Linuxcnc pro/paid?

Has anyone thought about or tried to do a linuxcnc supported version?
I use Linuxcnc in my business and while my home built CNC is only a small part of that business it's very inconvenient how little support there is for Linuxcnc.
It also seems the community is very small and to me it almost seems like activity is reducing if anything. Perhaps having easier access to support could help liven up the community a little?
While I couldn't pay a lot I would happily pay for something like this. Both in hopes of funding development of linuxcnc as well as having some sort of access to help when I needed it. Even just email support with anything less than 24 hr response time or a callback if it involved troubleshooting. Of course this would require people willing to be that type of contact but I would think there have to be people in the community who would be interested in helping if there was some compensation for their time.

While I don't have the knowledge to feel comfortable offering that kind of support I would be into trying to help in other ways like maybe starting a crowd funding campaign or something like that.

Or are the Linuxcnc developers happy with it being more for tinkerers and developers more than general users or semi professional use? Not that this is a bad thing but the unfortunate truth is that I just don't have time to devote to become in depth devoted to linuxcnc as it seems I would need to be. I really don't want to switch to something like Mach3 or anything Windows based for that matter but sometimes it seems like I am making a lot more work for myself and loosing a lot of time and efficiency just trying to stick with Linuxcnc.

Well Tormach has paid for development.
They do there own support I imagine.

There has been others who have done paid support but IFAIK always through a manufacture and just for their machine.

The support in the forum is pretty good i'd say, but the number of users is smaller then Mach of course.

IIRC your hardware uses USB interface for a plasma machine. In this case you are a victim of your own device.
By using a highly modified version of linuxcnc means you need in house experts.

What kind of technical support is usually needed?

IMHO the typical linuxcnc devs are not exactly against commercialization of linuxcnc but are also not exactly out to help either.
I think Tormach's process overall has worked well - they get a proven controller base for free but also have given back some major upgrades to linuxcnc.

I bet linuxcnc/machinekit usage will go up as more people try out tormach's controller.
Especially if we build a screen that the masses liked.

Chris M

I guess it depends on what you consider to be pretty good. My business is based around automotive products and on the forums that I am on (Which are dying themselves) a poster will generally get a number of helpful responses in just a couple days.
My post below this one has over 100 views and yet only one response.
www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum...e-bug-or-other-issue

It's things like this that make it very hard for me to want to suffer through. I have a project sitting on my CNC machine right now half cut out and I don't know if it's a bug with linuxcnc, or with my post processor or what. I haven't posted on the Autodesk forums because a. they are next to useless and b. looking at the code I really don't think it's an issue with the post processor but if somoeone could at least look at the code and tell me if they see any issues or throw it into their linuxcnc to see if it does the same thing that would be huge.
But again I see this particular issue as being more symbolic of the bigger issue. I want to run all linux but am forced to run Windows for my CAD program. The last thing I want to do it ditch Linux on one more machine and switch to something like Mach 3 but at the same time I don't have the time or energy to master linuxcnc to the point of being able to do all my own troubleshooting, or needing to go in and fix stuff on the back end or anything like that. If this is what is expected of the average linuxcnc user it seems like it would be wise for me to move to something else as much as I would hate to do that.

Well that question would be best posted on the mail list.
Most developers don't read the forum.

If you are expecting a correct answer in 24 hours on a forum without paying anyone, then yes linuxcnc is not (yet) for you.
The user base of linuxcnc is not big enough to support that.

unfortunately there are different people on the maillist then the forum and one must figure out which one to use at what time.
And since linuxcnc it's self doesn't make money - pretty sure there will never be paid support - it's not a business

my 2 cents.

Chris M

If I go out and mess with it today I'll see if I can get a screen grab where you can see the toolpath starting very far away from the part.

From reading that one would expect the next response to be coming from you.
And actually when I loaded it on a sim here it looked fine.

cmorley wrote:

Well that question would be best posted on the mail list.
Most developers don't read the forum.

Yeah I have heard that before. The last thing I need is more email and I really can't believe that is the primary form of communication for linuxcnc.

cmorley wrote:

Well that question would be best posted on the mail list.
Most developers don't read the forum.

If you are expecting a correct answer in 24 hours on a forum without paying anyone, then yes linuxcnc is not (yet) for you.
The user base of linuxcnc is not big enough to support that.

I think this is partially a self fulfilling prophecy for linuxcnc. There aren't enough regular users because there isn't enough activity or support to catch most peoples interest. Because of that there isn't enough activity on the forum or support to draw in people who might be interested.
I think the mailing list is horrible for that. It keeps the conversation more private and harder to access. It makes the public communication like the forum seem completely dead and it makes people who are used to quick easy communication and access think that linuxcnc is dead.

cmorley wrote:

unfortunately there are different people on the maillist then the forum and one must figure out which one to use at what time.
And since linuxcnc it's self doesn't make money - pretty sure there will never be paid support - it's not a business
Chris M

It's a good thing that no one here seems to care if linuxcnc is popular or successful. It seems like overall the Devs do everything in their power to keep it off the radar and to disuade interest.
I'm not asking that it be a business. i'm proposing that because it's current format isn't working for me and I suspect for many others who could be interested if it was a little more accessible.

