Complete HOW-TO Linux Mint 18.1 32/64 RTAI or PREEMPT with RIP install or deb

I don't think it's my hardware being too old or slow or not 64bit compatible.

I'm using a Dell Optiplex 380 with a 3ghz Core2Duo processor and 4gb of ram.

I could have a better video card (using the motherboard at the moment).

Mint itself works fine and is entirely as responsive as you would hope.

I am a little confused that I am hung up on an i386 package with a 64bit OS and processor though...

Is this because you are trying to install a 32 bit RTAI kernel on a 64 bit OS?

PCW wrote: Is this because you are trying to install a 32 bit RTAI kernel on a 64 bit OS?

PCW might be on to something

Which of these 2 lines did you choose in Post 3 or did you run both lines?
You should run the first and only the first on your 64 bit PC.....

After a phone call we did determine the issue was in fact 32bit RTAI kernel being installed into a 64bit Linux Mint distro.

To fix the issue we do have to install the 64bit rtai kernel or install a 32bit Linux Mint edition.

Any 64bit OS must use a 64bit kernel and vice versa for 32bit.

The problem with gcc 6.4 is/was still valid since I found this on my own rig with 4.0 RTAI kernel installed. But I had not installed the 3.4.9 since originally testing it.

Its good combined wisdom drilled down to the issue. If it were me, at this stage, I would start right from the beginning and reinstall Linux Mint 64 bit from scratch. Whilst it will take time, the risk of broken dependencies may remain so a bit of time spent now might be better in the long run.

His dependencies are ok. None are broken.

He just needs to start at x64 RTAI install. I suggested he try 4.1.0. I'm using it myself so far. But I'm on 32 bit. Anyone else try the 64bit 4.1.0?

If he really wants it easy I would just do 32 bit 18.1 mate.

It's really easy on you

Its good combined wisdom drilled down to the issue. If it were me, at this stage, I would start right from the beginning and reinstall Linux Mint 64 bit from scratch. Whilst it will take time, the risk of broken dependencies may remain so a bit of time spent now might be better in the long run

I did, i did all the installs from your tutorial, always with the newest kernel you listed. Had no problems with any of them. A 64bit version imstill have on a core2quad, did a lot of testing on it with a Mesa 7i92, litle with 7i76E. The only issue i noticed and could not get rid off was with google chrome and playing youtbe, it would freeze as soon as it started to play. Reboot.
On firefox i have youtube all the time listening to music, rock solid editing configs and runing Linuxcnc while playing. Also did a torture test playing 3 4k hd videos on youtube, a hd movie on movie player, another on vlc, latency histogram with 20 glxgears, not a single issue, running Linuxcnc with all those videos no issues and no real time delays for hours.
Again, thank you very much for a very clear and concise tutorial, it saved me a lot of time.

Was there a 3.4.9 amd64 bit kernel? I thought there was??

At one point I thought amd64 was breaking build bot... but I believed we had a 64bit RTAI kernel.

Never seen that. I had to install 3.18.x on one of my laptops last year, it was the only one i could install on Linux Mint 17.2 64 bit, stil have it in use every day......till i get some time to do a 18.1.