Linux Mint 17

Hi from France!

I'm a very long-time Windows user, and a newbie with Linux as far as LinuxCNC.

My question is the following: is it possible to install LinuxCNC 2.5 (I don't like 2.6) on Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon?

I hope that it is!! Really!!

My machining-dedicated computer is an old Dell Optiplex GX620 with a Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz, and 2 Go RAM, with a video card ATI FireMV 2200 128M.

My CNC is an old UPA1, by Micrelec/Mecacel, running with a LPT link.

Linux Mint 17 runs perfectly on this computer (I have a dual boot with WinXP Pro), and I really would like to work with it...

Best regards!
Nounours

why do you not like 2.6 ?
2.6 will work on mint 17 , but you will have some package swapping etc and some knowledge of linux to do it , similar to installing on wheezy and on 32 bit not 64 , 2.5 i doubt it very much and never will .

all depends on how good you are with linux in general
dual boot is fraught with dangers , so beware , i don't recommend dual booting in this case

Also, Mint is either based on Debian testing or Ubuntu 14.xx

Neither of those are directly supported, so you might need a fair bit of knowledge to get a realtime kernel working and depending upon the library versions etc
you might even have to build RTAI and Linuxcnc from sources. ( a lot of knowledge required)

You have quite a low power, older computer.

I run 2 of these quite happily on Debian Wheezy, for which there is an out of the box solution, 2.6 bundled with it in the form of the binary.hybrid.iso

If pretty icons and more bloat are important, you could go for Ubuntu 12.04 and still have an install path which just needs fetching packages to work.

Mint is not a distro so much as a make-over of established distros, so is never going to be directly supported.

regards

Thanks for your fast answers!

Well... As I wrote, I'm a long-time Windows user. The Linux approach is very new for me, and Linux is very different of Windows, espacecially from what concerns a basic final user has to do.

I have several (old) computers (desktops, laptops, towers...) at home, and I have tested several Linux distros on them. I have always come back to Windows (please, don't cry yet!!! ), but with Linux Mint, my opinion is changing radically.

The issue 17 Qiana Cinnamon is very pleasant, and I really would like to work with. And I prefer the Ubuntu-based version, rather than Debian-based one.

About the dual boot on my computer, I read with a great attention your answer above. I understand that my choice is not the best, and I will correct this! Thanks a lot for this.

From what is about the issue 2.6 of LinuxCNC vs 2.5, the problem does not concern directly the software. In fact, my problem is that it is not translated In french yet. I'm not used to work with very specialized english terms concerning milling and machining, machine settings, etc... The GUI is not a problem at all, and I'm sure that the new features will facilitate my future works.

In fact, I have never worked yet with my CNC (an UPA1), that I bought some months ago, waiting that someone can give an old computer (the GX620) to me, equipped with a LPT port. And I received this computer last week! Yeah!!!

So now, I have to set parameters corresponding to the UPA1 (from which I know... nothing! ) in a setting sheet of an english-version of a brand new software, all this in a new Linux environment!!! Life will be very easy!!!

To sum up:
- No dual boot XP/Linux is better,
- LinuxCNC 2.5 should not work on Mint 17, which is based on Ubuntu 14. Running 2.6 is better.
- if someone knows setting parameters for an UPA1...

Best regards and thank you again!!!
Nounours

To sum up:
- No dual boot XP/Linux is better,
- LinuxCNC 2.5 should not work on Mint 17, which is based on Ubuntu 14. Running 2.6 is better.

It does not matter whether you dual boot, what is on another partition has no effect on the running one.
The only condition is that XP must remain on the first partition, it will not run from anywhere else.

Linuxcnc is software, not a distro. 2.5 or 2.6 will run on any suitable linux distro, but Mint / Ubuntu 14.x is not one of them.

My advice, you are going to be using it to control a machine.
Put up with what you consider a less pretty and nice interface, and install an all in one solution from a CD image.

When you know your way around it, if it is still that important, you may have the knowlkedge to put it onto Mint

regards

ArcEye wrote:

To sum up:
- No dual boot XP/Linux is better,
- LinuxCNC 2.5 should not work on Mint 17, which is based on Ubuntu 14. Running 2.6 is better.

It does not matter whether you dual boot, what is on another partition has no effect on the running one.
The only condition is that XP must remain on the first partition, it will not run from anywhere else.

This is the case. I have a 250Go, MAXTOR, SATA hard drive:
- 100Go for WInXP on partition 1;
- 100Go for Linux on partition 2;
- 50Go as swap.

Regards

ArcEye wrote:

To sum up:
My advice, you are going to be using it to control a machine.
Put up with what you consider a less pretty and nice interface, and install an all in one solution from a CD image.

When you know your way around it, if it is still that important, you may have the knowlkedge to put it onto Mint

regards

Technically, this an excellent solution... even if less romantic!!!

I really don't like the Debian interface...

But you're right... This is "only" to control a machine.........

Regards

This is the case. I have a 250Go, MAXTOR, SATA hard drive:
- 100Go for WInXP on partition 1;
- 100Go for Linux on partition 2;
- 50Go as swap.

You only need a maximum of as much swap as you have memory really
5GB would be much more than you would ever need, use the other 45GB for something usefull

regards