Installing Uspace for Master

andypugh wrote: You shouldn't be using hm2_pci, you need to use hm2_eth

Awesome Andy, thanks so much!

Now it works (after changing the IP address)
Any idea why the pcconf test panel won't open?

I hardly ever use Pncconf, so sorry, I can't help with that part,
I would suggest just carrying on without the test and seeing what you get.

I have never successfully used the test pannel in PNCconfig. I think it might be unusable with certain hardware combinations.

Thanks guys, I was not really concerned. I'm glad I found the time to wire up one stepper controller on the weekend because the good news is that after about 6 months of effort, I finally have something moving!

I also learnt that the stepper enable signal to my DM542a stepper controller is actually a stepper disable signal. Once I found the manual, it said that the enable signal was usually not connected!

Also I found that the Gigabyte Brix GB-BACE-3160 I purchased is equipped with an Intel AC-3160 WIFI card. Thers is a Linux driver for it but its not included in Wheezy. But it did make it into Jessie. I had no luck getting it going from backports so gave up as I have a USB wifi dongle working. Maybe Jessie is a better platform for new hardware like this. However, PCW said the internal hardware can add latency. Maybe one day I will give Jessie a go if there is a preemptive kernal for it.

Sometimes the internet browser got confused after running Linuxcnc and timed out. I put that down to a routing issue and managed to add a default rout out the wifi NIC which fixed the problem.

The latency I reported earlier seems to have no impact.

Thanks agian for all your continued support, I still have so much to do....

Now I've been using this USFF PC I chose for a week or so, I am now aware of several driver issues becasue Wheezy is missing the latest drivers or a prerequisite is too early a version. Problems I have include:

1. Lack of support for internal Wifi card (but supported in Jessie)
2. Video Driver not installed as a prerequisite module is not recent enough (available in Jessie)
3. No icons displaying on desktop (becasue video driver is not installed I believe)

So the questions are:
1. Is there any problems installing the realtime kernel on Jessie?
2. Will master run on Jessier and support the Mesa ethernet 7i76e?

I was thinking I might grab another HDD and have a go at installing Jessie Real Time and Master if you think its a viable option.

I will say I've been having fun most nights over the last week playing with Hal and hope to actually get my gantry connected and moving over the weekend if I find the time.

Thanks in anticipation..

#1 There is no problem running with the Preempt-RT kernel on Jessie (There may be issues with RTAI.)

#2 Not a problem.

You will need to find or compile your own Preempt-RT patched kernel for Jessie, as there isn't one currently available in the Debian repos (last time I checked).

Note that you can get newer hardware support just by installing a newer kernel (most (all?)) hardware
support is handled by the kernel and device drivers that get installed with the kernel.

So for example if you built a 4.8 Preempt-RT kernel on Wheezy you would get all its newer hardware
support.

Todd Zuercher wrote:
You will need to find or compile your own Preempt-RT patched kernel for Jessie, as there isn't one currently available in the Debian repos (last time I checked).

Thanks Todd, I think the RT kernel for Jessie is here
www.pengutronix.de/software/linux-rt/debian_en.html

With the deb packages they build (including Jessie) on this page
debian.pengutronix.de/inux-rt/debian_en.html

Any thoughts on this?
Am I on the right track?

PCW wrote: Note that you can get newer hardware support just by installing a newer kernel (most (all?)) hardware
support is handled by the kernel and device drivers that get installed with the kernel.

Thanks Peter, I'm trying to avoid this path as I am guessing there will be a bit of a learning path and I don't really have the time. Its been 20 years since I built ghostscript from source code and only know enough about Linux to get by. If there is a tutorial or walk though, a link would be appreciated.

It would be good if there was a simple way forward to the current Debian version for Mesa ethernet card users.

I was in the same situation with a new motherboard and devices not well supported by wheezy.
What was stable was to stay on wheezy, install linuxcnc via the package manager.
Downloaded and built kernel 4.4 with rt preempt patches. It really isn't that hard, six seven steps. I followed short guide, i'l see if i can find it.
While this solves the driver issue, It seems some drivers also need a piece of firmware that need to be googled up and installed. This way all drivers are supported.
This has worked fine, very stable.

I have since moved over to the 2.8-pre version and build linuxcnc myself.
Then I am not dependent on ready-made packages anymore and I can choose between more linux distributions like debian jessie, ubunut 16, mint and perhaps more. This is an option if you really really want to be running for example debian jessie. You could still stay on stable 2.7.8 eg. I am still on wheezy with patches kernel, but start to think of moving to jessie.

Ready-made linuxcnc and fix the system? Or ready-made system and fix linuxcnc?

I have a mini-ITX z170 motherboard with dual ethernet cards, wifi and 7i76e. Works really well.

Hakan,

Thanks for the feedback and advice. I've found the Intel drivers for the Wifi and Video card, just not in the standard Wheezy package.

I've since found this guide but its pretty old, so I guess its a start. if I go that way.
www.rtai.org/userfiles/downloads/RTAICON...stallation_Guide.pdf

This one also looks promising.
www.cyberciti.biz/faq/debian-ubuntu-buil...custom-linux-kernel/

Not sure on the RTAI patches yet but will look for that later when I have more time.