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There is a thread with a guy integrating a cm carrier board with a 7c81.
The RPi5 works but it's a very expensive option compared to an ex corporate PC. The only real advantage is size and that's about it. The RPi5 images work out of the box, but do require the zram fix mentioned in the big thread, it's not a game killer but can raise its head.
Having a RPi5 and 3rd Gen I5 running for testbeds the i5 is definitely the one I'd choose for a build.
For my mill I running a odroid H3 and can not fault it, this has been replaced by the H4.
As for pre-built control boxes, any that rely on the parallel port can be used with a 7i92 for an ethernet option or a 7c81 for SPI with a Raspberry Pi. Some of the issues I have with them is use of DB9 connectors for the Stepper motor connectors. Most of them are quite compact which raises issues of heat and airflow.
I prefer to build my own, lots of room for air flow, the ability to keep the mains and signal wiring well seperated, on side has all the mains, the other side has the low voltage signalling.
I guess if that isn't part of your skill set then an off the shelf control box might be the option if you have the funds.

Thank you for your answer! I like to dream big sometimes Of course having this for sale as a bundle would be epic, but even if I just managed to make a github repo with the whole config + BOM + CAD model of the control cabinet, I think that'd still be really helpful, right? Also, is Raspberry Pi really so bad for this goal? What are the disadvantages? I thought it's a pretty nice option given that it's quite compact and rugged.

aeth wrote:

... I want to make a truly badass solution with Raspberry Pi...

That statement ... has issues!
Use a NUC or any small PC, not a RPI.
You should check the export regulations before jumping in, the biggest market for DIY is USA, then India, Europe is pretty far down that list. I checked for the same thing, it was not pretty. BTW, my country has the lowest tarifs for USA at 10% only! Does not fix much when sending anything there costs over 300$ for a small box.
This is not to discourage you, absolutely do try, just make sure you get informed beforehand.

I was recently wondering if there's a company or someone who builds 3 or 4 axis mill control boxes pre-configured with LinuxCNC. Most hobby and semi-professional machines rely on a very similar configuration with one, maybe 2 steppers per axis and it would be awesome if a properly built control box with Linux CNC was available pre-configured and off the shelf. Is anyone aware of a product like this? I know that CNC drive sells their control boxes with UCCNC and stuff like VFD, fuses, relays and stepper drivers preinstalled.
Ever since Ethercat was integrated into LinuxCNC, I want to make a truly badass solution with Raspberry Pi, hardware control panel (there's a Shenzen company producign Ethercat panels with feed/speed knobs and macro buttons!) and Leadshine CS3E closed loop stepper drivers and Delta MS300 VFD. A complete Linux CNC solution like this will cost around 2500 USD which is the price for just the Centroid Hicory mainboard + software that offers similar capabilities.
If there's nothing like this on the market and enough people are interested, I could partner with my friend in China who could help me get this stuff assembled there.

That dkms error is an error in the debian distribution, they included a raspberry package. Just delete it.Well I thought the secure boot would be an explanation but now I don't know.
Happy you can use it, anyway.

matn1 wrote:

Good day,
 Currently the Mesa is on a 5v3A wall plug

This is likely your problem. Replace with a Meanwell MDR-20-5 or similar.

Hello, everybody!

About 1.5 years ago I tried going the Remora route on my NVEM V2 with the STM32F207 and a Raspberry Pi 4. After a steep learning curve I finally managed to get the motors to turn, but experienced an issue where the motors would stutter, or skip steps, for some reason. Despite some kind peoples best effort to help, I was never successful in solving the issue and my PrintNC has been out of order since then.

I finally gathered some energy and wanted to give this another go, so I bought a mini-PC, a Lenovo M93p, mainly because I feel more comfortable using a real PC rather than a RasPi, and because it feels like there is more support for it.
Anyway, I followed all the same steps as the last time to get Remora up and running, but unfortunately the result is the same, the motors turn, but stutters.

1.5 years is a long time in the world of open source firmware development, so first of all I would like to ask if the Remora-NVEM repo is still the latest one for the NVEM V2? Or has the old NVEM V2 been integrated in another repo and has seen some updates since?

My next question would be, if it turns out that I simply can't get the NVEM to work properly, what is the board to buy nowadays? Is it the EC300?

Regards,
Christian

Yes, I understand that, but I still need some hardware that can do the following:
1. Interface with other peripherals such as relays, emergency stop button, endstops (unless I use sensorless homing), VFD
2. Have ethernet
3. Host a raspberry pi
4. Ideally offer photocouplers for some inputs

So I guess at the very least, I'd need some kind of a breakout board for Raspberry Pi that is known to also work with Linux CNC. Does it make sense? I'm really lost in this whole topic. Ideally it would be something proven that people have already tested in a similar configuration that I require. I just know that if you have something like Sinumerik controller or even Acorn Hicory, it's kinda what I wrote above, minus the Raspberry Pi and I thought I will need something similar to run LinuxCNC on and have the IO exposed.

