Galil Motion Control DMC-42 0 Series, User Manual

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Chapter 4 Software Tools and
Communication
Introduction
The default configuration DMC-42x0, with the default CMB-41012 communication board, has two RS232 ports and
1 Ethernet port. An additional Ethernet port is available with the CMB-41022. The main RS-232 port is the data set
and can be configured through the jumpers on the top of the controller. The auxiliary RS-232 port is the data term
and can be configured with the software command CC. This configuration can be saved using the Burn (BN)
instruction. The Ethernet port is a 10/100BASE-T connection that auto-negotiates the speed and half or full duplex.
The GalilTools software package is available for PC computers running Microsoft Windows
® to communicate with
the DMC-42x0 controller. This software package has been developed to operate under Windows and Linux, and
include all the necessary drivers to communicate to the controller. In addition, GalilTools includes a software
development communication library which allows users to create their own application interfaces using
programming environments such as C, C++, Visual Basic, and LabVIEW.
The following sections in this chapter are a description of the communications protocol, and a brief introduction to
the software tools and communication techniques used by Galil. At the application level, GalilTools is the basic
programs that the majority of users will need to communicate with the controller, to perform basic setup, and to
develop application code (.dmc programs) that is downloaded to the controller. At the Galil API level, the GalilTools
Communication Library is available for users who wish to develop their own custom application programs to
communicate to the controller. Custom application programs can utilize API function calls directly to our DLL’s. At
the driver level, we provide fundamental hardware interface information for users who desire to create their own
drivers.
Controller Response to Commands
Most DMC-42x0 instructions are represented by two characters followed by the appropriate parameters. Each
instruction must be terminated by a carriage return. Multiple commands may be concatenated by inserting a
semicolon between each command.
Instructions are sent in ASCII, and the DMC-42x0 decodes each ASCII character (one byte) one at a time. It takes
approximately 40 μsec for the controller to decode each command.
After the instruction is decoded, the DMC-42x0 returns a response to the port from which the command was
generated. If the instruction was valid, the controller returns a colon (:) or the controller will respond with a
question mark (?) if the instruction was not valid. For example, the controller will respond to commands which are
sent via the main RS-232 port back through the RS-232 port, and to commands which are sent via the Ethernet port
back through the Ethernet port.
For instructions that return data, such as Tell Position (TP), the DMC-42x0 will return the data followed by a
carriage return, line feed and : .
Chapter 4 Software Tools and Communication ▫ 36 DMC-42x0 User Manual