loading LinuxCNC on old smithy 1240

You probably need to adjust the spindle PID settings too (these are direct in the HAL file rather than the INI)

Possibly they need to be 30 x bigger but I would try going up in stages. You are aiming for good speed control under load, but without any oscillation or overshoot.

But, I think it is time to try making chips.

Super, thank you, I will try that next.
Next step is to get MPG to work, I have been reading the instructions and am a bit lost, docs say the files are in there for versions above 2.6, but I'm not sure exactly what needs to be done to make it work.

Possibly you only need to uncomment "naiky.hal" in the INI file.
Having found it online, it seems to be pendant-related.

Possibly you only need to uncomment "naiky.hal" in the INI file.
Having found it online, it seems to be pendant-related.

that was my initial thought, but it had an error relating to pin  axis.0.jog-scale does not exist. I ran xhc-hb04 manually and was able to read out all the buttons correctly and the jog wheel all responded back. but adding the lines to the ini cause issues.  I'm not sure which files to edit and where the xhc files actually need to reside.
I added lines to the 1240 combined.ini, as I understood from the docs, and i have the xhc files in the same dir as my other config files, but I'm feeling a bit like a fish out of water. I'm sure it is a simple matter of adding the correct lines and putting the correct files in the correct place.

You will have to swap "axis.0" to "axis.x" etc, also add joint jogging for when unhomed. This file will have been missed by the conversion script as it was commented out.
Try this version:

 

this might be a really dumb question, but do I use the naikey.hal in place of the xhc-hb04 files? or in conjunction with?

I have no idea! This is the first time you have mentioned an xhc-hb04.
I was assuming that you were trying to connect the MPG that you already have a HAL file for.

I'm sorry, I thought I mentioned it earlier. I have an xhc-hb04 wireless I want to add, it is the main reason I decided to go with the new SW as it was not able to run with the old Ubunto version,

In that case ignore naiky.hal (including the version that I wrote for you )

I have never used an xhc pendant so cant really help.