Originally Posted by
datac
From the reading I have done, and looking at forum comments, it seems Tormach may have not installed any desktop gui. I believe that is a big mistake. 98% of mach users certainly were smart enough to understand when to be where when it came to machining stuff. I dont see any reason why they would have hidden it or not included it. It should not have had any impact on how the program works. It would have plenty easy for them to just not allow you to leave PP if it was cutting something, which 90% of the users would not have minded at all.
These machines are not sold as replacements for a circle of Haas machines, these are sold as "personal" machines. A circle of Haas may not need any background operating system desktop, but "personal" usually does.
Without any underlying gui, and especially in Linux, you would be missing out on a LOT of things I DEMAND on my control. I must have access to full file management. I demand full network access to any and all other computers or NAS storage devices, And, I must have the ability to install any 3rd party program I want to have. I use numerous OTHER programs on my various machines... I tend to like various code editors, feed/speed calculators etc. that I am already used to. Granted, my favorite programs are mostly windows programs, but I'm sure there are plenty of linux options or there will be now with an OE using LinuxCNC'
For them to not have access to a gui is just a bad, bad move.
Not to fret though.... LinuxCNC in general, when used in its traditional manner with Ubuntu underneath, is highly configurable. The desktop is certainly easy enough to get around for anyone with any windows experience. It's kind of a no brainer and often a desirable platform for many. SOMEONE who knows what to look for will very quickly install a gui on their machine and eventually will leak out the details to others. And others will want to have it, and finally, Tormach will see the error of their ways with this.
Just a matter of time.