Hi Hood,

You are quite right about the IDC pinout convention with odd numbers in one row and even numbers in another row.

It would look silly if we described the connections of this parallel port header as "pin1 to pin 1" ; "pin2 to pin3" ; "pin3 to pin 5" etc.
 
So to be precise:-  My diagram shows where each pin from the D25 connector ends up when it is terminated at the IDC end of the ribbon cable. The pin numbers shown in my diagram are the same as those marked on the D25 connector. (The note on the SS diagram covers this exact point and was probably put there to avoid all this sort of confusion).

If you are still in doubt - get a header cable, test it with a meter and be surprised  

Tweakie.

Well I will have to download the manual and see if it has the pinouts to see if I am surprised or not. hopefully it will as I am Scottish and would hate to have to spend money on something I would never use and then on top find out I am wrong

Hood

Page from manual. So I am surprised but no lighter in the pocket
Hood

And this is why I thought it would follow the same, a serial header.
Hood

Hi Guys
I did a test with the following result

IDE pin 1 = DB25 Pin 1
IDE pin2 = DB25 Pin 14

So the cable shown on the attachment must use a specific db25 to get the pin no's correct, whereas the cable made up by the shop just uses a basic db25.

So all I need to do is workout the equivalent pin no's on the db 25 and reconfigure mach 3 accordingly.

Well, I have certainly learnt allot from this saga. I am keen to try LTP1 as it's giving out 5v as opposed to the 3v on the PCI parallel port. I am hoping it will also solve my problem with the Gecko g540 charge pump though I am not sure that the voltage will make a difference, be nice to get it working with the charge pump enabled though.

Thanks again for all your interest and help guys. On what I now know I will see if I can get LPT1 working correctly with Mach 3.

Cheers
Nigel

Hi Guys
So my pin no's will be
IDE   DB25
1    1
2    14
3    2
4    15
5    3
6    16
7    4
8    17
9    5
10   18
11   6
12   19
13   7
14   20
15   8
16   21
17   9
18   22
19   10
20   23
21   11
22   24
23   12
24   25
25   13

Right?

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

Looks good to me.

Tweakie.

Yes pinout is as Tweakie said. I presumed the board would have been numbered (silk screen) in the way Gregs  SmoothStepper is if it was that way but I suppose as the mobo manual gives the pinouts then no need.

Hood

Nigel,

If you get the chance I would like to know how your present cable / header is wired please.

Just out of curiosity I took a look at some serial connection D9 to IDC header cables and they are wired exactly the same way as the D25's.
Thinking about it, if they were wired D pin1 to IDC pin1 etc. then, at some point the wires would have to cross and that perhaps defeats the idea of ribbon cable and IDC.

Tweakie.

Hi Guys
I don't seem to have my head around this. I tried reconfiguring but no movement on the motors, port set to 378.
for example: Gecko specify pin 10,11 & 12 as xyz home.
So I changed pin 10 to19, 11 to 21 & 12 to23 and so on for all the pins.
So I am back to using the PCI board again for now.

Tweakie: so far I only tested pins 1 and 2 on the IDE and found corresponding pins on the DB25 as 1 & 14 then worked out the rest from there assuming it goes as for your diagram. To answer your question I think I will need to go through and test all the corresponding pins between the two connectors. I will do this tomorrow and let you know.

Maybe I am doing something very wrong???

Might be better if I just wait till I can get a proper cable, I think this one may be what I am looking for http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motherboard-Parallel-LPT-Printer-Port-Cable-bracket-PC-/190560095507?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D1753118686090122247&_qi=RTM742988

Cheers

Nigel