[NMay]

If you are building your own PC and want fanless, I would suggest one of the J1800 or J1900 based MBs
say a ASRock Q1900M PRO3 or ASUS J1800I-A if you want a Mini-ITX with a PCI slot

If you want a fast system with PCI,PCIE and Ethernet the known to work well with LinuxCNC with both RTAI and Preempt-RT
I would suggest a ASRock H97M Pro4 and a G32XX CPU

I just got the Q1900M in and it's giving me fits.

During the install the USB worked fine. Upon reboot it gave an error and the USB (mouse and keyboard) is not working. Any suggestions to troubleshoot?

Thanks

[LeeWay]

It is fairly new. Mine came with an SSD in it. I don't know how to check the specs any closer through software. Windows it ain't. I don't think it takes a great and powerful machine. I imagine any machine less than 5 years old would handle it okay. It is not a resource hog.

[PCW_MESA]

I just got the Q1900M in and it's giving me fits.

During the install the USB worked fine. Upon reboot it gave an error and the USB (mouse and keyboard) is not working. Any suggestions to troubleshoot?

Thanks

What OS? the J1800,1900 and newer Intel CPUs need a recent OS
The most recent LinuxCNC ISO (Wheezy) should work fine

[NMay]

What OS? the J1800,1900 and newer Intel CPUs need a recent OS
The most recent LinuxCNC ISO (Wheezy) should work fine

I was trying to use Pathpilot, I get the following at boot up

Error : no suitable mode found.
Error : unknown command 'terminal'.


I'm thinking it just lacks the proper drivers at boot, not sure which way to go to resolve.

Thanks

[PCW_MESA]

I was trying to use Pathpilot, I get the following at boot up

Error : no suitable mode found.
Error : unknown command 'terminal'.


I'm thinking it just lacks the proper drivers at boot, not sure which way to go to resolve.

Thanks

Yeah LinuxCNC is know to work well with the J1800/J1900 CPUs

Pretty sure Pathpilot is based on Ubuntu 10.04 with a fairly old RTAI kernel,
this is going to have issues with lots of newer hardware.

LinuxCNC is pretty easy to make run on any Debian based distribution

My home desktop / LinuxCNC test machine is running Ubuntu 14.04 and a current Preempt-RT kernel:

Linux pcw-G41M-Combo 4.1.7-rt8 #1 SMP PREEMPT RT Tue Sep 22 07:44:56 PDT 2015 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

[simpson36]

FWIW, I always use pure Intel computers. There is no such thing as a compatibility issue with Intel hardware, at least not in my experience.

I just built a new development system specifically for LinuxCNC and Path Pilot and used the last of several Intel DB75EN motherboards that I had in-house. I purchased a bunch of these about a year ago because they are discontinued and are one of the last Intel MB to be produced with a physical Parallel Port..

For development purposes, I used an i5 processor, but it also takes lesser and greater level processors. Decent graphics are built into the MB, so a separate graphics card is not required, but you DO need a compatible CPU with built in graphics also. A few clicks on the Intel site gives you a listing of compatible processors so there is no guesswork needed. I always use Kingston memory, but I think most any brand name stuff is good these days. I put 16mb in the Linux machine.

When I build computers for a customer, I even use Intel brand SSD, but for this development machine I just used whatever brand name SSD that was on sale. It has a pair of 256gb SSD, one SanDisk and I don't remember what the other one is. I have Path Pilot on one and LinuxCNC on the other. I'm sure there are dual boot schemes, or the ability to run Path Pilot under Debian or Wheezy (or whatever), but I have my hands full with learning curves as it is and I don't need to inject any unknowns. So, for now, Path Pilot is on its own drive as is LinuxCNC.

Bottom line of all this is that the stock distribution disks loadup, boot and run perfectly on this machine. The MESA card (PCIe) also seems to be working fine.

Since the MB is discontinued, I took a peek on eBay and it is still available new, albeit in bulk packaging (that's how I bought mine and no problems). Intel BLKDB75EN DB75EN Desktop Board DDR3 LGA1155 MATX New Bulk Packaging 0735858240550 | eBay

[simpson36]

Question for MESA:

I am having some noise issue with the MESA card and isolating the Step/Dir signals helped a lot. I am thinking about isolating all of the outputs that I am taking off the MESA, just to make the setup a bit more bulletproof. I have three channel High speed isolator boards that I make myself, but I noted that MESA has a very nice 'daughter card' for the 6i25/5i25 that has everything isolated and also generates differential signals and does some other neat stuff. At only US$90 it is pretty much a 'no brainer' to grab one of these and not have to dink around with a bunch of small boards and the associated rat's nest of wiring. Although I may not have a choice with Path Pilot since there does not seem to be a way to connect the daughter card to the second port only and leave the Path Pilot stuff on the external port unmolested.

What I don't understand is that MESA sells a 'kit' with the daughter card and a single cable. There are 48 I/O on the daughter card and only 26 pins in the cable.

Question: There are two connectors on the 'superport' so how are all of those signals being carried on one 25 pin cable?

[techsavvy34]

I just got the Q1900M in and it's giving me fits.

During the install the USB worked fine. Upon reboot it gave an error and the USB (mouse and keyboard) is not working. Any suggestions to troubleshoot?

