spec

On the Motors screen of the configuration editor, one can select among MCU , MCU_E , MCU_H and MCU_O for the controller type.

The MCU_O controller type indicates that the controllers have the old-style firmware (which doesn't implement the # start character for message sent to the controllers), so that spec will not test first for the new-style firmware, thus avoiding timeouts.

The MCU_H controller type is for a special version of the controller which includes a hardware tie-in for a Heidenhain encoder. For such controllers, the motor_par("encoder_step_size") parameter is relevant in order to set the ratio between the Heidenhain encoder readings and the MCU-2 step size. The default value is 131072 / 360.

The MCU_E type indicates an encoder is used. However, currently, there is no difference in the software whether MCU_E or MCU is selected.

Please note, many users have had problems establishing initial communication between the MCU-2 controllers and their computers. The problem is almost always related to the cable. Standard RS-232C cables do not appear to work. A custom cable wired according to the diagram in the MCU-2 manual seems to be needed. Note also, that the connections for pins 2 and 3 may need to be swapped from what is shown in the manual. Be prepared to try the cable both ways before adding the final touches.

motor_par(motor, "send", cmd_string) \tSends the stirng cmd_string to the MCU channel associated with motor . For example, \tset cmd_string to "J500" to set the jog rate for motor to 500 steps per second.

motor_par(motor, "read", cmd_string) Sends the string cmd_string to the MCU channel associated with motor , as above, and returns a string containing the response.

motor_par(motor, "encoder_position") For the special version controllers with the hardware tie-in to a Heidenhain encoder, reads and returns the current encoder position.