How to install LinuxCNC on existing Ubuntu 14.04?

Hi all,
new to this forum (thanks to all who made it what it is), having next to none experience with Linux, I have to ask a question that has probably been asked more than once before - my lack of knowledge lets me even not find the correct search terms, though.

Simple situation: I just installed Ubuntu 14.04 (64 bit) on a former Windows machine, based on an Athlon 2X00 X2 something living on an Asus A8V deluxe mainboard.

Now I'd like to install - among a number of other things - LinuxCNC on just this machine without also installing the environment that the ISO installation CD comes with.

A pointer to some place where it is explained how to do it stepwise would be fine, or, if it can be said in a few lines, some instructive words what to do would also be appreciated. Keep in mind please that I am the exemplary prototype-Linux noob who needs to be told the most trivial things in block letters. Since I know that I am not the only one with this qualification, your advice will help more than just me. Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Ulli aka Chattermark.

Chattermark wrote:

Hi all,
Simple situation: I just installed Ubuntu 14.04 (64 bit) on a former Windows machine, based on an Athlon 2X00 X2 something living on an Asus A8V deluxe mainboard.

Now I'd like to install - among a number of other things - LinuxCNC on just this machine without also installing the environment that the ISO installation CD comes with.

This is quite difficult. You need a kernel that has a matching RTAI or Xenomai real time patch. These exist for the 12.xx
ubuntu kernels, I'm not sure how easy this is to obtain for the 14.04. Have you ever compiled a Linux kernel before?
If not, you are probably diving into deeper waters than you are used to.

Now, if you only want a simulator version of LinuxCNC, that should be much easier, but still requires installing a number of
dependencies, fighting with install scripts that are not thoroughly tested on 14 and finally compiling the whole
of LinuxCNC from source code.

Jon

I have been wondering if there is any effort being made to move linuxcnc to 14.04 or if there would be any notable advantage to doing so?

Jon,
thanks for your reply. You confirmed my worst expectations, but you helped me too, nope, I never compiled a Linux Kernel. The first compilation that I did was that of an ALGOL source code on a Zuse Z22 with a tube CPU, back in school at around 1967, then lots of assembler and bitslice stuff for the AMD 29XX, and some years ago lots of PASCAL (same creator like Algol!, N.Wirth) programs.

And I want to control a real milling machine (that moves quite well under Mach3 already). So, looking for another recyclable PC here will be the easier task. Thanks again!

Cheers,
U.

Try the packages here

I don't know if all the dependencies can be met on 14.04, but if not you can just remove them again

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

Unless you have some particular reason to install Ubuntu 14.04, just install Debian Wheezy and these packages work perfectly

regards

Thanks for this, I'll give it a try then, but not now, since I need that machine to get going. And since one of the former PCs of one of my boys stood in the basement in hibernation state, this was a very good opportunity to give it a second life too.
Ubuntu 14 - I can't give you a reasonable explanation - the distribution dame on a DVD with one of the best german computer magazines, and I wanted something glitzy to play with and at the same time have an application for it. On a second thought, having two PCs for different tasks of which one is a real time machine controller has its benefits too, I hope. At least, I hope U14 is a good entry point for me.

Tonight, I installed linuxcnc on another old PC - a single core Athlon XP(?) 1250 with 1.5 GB RAM and 80 GB HDD space. After sorting out a bad DVD reader, everything went smooth. I performed the upgrades (it did not find linuxcnc.org:80 immediately, but after I clicked the button that let it check the single files, it downloaded the latest upgrades as well. It also offered to upgrade to Ubuntu 12.x, but I denied that for the time being.

Now I have to find out how I can install other applications, Samba for example, to make the box visible in my LAN, and more. You see, I am really new to Linux...

Done. - I know this is off topic here, but how can I find out what conflicts with my attempt to install the basic samba server? It just says some files are missing or are in conflict with the one to be installed. Tell me if this question is inappropriate here, please.


Cheers,
U.