A big thanks to this community!

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all who make this possible. I know that people who work so hard on something rarely hear good news. So consider this post a two thumbs up!

I'm very new to LinuxCNC and I was amazed how easy it was to get a modest system up and running. Because my hardware is older (but still capable), I started with a clean install of Xubuntu 12.04.4. I felt the lighter weight window manager and a system with a lot less "Stuff" installed would be helpful. I then carefully followed the instructions here:

wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxCNC_On_Ubuntu_Precise

and installed a "2.6-rt" development version.

The installation on the computer control end of everything seems to be working well. No issues what so ever. I even ran the latency test several times, and was pleased to find my old hardware is playing well with the system.

So again, THANK YOU ALL!!!!

Well we are certainly glad everything worked well for you.
Nice to hear about it too, Thanks.

Please feel free to pay it forward, by helping where you can (like answering others questions on the forum)
It certainly helps to have an active user group.

Chris M

BigJohnT wrote:

I'm glad you got that working.

What's the difference between Ubuntu and Xubuntu? I looked at some screen shots of Xubuntu and didn't really see much difference but I use Ubuntu 10.04.

JT

John, I'm not a Linux expert of any means, but I've been using Xubuntu for the last 4 or so years as my regular desktop. Even on my faster hardware. Before, I was a mini.iso Debian guy, who would do a minimal console only install, then add only what I needed to create a very small footprint desktop. I was a Fluxbox window manager user for many years. On a modest (hardware) machine, I typically could move from grub to a Flux desktop with silent hard drive in less than 10 seconds. I switched to Xubuntu not because I didn't like Debian anymore, but because I found it easier to get a system close to what I liked in a lot less time.

As you can guess, the big difference between Xubuntu and it's big brother Ubuntu is its lighter weight. It's focus is to use memory resources (both ram and platter) more efficiently. The default window manager is Xfce. Not the lightest memory resource WM out there, but definitely more responsive on memory limited kit. On a more modern hardware package with plenty of ram, it is VERY fast. I also like Xfce because it's got a solid reputation and is mature.

The Xubuntu distro is also missing a LOT of stuff I just don't need. Tasks like updates are faster when you aren't constantly updating packages you never use.

So, just think of Xubuntu as a mature and solid version of Ubuntu, but lean and mean.

David

BigJohnT wrote:

Oh, I know what you mean now, I tried Ubuntu 12.04 once and took it right back off. I hate using tablets and cell phones...

JT

Yup, same here. But, you can change the window manager to the "gnome Classic" mode. The one p[roblem with that is
window borders are only one pixel wide, so it is very difficult to grab and stretch them with the cursor. There is a
fairly simple edit of one file that expands the borders. You edit
/usr/share/themes/Ambiance/metacity-1/metacity-theme-1.xml
and in "general window layout" you change three lines to read as follows :
<distance name="left_width" value="5"/>
<distance name="right_width" value="5"/>
<distance name="bottom_height" value="5"/>

You can make the borders wider if you need to.

I'm using this on my main desktop, and it works fine for me.

Jon