Can I retreat from noman's land to 2.5

Baithog wrote: linuxCNC 2.5 loads and works - no wifi
linuxCNC 2.6 loads but crashes - wifi
linuxCNC 2.7 doesn't load

All three versions of linuxCNC can run on a huge variety of Linux operating systems.

What is the crash report message with 2.6? Do any of the sample configs launch? I assume that the fact that you can say that WiFi works means that it is LinuxCNC that is failing to start, not the underlying OS. I would focus your nergies on that one and see why LinuxCNC isn't starting. It might be a config change.

If I could get cat5 to the mill without boring through concrete walls and digging trenches, I'd stay with 2.5.

Have you considered HomePlug? That is how I get the network to my workshop, down the same wires as the electricity.

I think a 1GHz P4 with 1gig ram should be sufficient. (512 might be enough). But a PC the age you are referring might be borderline. I my self have an older pc running a machine that started out with EMC2 2.4, and has been updated over the years to the current 2.7. It is still running on the original OS install of Ubuntu 10.04 from the original Live CD (with all applicable updates). I have tried to boot one of the current live Linuxcnc isos on it a couple of times for testing, but I have not been successful either. It would boot but then crash when trying to run a latency test. So I have not tried to install the new OS on that machine. Perhaps sometime when I have the time, I might try sticking in a spare HD to try a fresh installation... "But if it ain't broke don't fix it."

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationAnother good wifi option that almost always works, is to buy a wifi dongle that plugs into an Ethernet port. Something like this:

I also use LinuxCNC 2.5.4 with Ubuntu 10.4.

I purchased an SMCWUSB-G wireless adapter and it works great!

The case is rather large and bulky; but, the adapter came with a USB extension cable and I am able to plug it into the back of my machine.

Cheers,

Dave

andypugh wrote:
What is the crash report message with 2.6? Do any of the sample configs launch? I assume that the fact that you can say that WiFi works means that it is LinuxCNC that is failing to start, not the underlying OS. I would focus your nergies on that one and see why LinuxCNC isn't starting. It might be a config change.

If I could get cat5 to the mill without boring through concrete walls and digging trenches, I'd stay with 2.5.

Have you considered HomePlug? That is how I get the network to my workshop, down the same wires as the electricity.

No crash report because the OS thinks linucCNC is running. The splash screen displays after the interface (axis) is selected. Eventually the splash screen disappears, but nothing happens after that. I can get herky jerky access to the graphical operating system interface. The task manager shows linuxCNC threads, but there is no way to interact with them and I can't get them killed through the task manager. I have not tried to kill the processes through a terminal. While I did SA/DBA for an HPUX factory floor, development system and engineering on a SUSE desktop, I have not done unix for many years now. I am really rusty.

I didn't realize that they still did the power line thing. I was a beta tester for a comcast home networking back in the '80s. That was before wifi and not all that reliable.

Baithog wrote:

andypugh wrote: No crash report because the OS thinks linucCNC is running. The splash screen displays after the interface (axis) is selected. Eventually the splash screen disappears, but nothing happens after that

I wonder if the GUI is simply appearing on a different desktop, or off-screen or something odd like that.

Can you try starting LinuxCNC from the command line (command "linuxcnc" ) and then copy/paste the output here.
Ditto for the last 20 lines of the output of the dmesg command after launching LinuxCNC.

I didn't realize that they still did the power line thing. I was a beta tester for a comcast home networking back in the '80s. That was before wifi and not all that reliable.

It seems to have got better. It even lets me wake-up the CNC machines with Wake-on-LAN from the house if I want access to them, or to get them reay for my arrival in the workshop. You can't do that with WiFi.