believe anyone can buy PP. Just add it to the cart & checkout. As shown it comes on a USB stick but it's not your typical Linux installation process. It uses R-Drive Image software to install an image of the software from the Tormach. But either way you just boot the stick from the computer you're going to use & the R-Drive software does the rest.

You can get PP now & install it into VirtualBox (search for posts here how to do that). Once loaded into VirtualBox you can simulate any of the Tormach machines.

Since you have Linux experience you'll probably want to modify PP so it boots to the desktop. Again, there are plenty of posts how to do that too.

PathPilot version 2.0 is now uses Linux Mint 17.3, MATE Edition (64-bit). This OS is based on Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS (Trusty Tahr) running a Linux 4.11.9-rt7 x86_64 kernel. Yeah, not the latest versions but they are supported until end of 1^st quarter 2019.

It looks like the latest release of PP will automatically expand your HD partitions to use the whole disk now so there's one less thing to do after installation. Since I always do this anyhow I was a little concerned about updating but it behaved well & did not cause any problems. Prior to this version the R-Drive software just made a 32 GB partition no matter the size of your HD.

Good Luck

[kstrauss]

Thanks again for the great advice regarding using the 7i92. My Christmas present arrived but I haven't yet tried to use it so I'll probably have more questions later.

I have a 770 rather than a 1100 and, looking at the inside of the control cabinet, don't see an easy place to install the DIN rail and power supplies that you used. Does the 1100 cabinet have sufficient empty space or did you install things in an auxiliary cabinet or...? If not too much trouble a photo would be appreciated.

[rdsi]

I have a 770 rather than a 1100 and, looking at the inside of the control cabinet, don't see an easy place to install the DIN rail and power supplies that you used. Does the 1100 cabinet have sufficient empty space or did you install things in an auxiliary cabinet or...? If not too much trouble a photo would be appreciated.

No, but this is what I did. First I made some standoffs 1/2"D x 2.5"L threaded both ends with 10-24 thread. I tightly mounted a screw on one end & cut the head off leaving about a 1/4" of thread or just enough to get through the panel like so:



Then I mounted the DIN rail across the standoffs. Yeah, it covers up the BOB but you can still access all its terminals for troubleshooting if needed. Otherwise, it's not that difficult to remove the DIN rail - just 2 screws.



As you can see I got everything running. I wrote some M1xx routines to operate a solenoid for my ETS & Fog Buster.
I'm working on modifying PP so that when you select the High Speed spindle option in the PP Settings window M6 gets remapped to a custom routine such that when I change a tool it blows off the ETS and goes taps it with the new tool setting the correct offset for that tool. This all makes working with my HS spindle much easier.

With this setup I still have 2 relays free & 13 IO lines left on the 7i92.

These are the files I created for operating the ETS air supply & Fog Buster:

File M101:

#!/bin/bash
# Blow my ETS for P seconds
#
# M101 P3    Blow my ETS for 3 seconds
#            Note: Seconds are always rounded to nearest integer
#            value if a fractional value is entered.  Negative
#            values are considered to be 0 secs so we do nothing!
#
# Note: This file must be marked executable & located in:
#
#    /home/operator/tmc/configs/tormach_mill/nc_subs
#    
#    The name can be any valid M1xx as long as it does not conflict
#    with any existing file.  Tormach already uses M100 so I am using
#    M101 for this function. Also, when updating PathPilot you must
#    copy this files from the old version directory to the new version
#    directory.

MYBRD="hm2_7i92.0"    # This could be a hm2_5i25.0
MYIOPORT="gpio.018"    # My ETS is connected to IOPORT 18/Relay 1

# We configure the port here to alleviate the need to alter any PP
# configurations files and to prevent any updates from clobbering
# those changes.  Re-running this command each time we make this
# call does no harm & besides the duty cycle is very low.

halcmd setp $MYBRD.$MYIOPORT.is_output true

# P is the first parameter passed from the M1xx call and contains
# the number of seconds to blow.  Note: This string parameter is
# always expanded to 6 decimal places.  Since BASH does not understand
# floating point we need to clean it up into an integer.
#
# First lets round-off any factional part the user could enter so we
# have a clean integer.

TDLY=$(printf "%.0f" $1)

if [ $TDLY -gt 0 ]
then
    echo "Blowing ETS for $TDLY seconds"
    halcmd setp $MYBRD.$MYIOPORT.out false
    # Continue to blow for our number of seconds but return immediately
    # so were not hungup while blowing.  No need to slow things down...
    sleep $TDLY && halcmd setp $MYBRD.$MYIOPORT.out true
else
    echo "P parameter $TDLY results in 0 secs, doing nothing!"
fi
exit 0

File M102:

#!/bin/bash
# Operate my Fog Buster
#
# M102 P1    Turn it on
# M102 P0    Turn it off
#             Note: Anything but zero will turn it on,
#             even negative values. Zero (0 or 0.00)
#             will always turn it off.
#
# Note: This file must be marked executable & located in:
#
#    /home/operator/tmc/configs/tormach_mill/nc_subs
#    
#    The name can be any valid M1xx as long as it does not conflict
#    with any existing file. Tormach already uses M100 so I am using
#    M102 for this function. Also, when updating PathPilot you must
#    copy this file from the old version directory to the new version
#    directory.

MYBRD="hm2_7i92.0"    # This could be a hm2_5i25.0
MYIOPORT="gpio.020"    # My ETS is connected to IOPORT 20/Relay 2

# We configure the port here to alleviate the need to alter any PP
# configurations files and to prevent any updates from clobbering
# those changes.  Re-running this command each time we make this
# call does no harm & besides the duty cycle is very low.

halcmd setp $MYBRD.$MYIOPORT.is_output true

# P is the first parameter passed from the M1xx call and contains
# a string representing the floating point value entered after P.
# This string is expanded to 6 decimal places whether we enter 1,
# 1.0 or even 0 after P. Because BASH only knows integers we will
# do a string comparison of the P value for 0 or "0.000000".
# Anything else is considered a 1.

MYSTATUS=$1

echo "$MYSTATUS"

# My Fog Buster is connected to IOPORT 18/Relay 2

if [ $MYSTATUS = "0.000000" ]
then
    halcmd setp $MYBRD.$MYIOPORT.out true
    echo "Setting Fog Buster off"
else
    halcmd setp $MYBRD.$MYIOPORT.out false
    echo "Setting Fog Buster on"
fi
exit 0