Welcome to LinuxCNC.org

The EMC2 team now has custom Live-CD's based on Ubuntu:

• 10.04 Lucid Lynx (current),
• 8.04 Hardy Heron (older)
• and 6.06 Dapper Drake (not supported anymore)

These will let you try out EMC2 before installing. It's the easiest way to install Ubuntu and EMC2 together.

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

For new installations, choose Ubuntu 10.04. This is a fairly recent release, so be sure to report any problems (or even success) so we can make things better.

• download the ISO (EU mirror) and burn it to a CD. (The MD5SUM of the CD is 5283b33b7e23e79da1ee561ad476b05f)
• For those that like to read a little download this short Getting Started Guide

trying it out..

• When you boot the CD on your machine, you can see and experiment with the exact environment and EMC2 software that you will have if you choose to install it.

• If you like what you see, just click the Install icon on the desktop, answer a few questions (your name, timezone, password) and the install completes in a few minutes.

This install gives you all the benefits of the community-supported Ubuntu distribution as well as being automatically configured for EMC2. As new Ubuntu updates or EMC2 releases are made, the Update manager will let you know and allow you to easily upgrade. It currently features emc2_2.4.3 already installed.

If you prefer to start with the distributed Ubuntu CD, you can install EMC2 yourself with these instructions:

• Step 1: Install Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (for 32-bit) or 8.04 Hardy Heron (for 32- or 64-bit). Other versions of Ubuntu will not work with EMC2 as there are no packages designed to work with them.
• Step 2: Once you have installed Ubuntu , get the install script from here: lucid-install or here: hardy-install, choose "Save to Disk" and click OK.
• Step 3: Now an emc2-install.sh icon will appear on your Desktop. Right-click that icon, select Properties. Go to the Permissions tab and check the box for Owner: Execute. Close the Properties window.
• Step 4: Now double-click the emc2-install.sh icon, and select "Run in Terminal". A terminal will appear and you will be asked for your password.
• Step 5: When the installation asks if you are sure you want to install the EMC2 packages, hit Enter to accept. Now just allow the install to finish.
• Step 6: When it is done, you must reboot (System > Log Out > Restart the Computer) - once you have rebooted you can run EMC2 by selecting it on the Applications > CNC menu.
• Step 7: If you aren't ready to set up a machine configuration, try the sim-AXIS configuration; it runs a "simulated machine" that requires no attached hardware.

Now that the initial installation is done, Ubuntu will prompt you when updates of EMC2 or its supporting files are available. When they are, you can update them easily and automatically with the Update Manager. 

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron (older)

If you require an older version of Ubuntu, you can download Ubuntu 8.04.  The CD image below has the old emc 2.3.x on it, but can be upgraded to 2.4.x by following instructions on our wiki.

• download the ISO (EU mirror) and burn it to a CD. (The MD5SUM of the CD is 1bab052ec879f941628927c988863f14)

Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake (not supported anymore)

If you require an older version of Ubuntu, you can download Ubuntu 6.06.  The CD image below has the old emc 2.2.x on it, but can be upgraded to 2.3.x by following instructions on our wiki. Because Dapper Drake is not supported anymore, there is no current version of emc2 (2.4.x) for Dapper Drake.

• download the ISO (EU mirror) and burn it to a CD. (The MD5SUM of the CD is 21f4ecdcf9f5ab09ed64b5e76fb389e6)