Here is a forum that I am active on.
www.mr2.com/forums/forums/17-MK-1-MR2-AW11
It is not a business, it is a community. A community that wants to be social, that wants to be active and wants to help people who don't know as much as others. It is dying because most people are moving to facebook so it is much slower than it was 5 years ago. But you still look through the threads and ones that were started around the same time as mine here have 10 posts or perhaps a couple but a couple that answer the question in enough detail.

The big difference is that forum is based on cars that stopped being made 28 years ago. The number of people interested in them is decreasing, the number of cars available is decreasing. There is a good reason the forum is less active than it was 10 years ago.
On the other hand the DIY CNC and maker scene is blowing up right now. This forum is not dead because of lack of interest. It's dead because of lack of anything to draw that interest. Maybe people here don't care about that but it makes me sad to see these Linux communities like CAElinux and Linuxcnc and hell Linux in general looking like they are dying or at least falling behind while Mach3, Fusion360, onshape, and windows are blowing up just because they make a little effort to draw people in and make the community something that they want to be involved in.
Even me here and now. I have been a LInux user for decades. I have lost countless hours running LInux instead of taking the easy path. I have said that I would much rather stay with Linuxcnc if I can get the help I need and the response is more like "tough luck bud, doesn't sound like it's working out" than "Hey we are a community who wants to help our own and help make the community work for you".
I swear the whole vibe here is that of a bunch of grumpy old men who just want to be left alone to tinker in their basements and communicate through morse code when they are absolutely forced to.

Rick wrote:

If I go out and mess with it today I'll see if I can get a screen grab where you can see the toolpath starting very far away from the part.

From reading that one would expect the next response to be coming from you.
And actually when I loaded it on a sim here it looked fine.

I will continue to update and add information as I can. That should in no way mean that people should avoid trying to help with the information provided if possible.

Rick wrote:

If I go out and mess with it today I'll see if I can get a screen grab where you can see the toolpath starting very far away from the part.

From reading that one would expect the next response to be coming from you.
And actually when I loaded it on a sim here it looked fine.

Was that a linuxcnc sim or another sim? Did you actually run it to see if it started over the part?
Sometimes when I load it into linuxcnc it doesn't show the line but still give the warning that it starts outside the machine limits. Other times I can see it on the viewer.
I am pretty sure this is an issue with linuxcnc. If you tried another sim this might help confirm that. If it loads and simulates properly in a linuxcnc sim then it might point to an issue specifically with my install or something like that?
I was kind of hoping someone more familiar with reading code could look it over for me and tell if there was something I missed causing it to start so far off from where it's supposed to.

i do at times take on paid work , depends on whats needed etc ,

yoshimitsuspeed wrote:

cmorley wrote:

Well that question would be best posted on the mail list.
Most developers don't read the forum.

Yeah I have heard that before. The last thing I need is more email and I really can't believe that is the primary form of communication for linuxcnc.

cmorley wrote:

Well that question would be best posted on the mail list.
Most developers don't read the forum.

If you are expecting a correct answer in 24 hours on a forum without paying anyone, then yes linuxcnc is not (yet) for you.
The user base of linuxcnc is not big enough to support that.

I think this is partially a self fulfilling prophecy for linuxcnc. There aren't enough regular users because there isn't enough activity or support to catch most peoples interest. Because of that there isn't enough activity on the forum or support to draw in people who might be interested.
I think the mailing list is horrible for that. It keeps the conversation more private and harder to access. It makes the public communication like the forum seem completely dead and it makes people who are used to quick easy communication and access think that linuxcnc is dead.

It's a good thing that no one here seems to care if linuxcnc is popular or successful. It seems like overall the Devs do everything in their power to keep it off the radar and to disuade interest.
I'm not asking that it be a business. i'm proposing that because it's current format isn't working for me and I suspect for many others who could be interested if it was a little more accessible.

Hmm so i tell you how to get hopefully better help and you wish not to do that. (maillist)
I don't make the rules - in fact I prefer the forum but I read both. ( I am a minor developer)
In fact we had to push a bit to get the forum opened originally.
The devs that prefer the maillist realize having two places to go for info is less then perfect.
They just hate the forum - not sure why.
Not sure what you mean by accessible - linuxcnc is very well documented and pretty easy to try.

But I don't really think that is why linuxcnc isn't as popular as MACH.
Linuxcnc isn't marketed - linuxcnc is harder to get started with. linuxcnc is not on windows.
I realize also that some of the choices made do not help it to be more popular.
And yes some of the devs undoubtedly dont care about that.

I in fact do want it more popular - and I think Tormach will help that.
And I feel your pain - sometimes my questions are unaswered too.

For me the fact I can work on the code in linuxcnc/machinekit means MACH is out for me.
But I can also understand when you just want to get work done .....

Cheers
Chris M