I will just add that breaking open a laptop is an effort in futility. Zero room for expansion. Does Mesa offer laptop cards?
I will just add that breaking open a laptop is an effort in futility. Zero room for expansion. Does Mesa offer laptop cards?
Lee
If you have a realtime os - none of this is a problem. You don't have to 'strip down' the system to make it work reliably. I like not having to worry at all if I can/can't run a certain program on my system. It all work. This is my current system I use for testing my setups. (communicating realtime over ethernet to a mesa 7i92 (2 printer ports on steroids and expandable)
Shot of the Ethernet board hooked up.
That is also running the current latest debian linux. (Debian 9 Stretch)
Ok - so if you want to test your laptop to see if it will run decently for an ethernet board (like mesa 7i92) my first test would be to download the latest userspace realtime image here (you need 'userspace realtime' for ethernet devices..) and burn it to a dvd. (or usb drive) You can test the your system off the image without installing.
Index of /testing-stretch-rtpreempt
If that doesn't seem to work well with your laptop - you could try the older debian wheezy - but that will be a little harder.
sam
Now, look, I don't know who you are or what your problem is, but let me help you understand the subject of this thread and my comments by saying:
READ THE FIRST SENTENCE OF THIS THREAD.
When you read AND understood that sentence:
READ POST #10.
That's where you stepped in. Was that clear? If not then sorry, don't bother me again, get some help from someone else, I can't help you.
As a last note, I have over 40 years of experience with Unix and Linux, started on PDP-11 (Google it) and now on HP G10 (Google it) and also on laptops, desktops and whatever you can think of, so you are barking at the wrong door. Not within the CNC field though...
Sorry I will jump in when someone (like you) posts obvious FUD about LinuxCNC:
Again you said:
"OK, but... unless there is a political agenda behind it, why would anyone go to LinuxCNC today just to be able to run a CNC software an old and weak PC with a totally outdated interface? It might work, but unless you are a Linux fan and anti-Microsoft, I see no reason..."
And again if this was not FUD, whats does "old and weak PC with a totally outdated interface" have to do with LinuxCNC?
The OP said:
So this response is directed at that as his statement above makes me think he may be more interested in it if he knew more about it.I suspect linux would be a better option instead of windows , but I’m not familiar with it
I was not at all familiar with Linux, or LinuxCNC when I did my first CNC machine. I only had a little bit of Unix/Linux experience from college, but that was very limited. Having said that, I decided on LinuxCNC, through a parallel port, for several reasons.
1. I was doing that conversion on a shoestring budget and as such, wanted to use the absolute lowest cost route. This was about 2010, and at that time things like smoothsteppers, UCNC, etc, either didn't exist yet, were unproven, or were too costly. Things have come down in price since then, but LinuxCNC is still about as cheap as it gets, and this is true whether using a parallel port or using other hardware like a Mesa board.
2. I had some old PC lying around that turned out would run LinuxCNC very well for my application, and cost nothing. That said, LinuxCNC will run on old and weak PC's, but it will also run on newer hardware, so I don't understand that comment. It isn't like an old PC is a requirement to run LinuxCNC, but to me it is a benefit that it will run on an old PC that has no real usefulness otherwise.
3. I looked at Mach3 at the time and I personally found the Mach3 interface to be too busy and cartoonish for my taste. Judging an interface is a subjective thing and what one person likes is not the same for everyone. Also, LinuxCNC has many many interfaces available. Some new, and some old. Pathpilot is essentially a LinuxCNC interface, and there are many others that are optimized for different purposes such as touch screen, small displays, etc.
