Linuxcnc & the Rpasberry Pi (4 & 5)

Regarding Network Manager

This will install the panel applet and network-manager making managed networking easier to setup.

For a description on networking the debian way.
wiki.debian.org/NetworkManager

Hi,

Thank you for the thread. It is very informative.

In regard to the image linuxcnc.org/iso/rpi-4-debian-bookworm-6...25-01-27-0404.img.xz
and locale, I have been able to verify that locale en US.UTF-8 works for PNCConf.

And after using menu-config to set the locale, I had to restart the machine for it takes effect.

After machine restarted, we should verify the locale. On a terminal window type locale the output should match.

-- I did try to set the locale to en AU.UTF-8 and it did not work.

Thank you and best regards,

...behai.

 

Hi,

Still in regard to the image linuxcnc.org/iso/rpi-4-debian-bookworm-6...25-01-27-0404.img.xz, I have found the following information useful:

1. The desktop is XFCE, we can find out using the command echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP.

2. In regard to enabling Wifi.

This image comes with no network manager tool, nmcli is not available.

ChatGPT suggests the following steps. And I have carried them out successfully.

Please note, I had to switch to superuser to run the below commands.

To switch to superuser, use sudo su -.

a. Connect Using wpa_supplicant (If No NetworkManager).

b. Generate a configuration file:

[
wpa_passphrase "<WIFI_NETWORK_NAME>" "<WIFI_PASSWORD>" | sudo tee /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
]

c. Start wpa_supplicant:

[
wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
]

Please note, wlan0. I think this is called network device name. We can find it out using the command ip link show, there are several output entries, I just guessed which on is the Wifi one, and lucky it was correct

d. Obtain an IP address via DHCP:

[
dhclient wlan0
]

e. Persist WiFi Connection (For Boot Time). Ensure it's enabled at boot:

[
systemctl enable wpa_supplicant
systemctl start wpa_supplicant
]

f. Test connectivity:

[
ping -c 4 8.8.8.8
]

It should give successful responses.

g. I restarted the machine. And still have Wifi, but there is no Wifi icon. I have not been able to get it to display.

3. In regard to Remote Desktop Connection.

I followed this article phoenixnap.com/kb/debian-remote-desktop and get it to work successfully.

Connecting from my Windows 10, the desktop just displays rubbish. It is not usuable.

4. In regard to directory sharing.

Samba works successfully, just like in Ubuntu and Raspbian. The setting up process is pretty much the same.

Thank you and best regards,

...behai.

Why didn't you follow the instructions on the Downloads page to setup wireless networking and simply type:
sudo menu-config ?

Re a fixed IP wired connection for Mesa Ethernet card, follow the directions in the man page for hm2_eth (type man hm2_eth) or follow this link.
linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/man/man9/hm2_eth.9.html
If you are using a wired connection for internet, there should be nothing to set up as it will get an IP address from your router automatically using DHCP. 

I couldn't get wpa_supplicant to work at my site. Being the lazy ass I am I found it easier to just edit the interfaces file.
Then working out I was even more lazier, and I like to enable and disable wifi on the fly, I installed network-manager-gnome.
To be honest I'm thinking that building an update image for the RPi 5 with network-manager might be worth it. If users want to use the gpio driver they'll have to disable it
Why didn't someone read the info with the download ?
1: people are lazy
2: people don't pay attention they just want the instant reward
3: they just download from a link.

I put up a link to the Debian way of setting up networking, but I don't think people read this thread or read a thread from the beginning.

Samba was the next thing I was going to address.
Simple sharing by using the file manager no root intervention required .
Tho if you need file sharing from Linux to Linux NFS is a far far better solution.

Samba (SMB) is pretty easy to install. Just set it up to share your home folder. Plenty of online tutorials
The sneaky bit is by default Windows disables access and you have to change a policy to enable it.
I like to map a share to my Linuxcnc home folder on a windows box so you can save gcode straight to the ~/linuxcnc/gcode folder from Fusion360 and Sheetcam.

Thunar has a plugin that lets you create shares directly from the Thunar file manager, which is the default for XFCE4. No need to manipulate the smb.conf file. Unfortunately debian doesn't provide a package for this.

Basic Mill Config Using hal_gpio

forum.linuxcnc.org/media/kunena/attachme...8/my-mill-config.zip
Link to driver:
linuxcnc.org/docs/devel/html/drivers/hal_gpio.html

Note unless SPI is disabled in /boot/broadcom/config.txt GPIO07 & GPIO08 can not be used.

Ethercat Update Sun, 16th Feb 2025

Ethercat installs and kernel modules build, some will build for running kernel, some build for 6.1.x kernel, but load with just a message about tainting kernel in logs. Just need someone with Ethercat hardware to confirm operation.