I have been building a small 3 axis router for a little while.I now have the build almost complete and need to get the motors working.I bought a NEMA 23 kit from Longs Motor and have been impressed by the quality of the components.The breakout board is a DB25-1205 and I have found very little about people successfully using one of these boards with LinuxCNC.I have laid out the hardware on a bench and made all the connections and there is the correct voltage at every terminal I have tested.I have downloaded the .iso and been running it as a live disc-nothing too hard there as I have been using Linux for several years.The setup for stepconf seems to be OK but when I test the axes-nothing moves.My question is how do I check whether the parallel port is working as I haven't used one for at least 9 years and the old computer that has one doesn't necessarily still have a working port.
Alternatively,is there a function within LinuxCNC that diagnoses whether the port is functioning?I would really like to get this equipment working as its already here,but I do wonder if I should study the possibilities of an Arduino setup. I feel that the whole hobby CNC ecosystem needs to prepare for the demise of parallel port controllers as they are pretty much dependent on an obsolete technology.If no other sensible alternatives exist I would reluctantly go the Mach3/4 route but I am less interested in revisiting old technology than I am in making parts for my projects.