Welcome to LinuxCNC.org

LinuxCNCer's

i guess i should back up and cover this option.

i already have a nice installation from disks

right from the PC-BSD store on my system.

it's on it's own drive with hard drive switch.

it installed real well and has booted up with

no problems the couple of times i've tried it.

so, will it work?

Have A Nice Day!

easy answer NO
not without some considerable work on your part and having linux knowledge

basher

so you're suggestion is to learn about FreeBSD/PCBSD and

do some work.

ok, i'm on it!

Have A Nice Day!

I do not know of any real time solutions for BSD. So unless you come up with a solution for that problem I'd have to suggest that you are on a long hard road.

neu wrote:That would not be my suggestion at all! It isn't that getting LinuxCNC to run on alternative platforms is a bad idea, it is the idea that if you are starting out you would be far better off building on what is known to work. Especially if you want to get a machine running. Now if your interests are in a programming challenge that is another thing altogether.

LinuxCNCer's

waiting to here from PC-BSD bunch about

porting LinuxCNC to PC-BSD.

Have A Nice Day!

Linuxcnc depends on a linux kernel with real time extensions (google RTAI). BSD uses, IIRC, the mach kernel. Kernels are the low-level code that controls the machine, allocates time to various task, manages IO, etc.

It might be possible to produce a BSD kernel with something similar to RTAI, but it would be a long and hard task. If you're asking this question you are probably just starting off. You have potentially years of study and work ahead of you before you get to the point where you could do this. I spent many years working with real-time systems for data communications and am too familiar with the process.

You have to decide what your goal are. If you want to control a machine tool and make parts, install the linuxcnc live cd and use Ubuntu. If you want to spend years learning about real time systems, try to make BSD work. You'll probably find yourself alone since this really doesn't add any extra value to the guys that just want to make parts.

Good Luck!
Kirk