Make documentation available for how inputs impact outputs on the motion controller and if these can be directly impacted by addressing rasberrypi 5 I/O pins if using that for the front end.
RealtimeCNC has provided information on the I/O pins and how output 0 and 1 are controlled via gcode, but there doesn’t appear to be information regarding how activating the inputs impacts the system nor how to control outputs 2 and 3.
We just added support for M7 to control OUTPUT2.
M8 controls OUTPUT1 from gcode.
OUTPUT0 is controlled by spindle commands when the spindle is configured for ON/OFF control.
Currently, OUTPUT 3 can only be controlled by the software.
In terms of the inputs, they do not have any impact on the outputs. There is on-going development to enable these as homing/end-stop switches, particularly for the open-loop controller.
If you have a specific application for the inputs, let me know and we can investigate.
Even though I have the Redline HMI, I was messing around with/a cheap touch screen and a Pi-5 prior to my machine arriving and thought it would be nice to trigger the vacuum table with a physical button on the HMI. One way to do that would be to use one of the PI’s inputs to drive one of the motion controllers outputs.
Even though the UI is well designed and makes controlling the outputs straight forward sometimes I like the idea of a physical control, versus using a touch screen.
I know I could do the same by triggering a relay mechanically as well, but in the back of my mind I’m always trying to think of ways to limit the number of cables/wires going from the HMI to/under the table and using a output to trigger the relay meets that desire nicely.
Not anything earth shatteringly important and in the long run I imagine the outputs that are available will be taken up by uses that reach a larger segment of end users.
I also wanted to thank you for making the PI image available I really enjoyed tinkering for a few days and getting a feel for the software side of the system. That gave me a nice head start and reduced the number of new things I was trying to absorb all at once.