Atom 330 or D525 or D510?

Software step generation refers to micro stepping correct?

I mean at 15k or less latency I will be fine right?

As for HAL, I don't think I would need to mess with that.

I'm building a hobby cnc machine, not using a commerical grade machine so I am not expecting max performance. I only expect reliability and consistency.

"Software step generation refers to micro stepping correct?"

No, with software step generation the step pulse timing is all done in software with
LinuxCNC directly controlling the timing of the step and dir signals.

15K latency is probably fine and will allow step rates up to around 30KHz, which will exceed
the step rate capabilities of many step drives and motors

It's just that I still don't know what HAL is so I was concerned about that, but I guess I will figure it out on the way.

My D525MW board arrived and upon close inspection I caught something strange:

Here you can see that I spotted the word/ brand Foxconn:







Here below you can see the yellow jumper: is that default and is it correct in the right position compared to your board?
Also you can see those screws on board, what are those?



In this image it shows the word Canada on the bottom of the board, is this right?
Also I circled a solder joint on the right side of a resistor in the center of the image, but not on the left side of the same resistor? Is it like that on your board too? Inspect solder joints around that area on your board, is it the same as on mines?:
If you still cannot find that solder joint I am talking about look for a red circle to the left of the recycling arrows with the number 10 where the resistor are.




Do you guys have this on your boards? I want to verify that this is a genuine board. I cannot see anywhere on the board where it says D525MW, but I do see it on the box. But I still would like to verify to make sure a random board was not put into the box. Also to verify that this board is not Chinese counterfeit or something.
I got a used board, and I find it necessary to inspect it.

Ok, well according to this image:

www.ixbt.com/mainboard/intel/d525mw/01-b.jpg

One of the is not Foxconn, that's why I asked a member from this forum to look at their own board. Just curious although I don't think I should make a big deal at out of it.

What version of Ubuntu should I get?

I'm downloading from the ubuntu website.

Anyone here do a dual boot setup?

I finally installed everything with Windows installed first and followed this guide after defragmenting the hard drive: apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_xp_a...led_first.htm?page=1

After Linux was installed, I boot into Windows and before it went to Windows XP it actually asked to check the disk and did it automatically after 10 seconds which I let it do.
While everything seems like it works good I want to ask, is was that checking procedure done by Windows XP normal? Did it happen to you?