smallest implementation for dedicated machine

I'm planning to make a dedicated 2 axis XZ machine (lathe-like, but the tool rotates, not the workpiece) with a work envelope of 1" x 1.75". The machine will move along a curved profile within this envelope, then retract to zero, and repeat (X) times (usually 175).

EMC does a good job of subroutines so that part seems easy.

The machine will be running this dedicated task in an industrial environment (grinding grit).
Has anyone implemented EMC on a diskless workstation or embedded system?

Something like this
www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Mini-Li...-breaks-100-barrier/

Looks really, really attractive, if it only had a parallel port.

If the G-code can be uploaded via network, the machine may not even need a display. The G-code (once optimized) won't change.

suggestions?

I used EMC in a diskless machine sometime ago. It's documented in
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Deb...ss_EMC2_Thin_Clients

It boots via the network and no harddisk, no monitor, no X... But I didn't use the standart EMC interfaces. I used a web server to get G code and a very simple customized EMC interface which doesn't need X

Very nice work. Did you have any trouble with latency at the client?

I didn't have any trouble with the latency but the latency is a bit higher compared with a standalone install.

But for this machine, I think that installing a readonly system into the compact-flash will be better