IP Address

Introduction

There are three ways to define the IP address of softMC:

• DHCP - the recommended method
• Fixed IP address
• Manual IP address - assigned by ControlStudio.

Cable Connections

Two connections are needed:

Serial:

• Connect MC's COM1 serial port to your PC's serial port using a serial cable.

Ethernet

• Connect MC on Ethernet port 1 (LAN) via to the network where your PC is connected to (or directly with cross-cable to the PC)

Serial Communication Parameters

Open any serial console program. Putty, for example, can be downloaded from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html.
Configure the serial port with the following parameters and click 'open':

Connecting to Motion Controller

Once the communication parameters are set and the serial cable is connected between MC and PC, turn on the MC.

On the serial console screen you will see the boot printouts. After MC boot is complete, type:

/sbin/ifconfig

You will see:

Note that inet addr will show your MC's current IP address, and not 10.4.20.210 as in the example above.

Setting the Permanent Default IP Address

The following steps describe how to set the default IP address.
To set a non-default address, use the command SYS.IPADDRESSMASK

Creating FWCONFIG File

Create a text file FWCONFIG (no extension) with the following content:

ipaddressmask aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd:255.255.255.0
sleep 20
ramdisksize=64 mByte
StringPreload=300000

Where aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd holds the permanent IP address you are interested in assigning to the MC.
For more details on the FWCONFIG file refer to: FWCONFIG syntax

Setting the IP Address of the Motion Controller

Save the FWCONFIG file in the current directory of the ControlStudio. From the ControlStudio terminal window send the file to the MC.

-->privilegelevel=1
-->send FWCONFIG

Now you can reset the MC and it will boot up with the 90.0.0.51 address.

Getting the IP Address from DHCP Server

Once the temporary IP address has been set, you can connect to the MC with ControlStudio:

	NOTE
	Your PC must have Ethernet port configured in the same address space e.g. 90.0.0.1

Creating FWCONFIG File

Create text file FWCONFIG (no extension) with the following content:

ipaddressmask dhcp
sleep 20
ramdisksize=64 mByte
StringPreload=300000

For more information on setting up the FWCONFIG file, refer to: FWCONFIG syntax

Setting the IP Address of the Motion Controller

Save the file in the current directory and send it to MC using:

-->privilegelevel=1
-->send FWCONFIG

typed from the terminal windows of ControlStudio.

Now you can reset the MC and it will boot up with the IP address from DHCP pool. This is how the default IP address is set, the non-default address can be set using SYS.IPADDRESSMASK command.