Can Ubuntu run MESA card driver?

I installed Ubuntu Precise 12.04 with kernel 3.4-9-rtai-686-pae

I installed linuxcnc 2.7 and ran pncconf and when I start linuxcnc I get "Can't find module 'hm2_eth' in /usr/realtime-3.4-9-rtai-686-pae/modules/linuxcnc"

I googled the error and found one other person who had the same problem. Apparently the hm2_eth can only run on a kernel compiled with 'uspace' and in the man page for hm2_eth it sounds like uspace is not available on Ubuntu. Is this information still current and valid? Do I need to ditch my Ubuntu install and run Debian Wheezy instead in order to use the Mesa 7I76e card I just purchased?

If not, what do I need to do to get it working? Thanks.

Matt

Yes, to use one of Mesa's Ethernet cards you need to install the Preempt RT kernal instead of the RTAI one. (I think this can be done through synaptic)

Once you get the right kernel installed then you need to install the right version of Linuxcnc (the uspace one.)

You might need to dig arround to find the exact instructions and what the right repository settings would be for your os.

Sure, I'm running LinuxCNC Ethernet cards on Wheezy, Ubuntu (14.04) and Linux Mint (17.3)

"uspace:" is a linuxcnc option, for Mesa Ethernet cards, you need to use the uspace version of linuxcnc
and a Preempt-RT kernel

You can build a preempt-RT kernel for most systems (including ubuntu) fairly easily:
The following script will build the latest of the 4.1 series of real time kernels:

cd ~
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential bin86 kernel-package libqt4-dev libncurses5-dev pkg-config
mkdir rtlinux
cd rtlinux
wget ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/linux-4.1.20.tar.xz
wget www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects...4.1.20-rt23.patch.gz
tar -xpf linux-4.1.20.tar.xz
gunzip patch-4.1.20-rt23.patch.gz
cp patch-4.1.20-rt23.patch linux-4.1.20
cd linux-4.1.20
cat patch-4.1.20-rt23.patch | patch -p1
make xconfig
make -j4
sudo make modules_install
sudo make install


When this brings up xconfig you must at the minimum select the 32 or 64 bit option and
(under processor type and features)
HPET timer support and Fully Preemptable Kernel (under Preemption model)

This will require a fair amount of disk and time to compile

Does the version of linuxcnc that supports uspace also support the gantry component? I don't remember if I am running a beta or not to get the gantry component support...

yes