Wondering if I could possibly run LinuxCNC in a virtual machine in Windows and have it networked to a 7176E card? Or would I have timing issues with the Ethernet comms via VM.
Has anyone ever tried? Or is there another similar alternative?
Main reason is so I can go back and forth between cad/cam and machine running in very little time... sharing usb sticks with gcode from winPC to linuxPC is not ideal as I need to make new code every 15 minutes... And Much better to have 1 PC then the need to have 2 computers.. Space.. cost...
No, it won't work. Realtime Linux will have absolutely terrible (read that as unusable) latency running in a VM. It would be like trying to run Linuxcnc with an ordinary non realtime kernel.
I don't recommend running a lot of other software on a computer running a machine. But you could probably run a VM within Linux to run your windows cad software. A better solution is to have your cad/cam pc and your Linuxcnc pc connected to a network with shared folders holding your machining files. You can also use remote desktop control (VNC) to access different computers (run your cad computer from the Linuxcnc one and visa versa.)
I use all of these networking solutions at work with my cad computer in my office and the Linuxcnc pcs at the machines. (I almost never use USBsticks for anything other than installing new software.)
