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The Raspberry Pi image is built from their kernel so its not a generic ARM64 image (I built it)

The ISO on the Downloads page includes everything you need to run linuxcnc. (I also built this image)

At one stage Linuxcnc was deployed via the Debian build system. That is no longer the case. The ARM64 image was built by Debian and there is no guarantee it will work. Its quite old predating the 2.9.1 release.

The AMD64 ISO image on the downloads page is a customised version of the Debian Live installer. It installs the PREEMPT_RT kernel  and XFCE desktop and the which is the best for Linuxcnc of the many available. We want users to succeed.

Please take our advice and if you don't know what we are talking about when it comes to Linux, Google will show you the way. We don't have time to provide Linux support.

rodw wrote:

Linuxcnc requires a real time kernel version of Linux called PREEMPT_RT
While you may be able to run linuxcnc on Parallels, you will not be able to run a real machine from it.
The ARM version of linuxcnc you are running is well over 12 months old so will be mising a lot of recent features and bug fixes.
Find  an Intel based PC and install the linux ISO we provide and life will be a lot easier.
I think people have been able to install Linuxcnc from the ISO on Mac AMD64 hardware but it wipes MacOS from the system.
 

Not that I don't believe you, but Raspberry Pi exists, so...
No offense, but your comment wasn't very helpful. Much like a lot of Linux documentation, you mention that something exists but don't explain it any further. I don't know what a kernel even is, much less why there are different ones. If I need PREEMPT_RT, then where do I find it? If my version of Linuxcnc is old, why didn't the most recent version install when I installed it? SO MANY QUESTIONS!

I am considering using LinuxCNC, but I have never used Linux in my life - except when I program for and control a Hermle 5-axis cnc mill with a Heidenhain TNC640 control, which runs Linux under the hood.

I am at heart a Mac person, and I just installed a VM of Debian 12 Linux (image below from Parallels installation process) on my M2 Max Mac Studio. I am typing this from Firefox in Linux, which was already installed.

 

I have been trying to figure out how to install LinuxCNC, but I keep going in circles. I managed to find instructions here: linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/getting-st...etting-linuxcnc.html, under 7.2, but then I got the following error in Terminal:

parallels@debian-gnu-linux-12:~$ sudo apt-get install linuxcnc
[sudo] password for parallels:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package linuxcnc is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'linuxcnc' has no installation candidate

Not sure what else to do. Should I try to figure out how the Raspberry Pi installation works? It's also ARM, so I imagine it would probably work similarly.

Is there a Debian for ARM that already includes LinuxCNC that would work in a VM on a Mac, at least for simulation?

kubajed wrote:

Do I need anything else hardware-wise? Just the Mesa card and PC?

Yes.

kubajed wrote:

Would a Raspberry Pi work in this setup?

Yes it would, but i would get a used PC instead, cheaper and less fuss.

kubajed wrote:

To form a full closed loop, would you connect the linear encoder to the servo drive or Mesa card?

The drives you have will need the encoder wired to them to work in position mode, but most have also encoder outputs that can be used to close the loop in LinuxCNC.

kubajed wrote:

I'm from Poland

Djakuju bardzo!
I can read and understand a bit of Polish, but speaking tends to to towards Czech very fast.

Being inspired by Hakan video: (Thank you Hakan)

I have installed Linuxcnc 2.9.2 on Raspi 5 using Raspberry Pi 5 OS based on Debian Bookworm, located here: linuxcnc.org/downloads/
I have also installed successfully the CiA402 supporting sw as mentioned in the forum

My hardware is: Beckhoff EL1100, Beckhof 1809, Beckhof 2809, Two RTelligent drives ECT60
and two motors StepperOnline 17HS19-2004S1 (Nema 23 closed loop)

I try to execute the standard code that comes with Axis Lathe.
Unfortunatelly and although the whole system becomes Ready, immediately after program execution run
I get the error "joint 1: amplifier fault"
Can anybody indicate what is wrong with my system and maybe point to me any direction that can help to overcome this problem?
What "joint 1: amplifier error" even means?

command Ethercat master returns:
cnc@raspberrypi:~/linuxcnc/configs/sim.axis$ ethercat master
Master0
  Phase: Operation
  Active: yes
  Slaves: 5
  Ethernet devices:
    Main: d8:3a:dd:c2:2c:4b (attached)
      Link: UP
      Tx frames:   7241313
      Tx bytes:    758342228
      Rx frames:   7241312
      Rx bytes:    758342128
      Tx errors:   0
      Tx frame rate [1/s]:   1000   1000   1000
      Tx rate [KByte/s]:    102.5  102.5  102.4
      Rx frame rate [1/s]:   1000   1000   1000
      Rx rate [KByte/s]:    102.5  102.5  102.4
    Common:
      Tx frames:   7241313
      Tx bytes:    758342228
      Rx frames:   7241312
      Rx bytes:    758342128
      Lost frames: 0
      Tx frame rate [1/s]:   1000   1000   1000
      Tx rate [KByte/s]:    102.5  102.5  102.4
      Rx frame rate [1/s]:   1000   1000   1000
      Rx rate [KByte/s]:    102.5  102.5  102.4
      Loss rate [1/s]:          0     -0      0
      Frame loss [%]:         0.0   -0.0    0.0
  Distributed clocks:
    Reference clock:   Slave 0
    DC reference time: 768116871044400000
    Application time:  768124063237637764
                       2024-05-04 07:47:43.237637764

and the ethercat slaves returns:
cnc@raspberrypi:~/linuxcnc/configs/sim.axis$ ethercat slaves
0  0:0  OP  +  EK1100 EtherCAT-Koppler (2A E-Bus)
1  0:1  OP  +  EL1809 16K. Dig. Eingang 24V, 3ms
2  0:2  OP  +  EL2809 16K. Dig. Ausgang 24V, 0.5A
3  0:3  OP  +  ECT60V202(COE)
4  0:4  OP  +  ECT60V202(COE)

