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« on: October 30, 2012, 06:49:43 PM »
The Smoothstepper is not a breakout board, it is an external controller that works with Mach. What Mach does when using the parallel port is to plan the trajectory and also send pulses out of the parallel port. The max pulse rate from the parallel port is 100KHz but often you will struggle to get any where near that, 45KHz more likely.
When using the Smoothstepper with Mach the trajectory is still planned by Mach but the Smoothstepper generates the pulses. The pulses are very smooth and clean and it can pulse up to 40 times faster than the parallel port (4MHz) Also the external pulsing takes a big load off of the computer so things can often run a lot better.
With a stepper system you are unlikely to need more than 25KHz kernel, possibly up to 45KHz depending on gearing etc and as long as the computer can deliver a nice pulse it will work well. Mach does not work well with laptops though when using the parallel port but with an external device such as the smoothstepper that is not a problem.
That breakout you are linking to will allow you to control up to 6 axis and if you have your limits in series then yes you can also have them and the E-Stop and still have 3 left over for any other inputs you may want (Index pulse, buttons on a panel etc) If you are wanting to control a spindle as well then you would be limited to 5 axis and the spindle.
You can add a second port to your computer and have a second ports worth of I/O if you wish.
Hood