More Linux stuff

Try using KNOPPIX or similar bootable images - free

You can boot and run off the DVD, never need to install an image, and it can read windows and NTFS file systems and can be used as an emergency repair disk

Lets you play as much or little as you want

I use Fedora Core 6. It is very nice, updates itself every night, etc.

On my laptop, I run the same OS and wrote scripts that fully set it up automatically depending on where it is. For example, it discovers if it is at home on ethernet, or at home on wireless, or at work on ethernet etc. Depending on what it finds out, it sets its IP address, mounts appropriate shared drives, etc etc. All I have to do is close the lid when I take it, and power it on when I connect it to network. It boots up in just a few seconds from a suspended state.

i

Knoppix is indeed an excellent version of Linux. However..if you only have one CD drive..a live distro limits the hell out of what you can do. It ties up the drive and runs the hell out of it. Kanotix is perhaps even better for a live distro.

Both can be installed to hard drive..but even the authors of Knoppix dont recommend it..they were put together as live cd versions.

Probably my favorite so far for a free version is Mepis.

Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

I tried it..runs slow on old hardware. Least it did on the 2 differnet machines I loaded it on.

Suse 10 ran faster, took forever to load.

Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Download the EMC2-Ubuntu pacakge from

and you get not only a basic Linux package, but the EMC suftware, too. You can add whatever you want to it with the command : apt-get which is really painless.

I haven't paid for anything on this system. The only thing it seems to have a problem with is on-board video. So, I plugged in a better video card, and off it went.

Jon

Why would I want the EMC package? When I want to run a mill..I push buttons on (usually) Fanuc controls.

Ive got Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Suse 10, etc et etc...shrug

Just giving a heads up for those who are 'windows refugees"

Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Gunner, just wondering why you wouldn't want the EMC package? From your posts I've read, I thought you were into fixing up older equipment and omni-turn retrofits, etc. I haven't used EMC yet for machine control yet but my biggest hurdle seems to be working with Linux. Wouldn't an EMC control replace $10K worth of Fanuc control with $1K worth of non-proprietary equipment? I'm not trying to be a smart a-- at all, it just seems someone that fixes up machines and runs Linux would be a natural for EMC system integration.

I know you have to tinker with EMC to get everything going correctly, but I would think the Fanuc system integrators also have to set up all the directions, scaling, servo tuning, homing, PLC, etc... Just wondering.

RogerN

It does on some machines, not on others. It crashed and burned when I tried to install it on my wife's AMD machine, for instance.

That site doesn't work from here. Had to go to

Anyway, I hate it. It's too windoze-like. Runs all sorts of "services" you never ask it to, etc., just like that ridiculous Redmondware.

There used to be a link off the xandros download page, which doesn't appear to be there anymore, where you could get it via torrent. You can still do that if you want by googling for xandros-302-oce-installation.zip or xandros-302-oce-installation.iso ... or you could get it via http from

(It's uploading as I post this, but ssh informs me that the upload should be complete in 3 hours; roughly 11pm EST - that's barring any outages/slowdowns due to blizzards, etc.)

Ubuntu's really nice...plus, the newest version (7.04) which comes out in April will come with proprietary multimedia playback (such as mp3's and aac's), and it will also come with the CNR client.

I've been using Xandros since 2004, and everything you said is right. Xandros is definitely one of the best Windows alternatives around. Right now Ubuntu is my favorite...but Xandros is a close 2nd. And if I could find my Linspire 5.0.113 Developer's Edition CD, I would say Linspire is a close 3rd.

Its a nice thought..but my plate is filled with manual machines, and OmniTurn CNCs. Which one supposes could be run after modding by EMC..but..why reinvent the wheel?

Someday I may bring home a CNC something to putter with, ..I run across htem all the time..but I simply dont have the time to go in that direction.

Now if you know of a servo drive that will replace an Indramat 5hp C axis and still use the original motor..I can clean up.

Gunner

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide"

- James Burnham

Hence my comments for those wishing to replace Microbloat products with something they can still feel comfortable with.

Thanks!!!

Gunner

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide"

- James Burnham

Im hardware challenged..nothing faster than a 650 mhz machne and

512..and Ubuntu and its off springs tend to run a bit odd for me on 3 differnt boxes. They tend to be a bit resource intensive, least my experience on my boxes.

I rather liked the last version of Mepis before they went over to ubuntu..but as a newbie Linux user..the learning curve was steep.

3.4. something

Still is steep...sigh

Gunner

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide"

- James Burnham

commits suicide"

Ever tried Xubuntu? It's supposed to run at a very good speed even on older low-end machines. I'm not too crazy about the XFCE GUI, though.

commits suicide"

Yup..actually does run pretty good. Its in my top 3 prefered

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide"

- James Burnham

What does it need? Encoder, resolver, or Hall effect? Brush or Brushless? How many volts & amps? From what I've seen, some of the Pacific Scientific drives seem pretty universal.

Roger N