Jerry,
Thank you very much for the info.
Another thing I am confused about is the manual that comes with the Smooth Stepper break out board:
http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C25R1_1_USER_MANUAL.pdf
On the board it says: Port 2 Pins 2-9 for
Input
In the manual further down on page 3 #4 it says:
Inputs 2-9 (Port 1 simplified.......... right below Fig. 1 says .....for the port 1
outputs 2-9.
Down further on the page in 4.2, the same thing happens for Port 2.
I suppose I should just contact Smooth Stepper or CNC4PC, but you seem to respond very quickly and in terms that I can understand, so any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I'm being very cautious before powering up, so I don't damage anything. The boards are kind of pricey.