ATC Project - Debug phase

Thanks Tommy.  I thought I did this during the install (clicked next, no root PW entered)

Should I reinstall Debian from scratch, or is there something else I should do to correct this?

I've lost count how many times I've wiped & reinstalled variations of Linux over the past year of trying LCNC, so at this point I don't care about doing it again if it means future problems are avoided.

andypugh wrote:

I just pushed an update to 2.8 and master.
It's building the 2.8 debs as I write this, the master/2.9 debs should follow after that process has finished.

But, as you are building from source, the update.sh script that you have should build with the bugfix.
 

Since I was having problems running the updater, I thought I'd have a go at just hand-editing carousel.comp to match the change in the github update.

Behavior is unchanged.  This may mean nothing, since I don't know what I'm doing and editing the comp that way doesn't change how LCNC functions...  but I figured I'd mention it.  If that was dumb, let me know and I'll change it back (or do some other Linux gymnastics if needed).

andypugh wrote:

Or go back to a "normal" installation, using the system that I understand. 
 

What is a 'normal' installation?  This is a serious question, because I'm unclear on how to achieve this. 

I wasted another 8 hours last night trying to get Linux and/or LCNC installed and working without success.  Bought a new computer Sunday because the other computer (Odroid H2+) was giving me fits (can't boot from USB, no NIC drivers even in non-free distros, can't install standard LCNC ISO).

New computer giving me some new and interesting problems.  Last night I tried:

• 'Standard' LCNC 2.8.2 ISO
  • No wifi drivers, have to get an ethernet cable.  Halfway through installation it reboots to load the RT kernel and the screen goes black, linux quits loading & locks up.
• Debian Bookworm
  • Followed Rod W's video, all good.  LCNC loads, but gives me OpenGL errors and shuts down.  Then followed the qtpyvcp installation on the qtpyvcp site and wound up with vtk error messages.  LCNC would run, but qtpyvcp wouldn't run, and I couldn't find any of the installation folders in the file manager.
• Debian 11.3 non-free
  • Can't find wifi drivers during installation.  Have to get an ethernet cable.  Debian installs, but the screen is stuck in 800x600 (on a 1920x1080 monitor) with no other options.  Waste an hour searching the internet for a solution and the most common solution I found doesn't fix anything (remove xserver-xorg-video-intel, install xserver-xorg-core).
• Debian 11.2
  • Same as 11.3
• Debian 11.1
  • same as 11.3 & 11.2
• MX 21.1
  • Install goes smooth, all drivers found (wifi & ethernet).  apt update & apt  upgrade go fine.  Install RT kernel, reboot, and it's back to 800x600.  Can't fix, same as Debian.

MX 21 seems the most promising, but when I get through all the LCNC installation hoops and eventually get to run Probe Basic, there's some sort of incompatibility issue with the fonts/colors/themes and the G-code in Probe Basic is unreadable.  Asked for help on forum, no response; had to switch to Debian just to read the g-code.  

Since I've been unsuccessful installing the stable ISO, I can't use the 'stable' installation method published on the QtPyVCP/ProbeBasic site.  Which means I'm now obligated to use a python3 environment, which requires an RIP installation, and now nothing is 'normal.'

Thought everything was sorted out as of last week, but as you saw I couldn't get halcompile to work while trying to debug the carousel - indicating some other mistake I made during the Linux or LCNC installation.

I'm starting to 'get' LCNC (a little) but Linux is driving me insane.  The last year of my life has been spent fighting Linux or LCNC; I just want a stable computer that can run LCNC, qtpyvcp or qtvcp, and Probe Basic or QTDragonHD. 

I am currently nowhere - to be more specific, I can try installing any flavor of Linux on either of the two computers I have available.  I think I quit at 1am with a failed attempt at Debian 10.1 non-free.

I would prefer MX as the desktop and other features are more 'friendly' - i.e. wifi & eth work, and there are more familiar features like built-in file searching.  Screen resolution was fine until the RT kernel reboot.

But I don't really care at this point.  This is for a CNC mill, and there won't be any other software on the PC once with mill is working, perhaps with the exception of VScode for g-code editing.  It doesn't even need to be internet-connected, although it'd be nice to connect to my NAS for file transfers.

I'll re-load MX21 after work and let you know where it stands.

tommylight wrote:

Just a stab in the dark and i might be repeating myself, but did you disable secure boot in BIOS?

Odroid H2+ = secure boot disabled.  Can't boot from USB:

• USB3.0 port & USB 3.0 stick = no
• USB3.0 port & USB 2.0 stick = sometimes OK, depends on port
• USB2.0 port & USB 3.0 stick = no
• USB2.0 port & USB 2.0 stick = sometimes OK

New PC (MeLE Quieter2) = didn't check secure boot, but no issues booting from USB.  Haven't done anything in BIOS, figured I'd circle back to optimize the BIOS settings once I got a stable Linux install done.

andypugh wrote:

Lets get a working Linux + kernel first, then knock the other issues off one by one
 

I've got MX21 ahs & rt kernel installed.  non-ahs MX21 resulted in 800x600 display from the start.  Switching to ahs fixed the display (to 1920x1080) until I installed the rt kernel, then it came back on re-boot.

Cannot change the resolution (or anything else) in 'display settings'.

uname -a
Linux mx 5.10.0-14-rt-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_RT Debian 5.10.113-1 (2022-04-29) x86_64 GNU/Linux

xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 800x600, current 800x600, maximum 800x600
default connected 80x600=0=0 0mm x 0mm
800x600 75.00*