I attach my lathe.ini, second.hal and second.xml files I currently use 
 
 
 
 

Ok cool. Do I need anything else hardware-wise? Just the Mesa card and PC? Would a Raspberry Pi work in this setup? To form a full closed loop, would you connect the linear encoder to the servo drive or Mesa card?

I'm from Poland

I am running a 600w servo with t3d servo driver, servo is rated at 3000rpm, jogging from the driver it did 3500 with ease. Running it from linuxcnc it stops at 480rpm.
I am using a raspberry pi 5 with a cheap chinese 5axis BOB, got my steppers and limitswitches working as they should, but setting up the servo has me stumped. Servo is set up in velocity mode in hal. For some reason stepgen is limited to 8000steps a second, the servo has 1000 steps pr rotation. Servo does the commanded speed perfect up to 480 but I cant get it to go faster and cant find where the limits on the stepgen is. I have tried to change steplen, stepspace, dirhold, dirsetup velocity and scale, scale affects the motor speed up to 480 but there it stops, I cant see any difference in the other settings.
If I enable maxvel in hal i get an error message saying stepgen is limited to 8000steps pr second. Is there any way I can change this?   

@cornholio not a single one here that had to mess with their ubootloader.
To build a rt kernel is also pretty easy or just download and install. Mainline Linux support is getting there too, it's already usable.

@vre There isn't a SPI driver like on the Raspberry Pi indeed but a /dev/spidev like cornholio said. If I can test the speed with a microcontroller or something I'd like to test it.
@cornholio Is there a reason that this can't work fast enough or just a guess?

Mesa over Ethernet might be the most safe option. An Opi5-plus has dual Ethernet too.

The config is more to do with allocating the FPGA resources.

There’s actually 2 drivers involved, the hostmot2 driver which handles the “heavy lifting” and the hm2_xxxx driver which handles the physical communication.

With regards to the SPI speed just pick a speed that is reliable. There’s no need to get hung up on it.

It’s amazing what one learns when the docs are read. It’s also useful to read the manual for the card you are using as well.

Interesting, was unaware that drivers could be "shimmed" on-the-fly this way.

Ok so it looks like, to experiment with LinuxCNC SPI speed on Rpi4, something like this could be done to the .hal file:

loadrt hm2_rpspi config="num_encoders=0 num_pwmgens=0 num_stepgens=3" spiclk_rate=31250 spiclk_rate_rd=12500

Where the speeds are out of:
- 62500 - 62.500 MHz
- 41667 - 41.667 MHz
- 31250 - 31.250 MHz
- 25000 - 25.000 MHz
- 20834 - 20.833 MHz
- 17858 - 17.857 MHz
- 15625 - 15.625 MHz
- 13889 - 13.889 MHz
- 12500 - 12.500 MHz
- 11364 - 11.364 MHz
- 10417 - 10.417 MHz
- 9616 - 9.615 MHz

I'm looking for free cam software / g code generators for up to 5 axes cnc that works with linux cnc on a raspberry pi 5 for free or under $100. 

Odroid H3+ any time of the day. I've had mine for ~4 years never has missed a beat.

X86 based so very very simple. Dual NICs are great for mesa ethernet cards.

Odroid H3+ vs orangepi5 ?

You can try the old-school approach and just use the parallel port.

Or the GPIO on the Raspberry Pi.

Hi,accroding to the doc saying "STM32 based controller boards

NVEM - an STM32F207 based board with Ethernet PHY chip, originally intended for Mach3. [No longer in production, Legacy Support - no new features]

EC500 - an STM32F407 based board with Ethernet PHY chip, originally intended for Mach3. [No longer in production, Legacy Support - no new features]

Expatria Technologies Flexi-HAL with uFlexiNET Ethernet adapter - an STM32F446 based board with W5500 Ethernet SPI adapter designed for Remora

iMX RT1052 based controller boards

NVEM, EC300 & EC500 - iMXRT1052 based controller boards with Ethernet PHY chip, originally intended for Mach3. [In active development]

RP2040 based controller boards

WIZnet W5500-EVB-Pico - Raspberry Pi RP2040 based development board with on-board W5500 Ethernet SPI adapter

Expatria Technologies PicoBOB-DLX - Raspberry Pi RP2040 based board with on-board W5500 Ethernet SPI adapter designed for Remora" it looks there is many alternative choice except for mesa board. but it also said these board is originally disigned for Mach3 ,need to be flashed the firmware.I dont know where to find those program ,could you tell me the links? Thanks you !