What is the quickest way to get LinuxCNC installed?

I've tried a bunch of methods that have all been unsuccessful. Does anyone have a surefire way? I'm fine with any linux, preferably ubuntu. I'm on a Byte3, a mini pc my boss insisted on. I've tried 16.04.4 in every way I've seen mentioned; to no avail.

The surefire way is to boot from a usb stick or dvd.

There is a very good thread on building Linuxcnc on Linux Mint which does work.

You need experience in compiling a kernel, selecting the correct options and setting up grub, with the correct root device for this to work.

The ultimate cheat code: mesaus.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=68

It's barely more than the cost of an empty drive. The configuration is intelligent and integrated. No guesswork on the base OS and Linuxcnc installation. It's geared toward Mesa cards, but can be adapted for anything.

Added: I'd also recommend you take a look at Clonezilla -- create a bootable CD/DVD disk and follow the instructions for creating exact duplicate disks. I started with one of JT's golden hard drives and I have created two complete systems from it -- all while the original drive sits in its shiny antistatic baggie on a shelf. My two systems are completely different: one is Sony all-in-one touchscreen Pentium, the other is an AMD Athlon Neo Acer Revo compact SBC. The very up-to-date build of Mint Linux didn't need anything special to configure the touchscreen or the Neo chipset. They just booted right up with all drivers correct and the RT kernel ready to go.

Sure, you should ultimately learn Linux under-the-hood -- but that will be more rewarding if you have a running system that motivates you to tweak it. Succeed first, then learn incrementally...that's my approach.