Computer Hardware / System FAQs and Tips

Hi

At the top of this section, is the first of what I hope will become a series of FAQs under the Computer Section banner.

These entries will aim reflect the collective wisdom of a number of contributors, assembled in a FAQ form.
All too often a gem of information is buried on page XX of a long thread and missed by most.

The project documentation has improved markedly in recent times, thanks in no small part to JT, but people new to the whole LinuxCNC subject, will often be overwhelmed by the volume of information and will not find the right document without a link.

Hopefully the FAQs will help prevent repeated questions on the same subject, by presenting basic information in an easily discovered form and pointing to the relevant documentation / wiki links.

They are not definative on any subject, but hopefully a good grounding for those new to LinuxCNC upon which to build.

To keep them easy to read and concise, the entries are locked.
If you spot an error (there will be some!), have a contribution or subject suggestion for a FAQ, please post below and I do my best to attend to it as required.

Remember the target audience, information of a more technical / specific nature may be best as a link for further study, rather than complicating the summary.

regards

Hi

The second in this series of FAQs looks at the Latency problem, which figures so often in posts.

A third FAQ is in the process of being compiled to take a look in detail at some of the solutions that have been found.

hope it is of interest

regards

Looks good.

Nice to have useful links per subject in one place and good descriptions of the process, the goals, and potential problems.

A couple things on latency, which I am sure you will be talking about in the next installment, but maybe should also be addressed in the first latency post ...

Very different results may be had with both 10.04 and 8.04 (perhaps even true with earlier versions with very old hardware)

I am not sure but I believe the latency test results page is mostly 8.04 results.

Again looks good and thanks for putting the time and effort into the project,

Rick G

A couple things on latency, which I am sure you will be talking about in the next instalment, but maybe should also be addressed in the first latency post ...
Very different results may be had with both 10.04 and 8.04 (perhaps even true with earlier versions with very old hardware)

Thanks Rick,

Yes, a lot to be covered, the difficult part is trying to keep the input brief and not duplicate the stuff already in the wiki and docs too much.
Hence why I used part one to outline the problem itself and then hopefully cover the solutions in more depth in Pt 2

I have added a caveat regards the quoted test figures and trying both and will expand on it later.

As we know when we experimented some time back compiling new kernels, even a small change such as compiling deliberately for single processor, even though we are running a multi-core unit, can have quite a bit effect on latency.

The problem is going to be knowing when to stop!

regards

Hi

The 3rd and for now last FAQ under the Computer section is now posted.

It covers some known solutions to latency problems, where they can be resolved and hopefully gives some background.

regards

Looks good.
I think most new members start at the forum, so having the info there and the links to more in depth info is great.

Rick G