ubuntu 14.04.1 linuxcnc help

Jason
Ok just shut down for the night, not ignoring you just trying to figure a couple of thinks out before I stopped.

What I am thinking is a ISO to just install Linuxcnc on 32 or 64 bit. Ubuntu, Mint, possible Debian any flavor of any of them. Installing the Rtai or RT kernels. Now I mean just Linuxcnc not the OS, quite possible after the OS is installed. After one would download ISO no disk needed just the image. I will need a couple of days to work out the details. I have a lot to do Sunday around the house then have to fly back to Kansas City on Monday. After what I accomplished today I think it is do-able. What do you think it would give the user the ultimate choice in OS install.

Tim

Jason wrote

Is there a way to run the 3.14 rtai kernel and configure it locally? And in the kernels we are using I needed a .config file which is an auto config file.

You can download deb of kernels. You would need to run first two lines of install script to enable repository where Rtai kernel is downloaded from. For Rt kernels look at script file run lines in terminal to add Debian signing key then line to add Debian squeeze repository.
Then in terminal
Sudo apt-get download linux-image-<kernel version>
Deb file is just a archive you could use your archive manager to extract then maybe create config file and do what you want. Be careful on what you change!

I was thinking of doing the OS..
And giving the option of both kernels both os'.
Both os' can be done like this?
askubuntu.com/questions/28299/dvd-with-b...it-and-64-bit-ubuntu

Stil having bad luck with the 32 bit rtai. heres the results after an hour.

long story short the rtai kernel seems to start of really well, but during the test there are several spikes i cant attribute to anything. there random, far between, and while watching active processes i can see no trigger i can control. this is unlike the rt kernel which has initially poorer results, but is more consistent, and i can attribute the spikes to certain processes, in which modifying there priorities usually fixes them.
Pls remember that i am running these tests with onboard audio and video, due to the nature of a laptop, and i believe that using a docking station and an external vga monitor will alleviate some of the spikes in the rt, and possibly the rtai. Its hard to tell about the rtai kernel so it may be the only problem. i do see the xorg process, (responsible for the video), show up quite often claiming a 100% of cpu usage, but it doesn’t correspond with the worst spikes. Although it seems to be very short of an interrupt, say if it happens at the same time as another common interupt (compiz, responsible for gui windows operating properly), it could explain the spikes. Due to the frequency that the program checks process usage, it is entirely possible they happen quickly between checks.
Additionally this would mean that the rtai kernels may need some slight modifications to operate well on a laptop.
ill try to build a kernel locally to change a few things but i believe that the rtai kernel is best suited to a desktop environment at this time.
For laptop users i would ask that you consider using the rt kernel for now and run several tests before trusting your computer running with the smi turned off as outlined in other posts in this topic. The other option is to build a cooling table, in which you focus airflow through the vents on the bottom... Also if possible using a docking station and external monitor would remove some of the spikes as i mentioned before, and if you already have good results, you can only expect better.
Using a custom cooling pad and docking station makes sense. if you are using your laptop as an all in one, you can draw your designs watching tv in bed, and simply plug it into your docking station with custom cooling pad when your ready to bring your designs to life.

Wait, when you say you want to make an iso just of linuxcnc, how does that get implemented?
Ive never loaded an app through an iso, so its not familiar to me. well i take that back, ive run gparted from an iso, but thats a little different than what were talking about. it seems better than just making preloaded os' which was my plan.
Again my affinity was to make an ubuntu distro.
the real idea besides making a multi bbit iso was to include a script at startup to ask the user if they are entering machine mode at boot, upon which if they answered yes it would include the extra grub parameters we are using. ive also learned a few possible alternate parameters for people with quad cores and up, and single cores.
i get the iso could load the debs and maybe the kernel, but is there a certain group of os' it will apply to? i would think so because if it was ran on fidora or other os the file systems are just a little bit different.

Jason
I never said anything about other disro's just Ubuntu 14.04.3 which has 8 flavors, Linux Mint 17.2 which has 5 flavors and possibly Debian Wheeze 7.9 which has 5 flavors .That is being able to install Linuxcnc on a total of 36 different desktop OS versions 32 bit or 64 bit, quite a tall task for one install method . A person would already be booted into there system, they would mount the image with software or burn a disk. There would be a file contained within ISO such as <name>.sh or <name>.run that would start the installation process, ISO would contain necessary deb packages that the current script file installs now from the internet, it would also contain all three versions 32 bit Rtai, RT and 64 bit Rt kernels and Linuxcnc debs. User would have the option to install one or the other, or both of 32 bit kernels. 64 bit OS would would not need to be given a choice of kernels. As far as grub options I would not want to be held responsible for someone using a install process that we wrote and they claim it ruined there computer with a included disclaimer or not. We could include a very well written readme file to take care of such items and leave it to them. The only time during the install process there would be need of downloading packages from internet would when Linuxcnc deb package is being installed and that is difference between Ubuntu, Mint and Debian and the flavors within each. There would be few packages to download and the whole process would be very fast. I plan on automating the whole process with very little needed of user input, kind of like a windows install program.

Tim

Jason
Forgot to mention about customizing a kernel for this. The kernel choices that I have already picked are from repositories and have been tested for there purpose. If someone wanted to customize for there specific machine I have no problem with that. I suggest we add a read file on choices that may be used to achieve a certain condition that is desired.

i know you meant not the os' i just meant it was my first idea. i see now it may be a problem due to all the diffrent flavors. minor oversight, sorry.

For whatever reason i did not catch the last post you made, and spent much of the day thinking about how the iso might be setup in order to install the needed files. my thoughts gravitated towards a bootable iso, in which the user was placed in a command line session, and went through the setup in a question and answer format, each answer deciding which files were to be selected. ive seen this before, but the documentation is a little buried, aka i could not find it.
Are you planiing on having the user mount iso while in os or at bootup?
im assuming the options will be given in command line form as i mentioned before? Or how much did you plan on automating?
If question and answer format, there could also be an instruction on how to find which os, 32 or 64 bit , in case a user is not sure, to minimize some minor mistakes.
If i knew more about the process you planned to follow i might be able to help a little more.
Maybe we could set up an outline, to break up what is needed to be done to allow a faster work flow?