!need Help CNC6040Z USB Limit switch wiring!

[Schematicsman]

hi,there magicniner can I just buy a cheap ebay Parallel Port PCIe x1 Card. and a parallel male to female or vice versa cable connected from JP board card to desktop computer to get Mach 3 responding? also is it possible to compile a xml of my machine spec ect for Mach 3 to work? just trying get around anyway I can without the cost cause I got the machine for a Bday present and it cost a sht load of money. Yes my laptop can accept a docking station and found one on ebay it does have parallel port and other ports,so I might still have a chance :)

[A_Camera]

hi,there magicniner can I just buy a cheap ebay Parallel Port PCIe x1 Card. and a parallel male to female or vice versa cable connected from JP board card to desktop computer to get Mach 3 responding? also is it possible to compile a xml of my machine spec ect for Mach 3 to work? just trying get around anyway I can without the cost cause I got the machine for a Bday present and it cost a sht load of money. Yes my laptop can accept a docking station and found one on ebay it does have parallel port and other ports,so I might still have a chance :)

Maybe you can maybe you can't... Nobody can answer that question about parallel port. I know Dell laptops can be tricky and even docking stations need drivers for the available ports to work. If your docking station is a REAL docking station, not just a port replicator type, then you may be able to get it work but you most probably won't do it without some pain and a lot of swearing. You must also be familiar with the configuration of your laptop and docking station BIOS, as well as the OS you are having. Windows 7 32 bits is the last one supporting parallel port, so you can't use anything better than that. Personally I have once tried with an HP laptop with docking station and XP, but it didn't work at all. I also tried just for fun with a more modern, HP ProBook6470b and W7 Pro 32 bits and it didn't work, even though the docking station had parallel port and other software using the parallel port worked with it, so it couldn't have been the OS or the BIOS or the configuration of the PC.

Anyway, if you want to stick to that PC then try the PCI card. If you are lucky and find the right card and drivers then it will work. If it is not working you can but the docking station and test it. Personally I'd buy an old desktop and would run it from there.

[magicniner]

Windows 7 32 bits is the last one supporting parallel port, so you can't use anything better than that.

Later versions of Windows bring nothing to the party for serious Productivity Users, just the usual Microsoft "Change For It's Own Sake" and whistles, bells and novelties for Kiddies, Gamers and Non-Technical users who can't find a file, a programme, or indeed their arse with both hands, so I would argue that nothing later is better than that. :D

[A_Camera]

Later versions of Windows bring nothing to the party for serious Productivity Users, just the usual Microsoft "Change For It's Own Sake" and whistles, bells and novelties for Kiddies, Gamers and Non-Technical users who can't find a file, a programme, or indeed their arse with both hands, so I would argue that nothing later is better than that. :D

I may not agree with such blanket statement, but this is outside the scope of this thread and forum. Of course, for a Mach3 user with parallel port nothing is better than a W7 32 bits, but regardless, the PP is a dinosaur so it doesn't matter.

[magicniner]

the PP is a dinosaur so it doesn't matter.

When using metaphors it's always good to be reasonably representative, I think the point of Dinosaurs is that there are no live ones at all, unless of course you know of many thousands still running around somewhere? :D

I'd have gone with Indian Tiger or something else where there is still a functional population but where long term prospects were not good ;-)

[magicniner]

Some cheap Parallel Port cards will work well and some won't, you may have to try a few before finding one which works reliably, I haven't had to start testing the ones I've collected yet and may yet move to an integrated stand alone controller before I need to add a parallel to a PC that shipped without one.

It's worth starting a new thread to ask if anyone has PP card recommendations, you'll get a lot of external and stand alone motion controller recommendations but you only need one good card recommendation to get you working, one of my best hopes (but untested so far) is a StarTech as in the past I have used their stuff successfully to get legacy hardware working on newer PCs in industrial applications.

Forget about XML files, all they are is a way to copy and transfer an already completed manual configuration, it's simpler to manually configure unless someone with exactly the same setup can provide you a copy of their XML file.
Once you have your system working the config XML file which Mach 3 uses to store it's settings is one of the things you keep a backup of as this allows you to copy your setup to a new installation of Mach3.

Your laptop does look to be the right kind of age and a PP on a dock has a better chance of working than an integrated laptop PP (5v VS 3v), suck it and see is the only way to find out for certain unless someone else has successfully used the same hardware.