loading LinuxCNC on old smithy 1240

That is the way I tried when the initial attempt failed. I am still in the same boat.

I can't seem to get that to work, I tried a different setup "smithy 1240 Mill" instead of Smithy 1240 Combined Mill" which is what old SW used. That gets further, actually opens the gui up, but I get a watchdog bit error. I don't know what is different between the 2, but I'm thinking that is the config to use, as i am further along. Any thoughts on this idea?

I think that you should go with the config that used to work.

I am pretty sure that the problem you had last time "1240combined.hal:86: parameter or pin 'hm2_5i20.0.8i20.0.0.max_current' not found" is not the error now.

We need to work through the errors one by one.

I am on the IRC channel if you want something a bit more live,

Thank you, but at the risk of sounding like a fool, what is IRC channel.
NM, I may be there

LPMattei wrote:

That gets further, actually opens the gui up, but I get a watchdog bit error.

That is a timing issue with the PC, or using the wrong kernel.
What does
uname -a
in a terminal say?
Also, in PC's BIOS settings, disable everything regarding power saving, turbo, speed step, C states, hyperthreading, etc.

uname -a    Linux debian 4.19.195-rtai-amd64 #5 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jul 11 19:13:27 BST 2021 x86_64 GNU/Linux
I also just turned of virtualization in bios. I was working with AndyPugh last night, and we were making some progress, I believe we loaded a new kernel and latency test looks better, but it got late. I'm hoping to hear back from him today, but I'm open to any other ideas in the meantime.