Re: Two Questions

[Jon Elson <jmelson-at-artsci.wustl.edu>]

Clint Bach wrote:

> Hi again,
>
> I have two questions about personalizing EMC.
>
> 1.  In xemc while in MDI mode every keystroke I type into the box looks
> like a white block with nothing in it.  The program does execute the
> commands propperly but I can't read it myself.  I assume this can be
> fixed with a change of the fonts or colors or something like that but
> how can I do it?  I have been running tkemc because it does not have
> this problem.

Wierd!  I've never seen this.  I'm using the default color setup with
XFREE86.  Which window manager are you using?

>
> 2.  I'm running stepper motors off the parallel port and would like to
> use some of the outputs for the 5th and 6th axes to turn the spindle,
> coolant, vacuum, etc. on and off.  Can I reroute the outputs to do this
> and if so how do I do it?

Hmm, these things are controlled by two separate programs, which
are not coordinated to not step on each other's toes.  Possibly, if
you use bits on the auxilliary control register for one function, and
only on the main data register for the other, it might work OK.
See the .ini file for the bit assignments.  The auxilliary register has
bit numbers of 8-15, while the main data register uses 0-7.
Then specify the same address for both parallel ports, and see
if you get a conflict.

Jon