Thanks

I also tried installing PathPilot on my Q1900M motherboard and had the same USB problems as you. I know that a PS/2 keyboard and mouse will work. I got tried of messing around with it and just installed PathPilot on a older pc that I had. The newest version of LinuxCNC will work with that motherboard but the kernel that Path Pilot is using is known to have usb issues with the J1900 motherboards. I now have Path Pilot running with my mesa 6i25 card and PMDX-126 BOB.

[simpson36]

I I now have Path Pilot running with my mesa 6i25 card and PMDX-126 BOB.

Is there an advantage to choosing the PMDX board over the MESA 7i76?

[eman5oh]

Question for MESA:

What I don't understand is that MESA sells a 'kit' with the daughter card and a single cable. There are 48 I/O on the daughter card and only 26 pins in the cable.

Question: There are two connectors on the 'superport' so how are all of those signals being carried on one 25 pin cable?

I was wondering about this myself? I am looking to order one of the plug and go kits but they are out of stock at the moment but was wondering how they are configured to handle the io over the 25 pin cable.

[samco]

mesa is magic... the daughter board uses some sort if communication protocol to allow for expansion. You could expand to 1000's of i/o if needed. all realtime.

PCW could explain it better

sam

I was wondering about this myself? I am looking to order one of the plug and go kits but they are out of stock at the moment but was wondering how they are configured to handle the io over the 25 pin cable.

[eman5oh]

I am about ready to pull the trigger on a MESA order and see the 7I76 + 6I25 plug and go is out of stock at the time being. Anyone had any luck getting PP to work with one of the Ethernet MESA boards? The 7I76E look like a great board. IS the Ethernet version stable under Linux CNC or PP ?

[PCW_MESA]

mesa is magic... the daughter board uses some sort if communication protocol to allow for expansion. You could expand to 1000's of i/o if needed. all realtime.

PCW could explain it better

sam

Actually the 7I76 manual describes how its done in more detail than anyone really wants...

Basically all high density I/O is done serially using a protocol and line speed (2.5 MB)
that allows real time I/O at normal LinuxCNC servo thread rates (say 1 to 5 KHz)

The protocol also allows the host to probe the card for its name, process (I/O) data size,
data names, data types, scaling, and units, so these can be presented to the host
(as HAL pins in this case) without the host/driver needing to have any specific information
about the daughtercard

[PCW_MESA]

I am about ready to pull the trigger on a MESA order and see the 7I76 + 6I25 plug and go is out of stock at the time being. Anyone had any luck getting PP to work with one of the Ethernet MESA boards? The 7I76E look like a great board. IS the Ethernet version stable under Linux CNC or PP ?

Yes, (I have combined >1 year 24/7 uptime with 2 7I76Es) under LinuxCNC
Getting Pathpilot to work on the Ethernet cards is possible (with source) but would be a fair project

[eman5oh]

I would like to keep my option to run Pathpilot open without too much work, how long before you will have the 7I76 + 6I25 back in stock?

[PCW_MESA]

I would like to keep my option to run Pathpilot open without too much work, how long before you will have the 7I76 + 6I25 back in stock?

Not too much longer, I hope, we are building a bigger lot of 7I76s this time and its taking more time than expected

[NMay]

I also tried installing PathPilot on my Q1900M motherboard and had the same USB problems as you. I know that a PS/2 keyboard and mouse will work. I got tried of messing around with it and just installed PathPilot on a older pc that I had. The newest version of LinuxCNC will work with that motherboard but the kernel that Path Pilot is using is known to have usb issues with the J1900 motherboards. I now have Path Pilot running with my mesa 6i25 card and PMDX-126 BOB.

Oddly enough I just found a working solution.... the Q1900M board will turn off the Legacy USB if you do not set it from "Auto" to "Enabled" in the set up. Still throws error codes that I listed before but all is technically working.....

I only experienced one issue when the controller lost communication with the PCNC. Not the typical "RESET" type. It was still plotting movement in Pathpilot, but the spindle was just there spinning with no movement in the ways. I am beginning to wonder if my connector cable is going bad.

Any thoughts?

Also has anyone successfully figured out what MOBO Tormach is using in their current controllers?

Thanks

[andypugh]

You don't have to reinvent anything if you just pay Tormach for their upgrade and you get real support with it. You say you aren't out to take money out of their pocket but seem determined to not have to pay and to show others how not to have to pay. Who cares if you also put Path Pilot in the hands of the competition which is obviously something Tormach is trying to prevent. With friends like you...

Some of us have a slightly different perspective on this. I see Tormach selling the LinuxCNC drivers I wrote...

So, in your world, am I allowed to "steal" PathPilot?

Open-Source is Free. Tormach are not allowed to claim ownership of other people's work that is licensed under the GPL. Tormach themselves don't think any differently, as far as I can make out.

[andypugh]

Does it have a nice interface and have conversational programming like the one Tormach is putting out for their machines?

There are a number of interfaces, some nicer than others.
As for conversational programming, there are a few options there, but the prettiest is probably this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkOJhT69WEc

[LeeWay]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I see that, I say it looks thread bare. Zero creativity.