I have an old Dell Optiplex that works great and has the parallel port on it. RIght now I have it as my Linux machine with Ubuntu. I use at as a test bed for different FOSS applications like WordPress and Mediawiki. Mostly it is how I keep testing my Koha library server and stay up on it. I can have a couple others I can use for this that are newer so I can dedicate the Dell to LinuxCNC
Here is how I understand what is necessary. It has been hard to sift through all the different options to understand exactly what is being referred to, especially because there is not a consistent appellation for the driver boards as I can understand it.
I kept assuming that the breakout boards actually had the drivers too. I didn’t make sense to me that you would need another board. I keep thinking of how I use an Arduino and a small driver board like the A4988 that I use to drive a NEMA 14 I got from an old scanner to drive an automatic coin sorter.
I figured that LinuxCNC did all the software and that the paralelle port got the right connections to the drivers on one board.
So you do need a breakout/mediator board from the parallel port to any drivers you use? I assume that is what these FPGA cards are for. So the breakout board is a something that takes the software logic commands and sends it to the right switches for the hardware.
Hence there is the relay on the breakout board that would go directly to switching a spindle on or off or the vacuum. Then the breakout board would also need a driver for each stepper motor. Right?
I am a philosophy and theology major. Electronics is my hobby but there is a reason why it’s called “magic smoke”.
It’s complex, but rational. I just need to follow all the lines of connection here.