Making a CncPlayer cable (document version 0.97)

To avoid as many as possible pitfalls I strongly recommend the following step by step guide! Later, when everything works fine change it to your hearts content but for now PLEASE stick with my recommendation. Thank you.

1: Delete an old CP installation

If you have already an old CP installation on your hard disk please delete it. CP means CncPlayer.

2: Install the latest CP available.

Install the latest CncPlayer available. The CncPlayer is currently distributed as cpxxx.zip file with xxx being a number. While writing this text it is cp09621.zip. The higher the number the better.

3: Start CP.EXE

Start CP.EXE. Ignore the error messages telling you that *.CFG is not found. Simply press <OK>. This will create a new *.CFG file with default values.

4: Select your COM port

Go to menu Install / Com Options - Com Port Settings and select your COM port. Default is COM2 but you might feel the need to change it to COM1 depending what COM port you use for the CncPlayer cable. Click <OK> if you changed the COM port.

5: Select your device

Go to menu Install / IO - Device, select "SERIAL: CncPlayerClient CPC Serial Port DOS" and click <OK>. This tells CP that you have CPC running at a remote DOS computer. If you do not see menu Install / IO then go to menu Help and change from Beginner menu to Advanced menu. Menu Install / IO is not visible when Beginner menu is selected.

6: Exit CP

7: Reboot Windows

Shut down your Windows (actually it is sufficient just terminating and restarting CP, but since I don't know what you have all done during your Windows session, I strongly recommend to reboot Windows to avoid any risk and get a fresh system). Make sure that CPC is running at your DOS computer. Boot your Windows. Now start CP.EXE and watch carefully the Windows screen. When CP starts it initializes the COM port (COM1 or COM2 depending on your selection) and sends a couple of setup data to the DOS computer.



A window with a scrollbar pops up on the Windows screen indicating that data transfer. The window stays only for about 1 second or so but that's time enough to recognize it. If your DOS computer is not online (or anything else is wrong with your cable etc.) you get an information message on your Windows screen "Can not connect to DOS client".



This information window will disappear after 3 seconds.

Note: When you boot your Windows Pc while the Dos Pc is already running then you might see the Dos Pc switching a few times between "Connected" and "Waiting for connection" while the Windows Pc is booting. This is simply because your Windows Pc BIOS and / or Windows itself plays a little bit with the COM port during boot time. Nothing to worry about. If you do not like that behavior then do the following: 1: Boot Windows Pc, when finished then 2: Boot Dos Pc, when finished then 3: Start CP on Windows Pc.

8: Connection or not connection

Well, when you start CP.EXE you should see either the scroll bar (indicating a connection) or the information message (indicating a failed connection), as mentioned above in 7:. If you get the information message something _might_ be wrong.

Most of all: The CncPlayer starts even when no connection can be established to the DOS PC. It is assumed that the CNC machine + DOS PC is often turned off because the CncPlayer offers also other functions (e.g. file conversion) that doesn't require a turned on CNC machine + DOS PC. Under that circumstances a failed connection can not be considered an error.

Though, if you expect a connection but don't get one, then something went wrong. Trouble shooting:
=> you choosed a wrong COM port at your DOS and / or Windows computer
=> your cable is not compliant with my specs. Do the cable quality control as described
=> you changed settings not mentioned here in that document, e.g. baud rate 9600 at DOS computer and 14400 at Windows PC. Unequal baud rates never work, btw.
=> your Windows COM port is already in use by an other application (modem software etc.) and CP cannot access the COM port. Only one application can access a COM port at a given time.

9: Your connection is established

If everything worked pretty well 'till now then congratulation! You successfully established a connection with your DOS PC. That means your cable and settings are fine.

10: Test the connection

To test the connection go to menu Install / Com Options and select the CncPlayer Client CPC tab. Click the <Get CPC Driver Version> button. This sends a request to the DOS computer and the DOS computer replies with a version string that will be rendered in a pop up message window. Well, that's it. Your cable is properly working and both your DOS and Windows computer are set up correctly (as far as the serial communication is concerned).

This documentation is NOT a guide to work with CP and CPC. It is just a guide to establish a connection and test your CncPlayer cable. Please see my other sources for general CncPlayer information.