Can I retreat from noman's land to 2.5

I tried to replace my 2.5 with 2.7.7 by doing a reinstall. The iso fails during system load after partitioning. New DVD, new iso file, no cigarillo.

I had a live 2.6 DVD. It loads but linuxcnc does not work. It acts like it is starting, then freezes. The task manager says that it is doing something, but whatever it is, it is not connected to the real world.

This started because I wanted to install wifi. I'm getting too old to crawl around on the floor to get to the USB ports on my controller.

So, 2.5 worked fine before I wiped it with the new install. Can I still get the DVD iso for it?

I would still like to have wifi. Is that possible with 2.5?

I've been at this for 2 days now. My DVD drive died in the middle of one install. I never did get a usb thingy to boot. I want my milling machine back and a nice nap.

Larry

The older iso files that had 2.5 used Ubuntu 10.04 based OS, and were sized for CDs. The later iso files were based on Debian 7 and were too large for a CD (need DVD or other media). Are you sure the drive in your machine is a DVD and not just a CD?
It is possible you downloaded or burned a bad copy, Have you verified your image with the md5 checksums?

Most of the older iso files can be found here.
linuxcnc.org/iso/
For 2.5 you will want the newest of the Ubuntu 10.04 ones.

As to if your wifi will work with it, depends on your hardware, some do, some don't, usually the older the hardware the better.
Some people have found that some wifi hardware can cause latency problems. (Again it is kind of hit or miss)

Good Luck

That was quick, thanks.

Strange what you can find when you look. I found the original 2.5 disk mixed in with dog pictures. It installed and ran.

It does look like the 2.5 is a CD. The drive in the computer is a DVD drive, so that is unfortunately not why 2.6 and 2.7.7 don't want to work. The wifi is not detected by 2.5.

I'm sure I saw something about getting the update manager to work again while I was prowling the forum last night. I can't seem to find it now.

Is there a way to load wifi drivers without recompiling the kernel? I wasn't having problems with 2.5, so I'm not sure why I would need to upgrade, other than getting access to the office network where all the design gets done.

Larry

Use a USB drive and check the iso md5sum before installing it on a drive.
Wifi will work most of the time , but if you have an broadcom or atheros chipset wifi,, you have to manualy install the drivers. Use system-additional drivers to do that from the menu.
I am not sure but i think the debian version comes with support for broadcom.

Baithog wrote: Is there a way to load wifi drivers without recompiling the kernel? I wasn't having problems with 2.5, so I'm not sure why I would need to upgrade, other than getting access to the office network where all the design gets done

You appear to be mixing up upgrading the OS and upgrading LinuxCNC.
What Linux version were you running hen you were using LinuxCNC 2.5?

You can upgrade LinuxCNC without changing the OS quite easily, but it is somewhat harder to upgrade the OS without breaking LinuxCNC because of the dependency on a realtime kernel.

Your best bet is likely to be to install the OS using the normal (NOT-LinuxCNC) installer, then install LinuxCNC on top using the instructions here: linuxcnc.org/docs/2.7/html/getting-start...ng_on_ubuntu_precise

I am trying to do both. First I was just looking to get wifi working. I decided to upgrade linuxCNC after discovering that my version was no longer supported.

So after 2 days of loading and reloading (and yes I know what a cheksum is and I use it) this is where I am.

linuxCNC 2.5 loads and works - no wifi
linuxCNC 2.6 loads but crashes - wifi
linuxCNC 2.7 doesn't load
Windows 2000 loads and Mach3 works - no wifi
Windows 8 fails for hardware issues

I tried the live 2.6/2.7 CD/DVD on my current office desktop this morning. They all worked.

Something about this old Compaq computer that I'm using as a controller doesn't like 2.6 and 2.7. I should think that it would meet the minimum requirements since it was running WinXP when I got it. I'm not sure of all it's specs, though. I rescued it from the dump 6 years ago.

So, I can get the old versions, as linked to above. If I could get cat5 to the mill without boring through concrete walls and digging trenches, I'd stay with 2.5. For me it needs to be wifi and a newer computer. Many thanks guys.

Larry