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TB030 Rev2 RS232 / Connecting PC to Centroid Control
Purpose
This document describes how to set up your Centroid control to be able to send files from a PC via the
RS 232 Serial port This does not drip feed the program line by line This will send the entire program
from the offline PC to the Centroid control
Requirements
Γ―Β· PC that will be connected to Centroid control for program transfer
Γ―Β· Null modem RS232 cable
CNC7 DOS
Overview
The DOS based programs Interlink exe and Intersvr exe Note Interlink and Intersvr only work with
Windows 95 98 and ME enable the transfer of files from one computer to another by using a NULL
MODEM RS232 CABLE that connects the serial port of the control to a second computer PC serial port
In order to establish a connection you must first designate the PC as the "server" The control is already
configured as the "client" upon boot up While the PC server is running Intersvr exe no other functions
will be able to be performed until the connection is terminated by pressing Alt+F4 on the PC Once the
connections are established between the PC and the control the PC server will display information
about the redirected drives and printer ports that the control client has access to
Step 1
At the root directory C > prompt of the PC type the following C > cd\dos C >DOS> intersvr
Note If "file not found" error occurs you will need to copy the intersvr program from the Centroid Control
to a 31/2" floppy as described below and from the floppy to your computer For Windows 95 users this
program can be placed on the desktop
Γ―Β· 1 From the main screen of the control; Press CTRL+ALT+X to exit CNC7
Γ―Β· 2 Type the following copy c \dos\intersvr exe a \intersvr exe and press ENTER
Γ―Β· 3 You can run the program from the floppy disk or copy it to the hard drive
*Your PC
Step 2
From the main screen on the Centroid control press F2 Load >F3 Remote You are now reading from
the hard drive on your PC server and are able to load the files created on the offline PC The PC will
display the redirected drive information as shown here Terminate the connection by pressing Alt+F4 at
your PC
Use the chart below to make your own RS232 Null Modem Cable
9 pin 25 pin 25 pin 9 pin
2 3 2 3 RX TX
3 2 3 2 TX RX
4 20 6 6 DTR DSR
5 7 7 5 GND GND
6 6 20 4 DSR DTR
7 4 5 8 RTS CTS
8 5 4 7 CTS RTS
The path that the control uses is E \cnc7\ncfiles by default You can change the path that the control uses
in the Control Configuration menu which you can get to by pressing F1 Setup >F3 Config >default
password is 137 > F1 Cntrl from the main screen
Another option for CNC7 systems running version 8 23 and below is to purchase CNC7DNC software
Please contact Centroid Tech Support for the software
CNC10 Linux
Overview
Linux based controls running software version 1 20 and above have serial file transfer built into the
F2 Load menu Setting the serial communication COM Port parameter 180 will enable and display
either F6 Dnload and F7 Upload buttons or [Dnload] and [Upload] directories in the Load Menu If you
do not see the F6 Dnload and F7 Upload buttons set parameter 4 to 5 To get the Parameters menu
from the main screen press F1 Setup >F3 Config >default password is 137 > F3 Params A more
detailed description of the parameters listed in the table below can be found in your operatorΓ’s manual
Parameter Description Default Value
4 File Options 5
180 File transfer COM Port 0
181 File transfer baud rate* 19 2
182 File transfer data stop and parity bits*
1's digit = stop bit; 1 or 2 stop bits
10's digit = parity ; 0 none 1 even 2 odd
100's digit = data bits; 5 8 bits accepted
801
183 File transfer flow control*
0 = no flow control
1 = software flow control XON/XOFF
2= Hardware flow control CTS/RTS
0
184 File transfer time out 6 600sec 10sec
185 File Transfer option
Bit 0 Ignore CR on download 1 yes 0 no
Bit 1 Translate NL to CR on upload 2 yes 0 no
0
*WARNING Parameters 181 183 must match the COM port settings for the software being used on the
offline computer
Loading a file from the offline PC to the Centroid control
1 Press F2 Load >F6 Dnload or select [Dnload] and press ENTER
2 Start the file transfer from the offline PC You have the time given in parameter 184 to start the file
transfer
Loading a file from the Centroid control to the offline PC
1 Start the serial communications software on the offline PC
2 Press F2 Load >F7 Upload or select [Upload] and press ENTER
NOTE If using Fanuc based programs remove the "O" from the start of the file name or it wonΓ’t work with
the Centroid control
Document History
Rev2 Created on 2014 04 10 by #270
Rev1 Created on 1999 08 24 by #000