(superseeded) Linuxcnc on Linux Mint 19.3 quick and easy installation

You did not answer the last question.
If you edited the network files, revert back to how it was and use this to set up the network:
forum.linuxcnc.org/27-driver-boards/3559...ethernet-mesa-boards
Do pay attention and follow the procedure exactly, otherwise you will have issues running two networks.

BeagleBrainz wrote: No worries Tommy, should go all ok.
Should have the RTAI done tomorrow morning, finished compiling the 2.9 RTAI Linuxcnc packages, qtvcp designer runs ok.

Kinda glad I've setup a local repo for the packages, saves having to wait to get packages off the net.

Wonder if it's worth doing an XFCE version...............

I did a XFCE Devuan2 and it appears to run quick but it is hard to tell as I don't have any older machines. Heck of a lot smaller as well.

Yeah XFCE desktop is less resource intensive than MATE.
Working on MATE rtai, when I have that sorted I'll try XFCE.

I just donated 50 Euro to Linux Mint foundation, in Ethereum !
They absolutely deserve it ! And they gave us permission to use it for Linuxcnc, thanks to CMorley for making that happen, and thanks to all of Linux Mint and Linuxcnc community.

Some findings of my 15 years plus of using linux as the main OS:
LinuxLite is not lite by any measure and so are some other Light distros, Linux Mint Xfce is in the same level as most of them but it is not advertised as light
The only light distro that is actually light and normally usable is Porteus, even with Mate DE it is very fast and nimble at 300 something MB ISO.
There are also Puppy Linux versions that are small and light and very usable.
Damn Small Linux is at 53MB last i checked and it is still usable, but not at the same level as Porteus.
The main usability issue with those small distros is that installing whatever is not ready made for them results in a non working system. Normal install to a hard drive is a hit-and-miss affair at best, etc etc.
Anyway you look at it, for normal users i would opt for Mint 19.3 Mate for Preempt-RT version and Mint 19.3 XFCE for RTAI version.
I have the 19.3 Xfce 64 bit running preempt-rt on an old Lenovo R61e for two days now without a single issue wired to a 7i92. That is a single core Celeron 550 at 2GHz.
And i did check the new light versions of several distros in the last few days. Mint won !
Duvian was quite sloppy on an i5 at 2.66 Ghz compared to mint xfce.

tommylight wrote: Duvian was quite sloppy on an i5 at 2.66 Ghz compared to mint xfce.

Tom, was that Devuan with XFCE or Cinnamon?

I wish I could like Mint but there is just something about it...