So I found an old PC with a parallel port at my parents house over the weekend. I hooked it up and tested out the board to get it working. Next I took an LED at touched the pins on the parallel cable to see what type of output they are running. It seems like most of them are just high/low and the step is just a pulse. I'm hooking up two shift registers to see if I can get it stepping with the Arduino.
I'm not really sure how all this stuff works so I'm just winging it. what makes the steps time sensitive? Is it because you are running 4 steppers at the same time? Could I just run the steps off separate I/O pins and have everything else on shift registers?
I'm not really sure how all this stuff works so I'm just winging it. what makes the steps time sensitive? Is it because you are running 4 steppers at the same time? Could I just run the steps off separate I/O pins and have everything else on shift registers?