On 10/8/2013 12:35 PM, Bruce Layne wrote: > For all of these little stepper based routers and other small systems > (most of the installations), what could be easier than installing > Linux (with lots of other goodies) and LinuxCNC from an ISO burned to > a flash thumb drive, then running StepConf? I can't imagine Mach > could possibly be any easier unless someone did it for you.
That's why I'm trying _really_ hard to get LinuxCNC working well on the BeagleBone. The maker crowd with desktop CNC mills and 3D printers is far less scared of Linux than the "average man". There are still a lot of folks in this crowd who are "windows only", but even they are using micro-controller development environments (even if it's for an Arduino) to customize, build, and download firmware. If these folk start running on LinuxCNC in a big way, you'll see *VERY* rapid development. This is beginning to happen (ask Michael H. about his server logs for the MachineKit downloads...it's good he doesn't have to pay per byte!), but there's a lot more to do. IMHO, two the big areas that need help are documentation and new user experience. LinuxCNC rocks if you've been working in a machine shop and understand the concepts. Even the documentation is pretty good if you already know a bit about machining. But it's pretty complex and intimidating if you don't really know (for example) the difference between machine, joint, part, and world coordinates. :) ...and a pretty GUI (that doesn't eat CPU/GPU cycles) would be nice too! -- Charles Steinkuehler char...@steinkuehler.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ October Webinars: Code for Performance Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance. Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most from the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60134071&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
