Welcome to LinuxCNC.org

Hi again,

The HDD should be plenty for a basic install, but as I suggested earlier, I would install 8.04 on it not 10.04.

You can still upgrade to the latest Linuxcnc 2.5 release, I have done so on both my 8.04 workshop computers, replacing the development versions I was running.

I will be going into detail why in the next FAQ on Latency, but basically you will probably find that the kernel with 8.04 is more suited to your P4 single core processor machine.

You will probably need to go into BIOS and disable hyperthreading and power management options (if they exist) once it is installed to reduce the latency a bit, but other than that it hopefully will run fine.

If you have any particular problems, you always have the option of 10.04 to see if there is any improvement.

regards

Hi ArcEye,

Thanks to your help I am able to report some progress installing 8.04 on the 4.3Gbyte drive
in my target PC.
The only flaw is that I am unable to load the EMC2 G-Code Quick reference.
This CD will load on my main computer and can load this reference.
On my target PC when this is selected I get an error message as below.

" ERROR "
" Could not launch menu item "
" Failed to execute child process "/usr/x-www-browser "
" (no such file or directory ) "
Other than that all else seems, at first glance, seems to work.

I bought a larger HDD (Seagate Barracuda 80Gbyte drive) while I was shopping
and I can install 8.04 right to the point that installation is complete and calls for a reboot.
After the reboot the PC stops at :
"GRUB loading stage1.5READ ERROR "
and hangs up .

Latency seems to be quite good at 4904/6779 ns respectively

I hope that you will be able to help with these bothers.

Regards Graham

Hi ArcEye,

The latency numbers should be
Servo max jitter = 6376nS
Base thread = 6779nS
They are not the result of any exhaustive testing but more as a first glance snap-shot.

Regards Graham

Hi

I'm a little confused, have you actually installed 8.04 on the 4GB HDD and it worked fine, except that you could not launch the quick G Code guide?
The reason that will not launch is x-www-browser is presumably not set or set to a browser you don't have installed.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/set-the-default-browser-on-ubuntu-from-the-command-line/

The reasons why the larger drive will not reboot could be many fold.
MBR screwed up by install process
ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8407314

HDD incorrectly jumpered and / or clashing with another drive
www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-linux/376...vd-fixed-solved.html

If you can't resolve that one, stick with the 4GB one.
Give those latency figures a good test, really stretching them with other processes running too
www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/compo...ew&catid=18&id=19022

They look very good at present but you may find they increase somewhat when loaded

regards

Hi ArcEye,

Yes I have loaded 8.04 to the 4.3 Gbyte HDD and in this situation I am un-able to load the G-Code Reference.
I tried to set the browser using the GUI..It already had Firefox selected and the command (greyed out) was
"firefox %s"

I still was not able to get the G-Code Reference to load.
I went to "Howto Geek....." but could not do any better.
He quotes using the command line process as an alternative but I did not see any way to do that.

I take your advice re the 80 Gbyte HDD...it will come in handy at some stage.

Regards Graham

Hi

I have never used the quick ref to G Codes, not sure it continued beyond 2.4.3
Unfortunately there is a typo in the example -config should be --config.

Open a terminal and type
$: sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser
You then get

There are 2 choices for the alternative x-www-browser (providing /usr/bin/x-www-browser).

Selection Path Priority Status

---

* 0 /usr/bin/konqueror 100 auto mode
1 /usr/bin/firefox 40 manual mode
2 /usr/bin/konqueror 100 manual mode

Press enter to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:
enter
$: 1 (or whatever is right one if choices different)

reply is
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in manual mode.

I have just done this and it works fine.

The default browser is Konqueror, but unless you have installed KDE it does not get installed.

If that does not work still just create bookmarks in your browser to the documentation you want.

regards

The same G code reference is in the User Manual.

John

Hi BigJohnT,

Thanks for your reply.
I take on board your advice.
I tend to be like a dog with a bone so your help is appreciated.

Hi ArcEye,

I re-read Howto Geek and read what some respondents had said ,before BigJohnT replied,and then the penny dropped regarding the double
hyphen.The result however was less than useful.It gave the following:

"There is only 1 program which provides x-www-browser
"/usr/bin/firefox). Nothing to configure."

So I guess I'll carry on using the EMC2 User Manual
So thanks again

Regards Graham