Linux and EMC2 Newbie - What to upgrade?

Hi everyone,

Im just starting out with CNC and have picked up a Taig Micromill (inch leadscrews) . Really liking it and think it is a perfect place to start, since i can gradually add things to my setup.


Problem I am having is trying to upgrade the Sherline computer which i got with it, to the latest Linux CNC.
Apparently it is running EMC2, which is the older version of Linux CNC.


But the "About" really does not help with telling me what version this is or anything


My OS is a little out of date also.
https://ibb.co/VBd4PvG

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about the best way to upgrade this setup to the latest version? Upgrading Linux first? Then doing a clean install of EMC2 - LinuxCNC ?

My CAD software Fusion360 is exporting Gcode which is too modern to use on the current EMC2, without a lot of edits and head scratching. Hence the need to upgrade

Eddie

That is a very old install.

The simplest route will probably be to download and install the current iso.

But before you start you should first back up your old system and save your machine configuration files so you can access them from your new install.

Next confirm that your old PC meats the minimum requirements for Debian 7 and test that it will have good enough latency (boot the live iso and run the latency test. ) If it checks ok, install and start checking the update changes that will need to be made to your config files.

Thanks Todd, I'll certainly take your advice and do a fresh install.

This Debain is better than Ubuntu? Or does it not really matter the OS for LinuxCNC?

First time using ISOs, good luck to me! Luckily my CAD is better than my OS management!

What is the PC hardware on your machine? (CPU and how much memory)

Linuxcnc stopped using Ubuntu as the base system about 5 years ago when Ubuntu changed their licensing rules making it too difficult to allow 3rd parties to make their own release based off their distro.

You can still use some of the older Ubuntu based disk images. They are stored here
www.linuxcnc.org/iso/.

But I think only the Ubuntu 10.04 based one can still be used with the current Linuxcnc version 2.7 (and I don't think it will be supported with the next release 2.8)

But running these older releases may be advisable if your hardware isn't up to the task of running the newer OS. The newer OS does have higher minimum system requirements and often gives poorer latency test scores with older hardware. Generally anything with a multi core cpu will be better off with the newer OS.

Thanks Todd. I dug into the specs, not great but not too shocking.



I think that will be fine with Debain 9. Requirements seem to be:

512 MB RAM
10 GB HDD
1GHz Pentium 4 processor

Which the pc exceeds thankfully.

Looking at the amount of HD space, it might be best to make a partition and install Debain 9 so it can boot into the old setup if needed (at least for now)

Well, time to back up settings and make my first ISO disk

Thanks fellas! I really appreciate the help! Following your guidance, I managed to install the new LinuxCNC on the PC. and with following the old pinouts. it moves all the axis fine and in the right directions

All good here


Just a couple of bits which i dont follow where the info is on the old config files.

Here i am just unsure about leadscrew pitch (i cant get to my leadscrew easily!) and motor steps per revolution. Any advice where to find those details, from the old INI files or otherwise?

And this section, i used the defaults for "sherline" but the mill is a taig and the motors are not sherline. So i would need to dig up this info from the old INI files also i guess, or find out these values another way?


Then that should be it for setup I think Really excited to be so close to doing my first mill projects! Im going to be making robotics

Tape a scale to the base and draw a line, then turn the screw manually. If you have inch dials and 10 turns move an inch you have 10tpi.

You could also go back in and tweak the stepconfig after you can get an indicator on it .

You may be able to measure the z by removing the sheet metal.

Most steppers are 200 steps per rev

I would start with the default, I think sherline uses the same settings though.

Thanks Leon! I did as you suggest and got 20 revolutions per inch. Set that up now.

I have the 103H7123-0440 motor from this sheet
docs-emea.rs-online.com/webdocs/141d/0900766b8141d50c.pdf
Couldnt see a steps per rev on the data sheet. But will stick with 200 for now.

Time to try and drill an array of holes to check everything moves OK