Micro computer setup

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28 Mar 2015 07:44 #57242 by 4lowie
Micro computer setup was created by 4lowie
Hi all.
I'm looking to build a simple stand alone cnc, I currently have mach3 and windows.
I read about some of the small computers link Rasberry Pi, they can't run windows so that's not an option....

Then someone said linuxcnc could be loaded to the Rasberry Pi.

Has anyone had experience with these micro computer set ups?

Love to give it a try but not sure where to start....

Thanks for any assistance forthcoming ...

Dave

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28 Mar 2015 18:13 #57248 by ArcEye
Replied by ArcEye on topic Micro computer setup

I'm looking to build a simple stand alone cnc,


The simplest will be a secondhand x86 computer as a controller, perhaps your existing one?
You can dual boot windoze and Linux if you want to keep the security blanket.

The rpi is low powered and very limited IO.
It has an ARM processor and linuxcnc does not support ARM
The Machinekit people have a Xenomai image for it, but quite honestly no-one uses it, there are much better boards

Lots of people go for small boards then spend lots of money overcoming the inherent problems of low power, limited expansion possibilities etc
Very few of them need a small board, they just thought it would be dinky and cheap.

regards

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30 Mar 2015 06:41 #57296 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Micro computer setup

I read about some of the small computers link Rasberry Pi, they can't run windows so that's not an option


I think that the Pi2 can run windows. I don't know how well it works.

I have configured a Pi2 using preempt-rt and the uspace branch of LinuxCNC but the latency was not good enough.

The Machinekit project have support for Xenomai and Xenomai supports ARM, so that might be an option. But Machinekit seem to be focussed largely on the Beagle Bone, though with a separate "box" to handle the GUI. At which point you might as well run everything on a normal x86 PC. I _think_ that Machinekit deprecate this option because they think that it is hard to find an x86 motherboard with good latency and that they don't trust RTAI development to continue in the long term. But I am not privy to Machinekit policy or philosophy.

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