Slow file access

My mill is using Linux v2.30 and CNC10, from a report file:

CNC10CONV v. 2.32 - Centroid configuration file utility
CNC10 Uniconsole-2 v. 2.32 setup file for CPU7

There's a solid state drive.

File operations that require a directory display have always been horribly slow, as in 45-70 seconds. Then when I get the screen and I want to select to read off the USB drive it takes another long wait for that new file display to happen.

I can remember 8086 DOS PCs with floppies being waaaay faster.

Is this something peculiar to my machine or is that just the way the older Linux systems are?

I'll grant that this is not a "problem", just an annoyance, and other than this I'm happy with the control, but if I'm changing between several small programs it gets a bit tedious.

thanks,
Michael

That is characteristic of the v2.3x Linux systems. USB access under 2.6x and 2.7x is much quicker.

Are there many folders and files on the USB drive you are using? Does it make a difference if you use a USB drive that contains only the one or two files you need?

It isn't just the USB, when I go into file ops bringing up the first directory display on the system drive is just as slow. Often I'll only have 5-6 files on whatever USB drive I grab to transfer files from my PC to the control but that makes no obvious difference in how long it needs to think before showing a directory.

Is converting to a more recent version of Linux/CNC10 something that can be done by the user (and without incurring upgrade charges)?

thanks,
Michael

Is the Centroid control networked? If so, you will get the same results when it loses connection to your network as it's trying to access the networked directory but it can't. I have also seen that happen when it has issues with the floppy drive in that it can't read the floppy drive even if there isn't a floppy disk installed.

It is not networked, it is a stand alone machine with a solid state main drive and some USB ports in the PC. There is no floppy drive.

Press ALT+F6 to bring up the Linux command window. Type ls /cncroot and press ENTER. What do you see listed? Insert the USB stick. Wait approximately 15 seconds. Hit the up arrow once which will bring up the last line that you typed and press ENTER. What do you see listed?

I did that immediately after hitting cycle start to clear the homing prompt.

With USB drive removed: a c cdrom links links" links.cache"

With USB drive inserted: a b c cdrom links links" links.cache links.cache"

the duplicate links/links.cache terms were displayed, they are not typos on my part.

thanks,
Michael

Do you have any interest in (or need for) using the floppy disk drive?

If not, then at the command prompt run "uninstall-floppy".

Does that make any difference to the speed of file access?

There is no floppy drive or cd drive in the PC, only USB ports off the motherboard (back panel) and the flash drive that holds the Linux/Centroid files in a small bay that would have been for a 3.5" floppy on the front panel..

I grabbed a stopwatch and it takes 49-50 seconds to bring up the USB drive from the load screens.

As before the ls /cncroot gives:
With USB drive removed: a c cdrom links links" links.cache"

With USB drive inserted: a b c cdrom links links" links.cache links.cache"

If I do that uninstall-floppy command it kills the USB ports so the system tells me "no drive found" when I try to select USB from the "load file" screens. ls /cncroot then gives ""c cdrom links" links.cache"

Does this sound like the Linux configuration file (if it uses something like that) needs to be modified to eliminate any default drives that don't actually have hardware installed in the PC? Is it spending time looking fruitlessly for CD and floppy drives that aren't there before giving up and finally moving on to the USB ports?

thanks for your time,
Michael

It's probably looking for the floppy drive and it's taking so long because you don't have a floppy drive. Out of curiosity, did you reboot the system after uninstalling the floppy drive, drive letter a? If not, I would highly recommend doing that.

Yes, it has been rebooted several times, I don't leave the machine up and running after using it as it doesn't get used very frequently.