faitjx

After struggling to duplicate a working cable that we had for the auxiliary serial port when we upgraded an old UMAC TurboPmac2 CPU to a newer style one, I thought I would document what actually is needed to generate the cable, and what needs to be done in order for it to work. I started out with a 10 pin plug that matched the header, an IDC D9 Female connector, and a length of 10 conductor ribbon cable long enough to reach the computer that was controlling the PMAC. In the UMAC Turbo CPU HRM, there is a description of the two serial ports, detailing the usage of each pin, with a comment not to connect pin 1 if used for RS-232 communications. What was not said is that you do not connect pin 10, either, so that in effect, you only need 8 conductors for the cable. The figure showing the pinout from the HRM is duplicated here. http://www.ser.aps.anl.gov/fait/images/Serial%20Port%20UMAC%20Turbo%20CPU.png To make the cable, attach the ribbon cable to the 10 pin IDC connector, paying attention that the connector pin 1 is on the correct side of the cable. From the far end of the cable, strip back conductor 10 to the IDC plug, and cut the wire off. Also at the far end, separate conductor 1 from the cable, and peel it back about 1 inch (25 mm), and trim it off there. Now place the cable in the D9 IDC connector, aligning the cable such that the 8 remaining conductors fill positions 2-9, as shown in the following photos. http://www.ser.aps.anl.gov/fait/images/pmac_d9_small.jpg D9 connector opened up to show missing wire for pin 1 http://www.ser.aps.anl.gov/fait/images/pmac_idc10_small.jpg IDC10 plug shown plugged into main serial port of UMAC CPU. Note Brown wire that is trimmed close to the plug. I hope that this post helps someone to avoid the frustration that I experienced learning what works with this cable.

This is no longer an issue. We replaced the ACC54E and TurboCPU with a newer version that has all the ports on one board, and everything works.

I have a couple of old Acc54E turboPMAC2 systems that I need the USB driver for that will work with windows 7 64bit. When I plug in the USB, the system cannot find a driver for the device. It shows up in Device Manager as a EZ-USB device, with no driver. I have installed the latest version of the PEWIN32, and have configured the system so that the programs run as administrator, giving them the access they might possibly need. As Windows never loads a driver, it never gets to the point of being able to add the PMAC to the communications library. Any suggestions are welcome. I cannot power cycle the PMAC, however, as it is actively in use via serial communications, and I don't want to have to home 24 motors.

When installing the PCOMM32 Library or executables that use it on Windows 7, you will run into the problem of not being able to insert new PMAC devices in the Select Devices dialog. This is true of all of the programs in the 4.3.2.0 version of the software, and in prior versions, as well. The easiest workaround that will not have your local sysadmin yelling at you is to configure the program to run in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode. This does not require extended privileges at the system level or running the program as administrator, both of which can be a problem in locations ruled by security freaks as sysadmins. To configure the compatability mode, right click on the icon used to start PEWIN32Pro2, select properties from the popup, and then click the compatibility tab. Select the checkbox in the Compatibility mode box, and then select Windows XP (Service Pack 3) in the dropdown menu.

Has anyone configured an acc24E2A to issue pulse up/pulse down instead of step and direction? If so, how was it done? Thanks Jim