Can you move an axis by typing the distance directly into the DRO?

No but you can just command a move via the MDI line, for example if you are at X20 and you want to move to X25 at rapid speed just type G0X25 into the MDI and press enter on your keyboard and it will move there.
Hood

Is that the input line on the midi screen?

Just click in the MDI box and start typing. If you want to make sure the axis travels at rapid speed, type G0 (G nought) before your axis coordinate i.e. G0X25 will move the X axis to to 25 units from the zero position. If you want the axis to travel at a slower speed than rapid, type G1 followed by your axis travel then the F word with the feedrate, i.e. G1 X25 F50 will move the X axis to position 25 units from the zero position at a feedrate of 50 units per minute.

I hope that is reasonably clear.

Mike

perfectly clear Thanks

What you also need to be aware of is that the G0, G1 and F words are all modal. That is to say they will stay selected unless you change them. For instance, if you typed G1 X25 F50 into the MDI and hit return, if you then type in just X50, your machine will make the move at the last feedrate i.e. 50. If your last move was a G0 then it would rapid.

This can catch you out as Mach doesn't care whether the input was from a program or the MDI. Because of this, it is always safest to actually type in full code the first time you use the MDI in a session.

Mike