4. As I said, I had essentially no Linux or LinuxCNC experience before my first conversion , and I am not anti-Microsoft. However, the software/OS for my milling machine is only used for my milling machine so I could really care less what operating system it uses as long as it works, and LinuxCNC does. LinuxCNC also comes as a bootable iso file, so when I first tried it, all I did was burn the iso to a dvd, pop it in the drive and I was off and running. Installing it permanently was easy (easier than a lot of Windows installs), and it has an Q&A OS install routine that only asks very basic questions. As said, this was easy. At the end of the OS install, LinuxCNC is installed during the OS install so it was already there. Setting up LinuxCNC for my parallel port controlled stepper machine was also easy. I ran with it for a while and decided to give the trial of Mach 3 a go. I installed Windows on another partition, installed Mach3, set it up, and was never able to get it to run as well as my LinuxCNC install. Maybe it was just me, but I found the actual controller (LinuxCNC or Mach3) setup easier using the LinuxCNC Stepper Configuration Wizard when compared to the Mach3 setup. I tried tweaking and running and tweaking more with Mach3, but it never ran as fast or as smooth as it did on LinuxCNC. Could have been that Mach didn't like the old hardware I was using, but those were my results.
As far as using Linux/LinuxCNC, I find things a bit different in Linux compared to Windows, but nothing too complicated, at least with what has been necessary for me to do since the mill computer is only used for the mill. LinuxCNC itself is pretty easy to figure out. When I initially decided to try it I was convinced I would be buying Mach3 because of my unfamiliarity with Linux, but the bootable iso had things working so fast and easy that I committed and have not regretted it. I tell people it is up to them, but with no install required and no cost to at least boot it up and look at it, I see no reason not to at least give it a whirl. I now have it installed in a Virtual machine on my main computer so I can play with stuff on LinuxCNC without going to the shop. Works well for that, but obviously the virtual machine version is not for a real machine install. A VM could be used to see if you like it though.
Thank you again for the posts guys . And jb, thank you for taking the time to write such a comprehensive response . I think Linux is something I should consider .
What's better is relative...
It's definitely cheaper (if that is the only reason you would buy a Windows machine for). As for stability... I haven't had stability issues since XP. Both Mach3 and UCCNC are stable on my computers ever since my first W7 Pro 64 bit installation. The BSD was gone after XP. Open source? Sure, but that doesn't really matter for the average user, does it? I mean, unless you want to make your own versions or want to fix bugs on your own... Flaxable? I think you mean flexible, but flexible in which way compared to the other alternatives? Yes, you can compile your own but again, that's not what an average CNC user want to do. Otherwise it seems to me that Mach3 is as flexible as necessary, and while UCCNC does not have all the features Mach3 has, I think it is better (for me) and is definitely flexible enough.
So, yes, Linux is better if you want to run it in an old PC with parallel port, but the advantages will not be that obvious if you have ambitions of using Ethernet motion controllers and have a half decent PC.
The only FUD here is the false claim you made that I said Linux is only working in old PCs...
...but mention "Linux" and the fanboys turn up immediately. I know it is a sensitive subject, which is why I normally try to avoid it, but it is amazing how some people feel the needs of twisting words to fit their agenda.
That comment was twisted and misunderstood/misinterpreted. Of course Linux runs well on any new PC as well as on old ones, but if you have a new and half decent modern PC than you don't have to run Linux, you can also run Windows and UCCNC perfectly well. On an old PC Linux may be necessary to run to get a good performance. I have never said you can't run Linux on new hardware. I am not stupid.
Of course an average CNC user doesn't care about Windows vs. Linux, it's advantages, disadvantages or the fact that it is open source or not. The only thing which is important is that it works or not. And yes, Linux is plug and play, just like Windows, when it comes to installation.
Only a few people gave answer to your original question about UCCNC and laptop. As Gerry said, a half decent laptop + UCCNC and UC300ETH (or UC400) is fine. He and I have experience with that setup.
But... of course, the cheapest start is to install Linux and LinuxCNC, use the PP and that will give you an answer to if you like it or not. If you like it than you are fine free of charge. If you don't like it you can always buy UCCNC and start over. The third option is to download UCCNC and check out the demo version. If you like it then the answer is clear. Just get a license and a UC400 or UC300ETH. In fact, there is also a demo version of Mach3 which you can test free of charge. The difference is that UCCNC does not support axis motion in the demo version while Mach3 limits the length of G-code you can run in demo mode but supports motion so you can actually use it. In the end it is your decision which is the best for you...