Lately I started looking with great curiosity into LinuxCNC, because it seems to be one of the nicest and most affordable options to get EtherCAT and recently even s-curve acceleration control! In other words, as far as I know, it's the only solution on the market that offers such badass features as well as full configurability at a fraction of the price of other devices.
My current experience is with Mach 3 and UCCNC, but in both cases I was dissatisfied with motion planning where the machine would stutter a lot with complex toolpaths or with larger error allowance, it would run smoothly but it would mess with the surface finish.

My biggest hurdle right now is finding the right hardware. I saw countless solutions and configurations to get this done and I'm looking for something well proven that's not too hard to set up and doesn't look like spaghetti.
I was looking into Mesa boards, but even that got me a bit confused and I don't know what I should get. What's important for me is that the board offers screw terminals for interfacing with endstops and VFD and ideally it has its own computer - i.e. Raspberry Pi.
Could I ask someone for some recommendations? 

Hello everyone,

I'm a noob when it comes to Linux CNC. I currently have some Leadshine L8 servo drives (identical to EL8?) and I am trying to set up Linux CNC. I am using a raspberry pi 5 and installed the "LinuxCNC 2.9.4 Raspberry Pi 5 OS based on Debian Bookworm Raspberry Pi 5 Uspace" iso

So far, i have :
-Followed Rodw's post on installing Linux CNC from repositories
-Copied the Github repository by Marco Reps
-Compiled cia402.comp, el8_homecomp.comp, and always_homed.comp

Now i need to configure the hal, ini, and ethercat-conf.xml files and the files from Marco Reps repo looks overwehlmingly complex.

Could anyone help me figure out what are the basics needed to launch Linux CNC and understanding more what the content of those files mean and what do I need to modify.

Here's the Mesa interface snippet from /etc/network/interfaces, note no DNS nor Gateway as mentioned previously.
Sorry for the delay in answering.

RPI5 with a 7i96, and after some time I get a solid red INIT light on the mesa card, and obviously at that point have to reset the card to continue.

If the init light turns on when LinuxCNC is running, (with any Mesa Ethernet FPGA card)
it means you have a watchdog fault, likely because communications have been lost
for longer than the watchdog timeout setting. This is likely due to a network latency issue.
No reset is needed, though LinuxCNC will have to be restarted.

There was a user having an issue with gmoccapy locking up, but this issue was related to zram, which was discussed earlier in this thread.
I've had my RPi 5 sitting there with Axis open connected to a "cobbled together" 7i92 and after a week and a half have only dropped one packet.
When I get a chance I'll look into the ethernet setup. For some basic advice, do not have a gateway nor DNS server entry for the NIC that the mesa card is connected to, it generates unwanted traffic on that interface.
TBH I'm not up on the meaning of the LEDs on the card you are using.
It maybe worth checking the manual and searching the forum for that answer.

Good day,
Adding a voice here as I think I saw another user having this issue: RPI5 with a 7i96, and after some time I get a solid red INIT light on the mesa card, and obviously at that point have to reset the card to continue. I cant make heads or tails of this just yet, but it might be related to idle. It may be specific to the 7i96 given the other poster also commented on that. I have 7i76EU on its way so will be able to test this and post back whether I experience anything similar. Currently the Mesa is on a 5v3A wall plug, and the RPI5 uses a somewhat official USBC RPI wall plug.

I need hardware suggestions.  There seems to be a gap in my knowledge, and in my research.

I just got a new CNC router, and it came with a Grbl-based controller.  I always used LinuxCNC in the past on my DIY machine, and I can already tell that I'll probably be happier if I switch to LinuxCNC on the new one.

The most recent incarnation of the old machine was driven by a Raspberry Pi and a Mesa ethernet card.  The Mesa was connected almost directly to the limit and estop switches, and the step/dir lines went to a quad stepper driver board I got from Sparkfun a long long time ago.  The wiring was a horrible rat's nest of jumpers running between pin connectors glued upside down to a plank.  (I'm not exaggerating.) And I don't want to use the Sparkfun board again, for various reasons.

At some point I'm going to want to use the Mesa card with the new machine.  But what I'm picturing, that I don't have, is the "interface" board.  It needs to take 24V power, and have 3 or 4 of those little 16 bit stepper driver modules.  And it needs to have a bunch of screw terminal strips, set up to logically simplify the 6 or 7 pairs going to switches, the 3 or 4 connections to the motors, and all of the interconnect to the Mesa.  Basically what I want is an XYZ CNC router breakout board, with drivers.

But all I can find is complete controllers:  all of what I described, hardwired to an ATMega328, or ESP32.  Or, all of what I described, in the form of an Arduino hat.  Better, but still not very Mesa-friendly.

Can anyone point to the product I'm looking for?  Or tell me (nicely what I should be looking for instead?