The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
- Billy Boy
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30 Nov 2025 17:13 #339508
by Billy Boy
The Current Bread & Butter Setup? was created by Billy Boy
I'm looking for suggestions for a simple bread & butter Linux CNC install.
It seems like an Raspberry Pi 5 + Mesa 7i96S might be the current standard, but it's not super clear? A while back it seemed like the Beaglebone was a good option, but it seems things have not gone that way?
Background...
I've built/retrofitted a number of machines with Linux CNC, but not for perhaps 10 years. I've done a lot of machining and I'm fully competent with Linux.
I've got a new project that wants to integrate 2 Sherline CNC chucker lathes with some additional widgets. Each lathe would get its own LinuxCNC hardware & software and the integration would be via ssh/linux command line.
If I can get the system working well, I might get orders for 10 or 50 of these systems over the next few years, so I would really like to use a stable, easy to get, standardized off-the-shelf parts, that can be expected to remain available for the next 5 years. I'm *not* looking to cobble something together out of 10 year old PCs, and I'd prefer not to build on some wierd/cheapo/legacy PC off Amazon which may go away in 3 months.
I'm looking for a simple reliable bread & butter LinuxCNC platform.
Suggestions?
BB
It seems like an Raspberry Pi 5 + Mesa 7i96S might be the current standard, but it's not super clear? A while back it seemed like the Beaglebone was a good option, but it seems things have not gone that way?
Background...
I've built/retrofitted a number of machines with Linux CNC, but not for perhaps 10 years. I've done a lot of machining and I'm fully competent with Linux.
I've got a new project that wants to integrate 2 Sherline CNC chucker lathes with some additional widgets. Each lathe would get its own LinuxCNC hardware & software and the integration would be via ssh/linux command line.
If I can get the system working well, I might get orders for 10 or 50 of these systems over the next few years, so I would really like to use a stable, easy to get, standardized off-the-shelf parts, that can be expected to remain available for the next 5 years. I'm *not* looking to cobble something together out of 10 year old PCs, and I'd prefer not to build on some wierd/cheapo/legacy PC off Amazon which may go away in 3 months.
I'm looking for a simple reliable bread & butter LinuxCNC platform.
Suggestions?
BB
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30 Nov 2025 17:20 #339509
by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
For reproducible hardware the Pi5 is probably a good choice. It's not the absolute best of platforms, but it is a known quantity and that would be useful if you are making multiples of the system.
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01 Dec 2025 00:15 #339535
by Billy Boy
Replied by Billy Boy on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
Thanks Andy.
Is the rPi GPIO interface considered fully baked, or is the Mesa 7i96S the smart bet? I would totally love to avoid the $150+ for the Mesa, but only if that does not then cost me an additional $300 in labor time.
BB
Is the rPi GPIO interface considered fully baked, or is the Mesa 7i96S the smart bet? I would totally love to avoid the $150+ for the Mesa, but only if that does not then cost me an additional $300 in labor time.
BB
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01 Dec 2025 03:55 #339543
by unknown
Replied by unknown on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
Put it this way, if the RPi5 goes bad for whatever reason, you'll have to get a new Raspberry whatever, but if you go with the 7i96 any machine with an Ethernet Port will slip in, copy your config over and you're good to go. Hardware step generation, Mesa, et al, will be smoother than software step generation.
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01 Dec 2025 06:20 #339545
by Billy Boy
Replied by Billy Boy on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
Huh... I've not experience a properly powered and cooled rPi going bad. Maybe I've been real lucky?
Does the Mesa support tighter step timing accuracy than the "base thread" step generator?
I was not aware that the Mesa gave improved performance? Is there a reference-able document that gives a *quantitative* analysis of this performance gain?
Thank you,
BB
Does the Mesa support tighter step timing accuracy than the "base thread" step generator?
I was not aware that the Mesa gave improved performance? Is there a reference-able document that gives a *quantitative* analysis of this performance gain?
Thank you,
BB
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- tommylight
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01 Dec 2025 07:15 #339549
by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
In short:
RPI can do at most 20000 steps per second, if lucky and with a bit of fiddling (this is from what i read here, i stopped using RPI since version 3B)
Mesa can do 10000000 (10 million) steps per second on any or all pins, if pushed, does 1-4 million for years on end, can use any pin as input or output, does steps, encoder counts, PWM, on any pin (the FPGA part), can be programed as needed, extremely reliable (i have over 80 or 100 or i have no real clue in daily use on industrial machines weighing several tones without a single issue ever for many years), and by far the best support on planet earth in the form of PCW.
Yes i am biased, from experience, no i am not payed by them, and yes any price you see for Mesa boards i have to pay at least twice that, and i pay it gladly for the piece of mind i get with them, i can sleep calmly without worrying something might fail.
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As for RPI, i personally use old "enterprise" PC's and some laptops, so if you can find such things it is another alternative, i can get Lenovo T470 for 120-150 euro, with 14" touchscreen, battery, plenty of RAM and NVME, with built in network jack, for me this is much cheaper than any RPI combo and more powerful and usable.
RPI can do at most 20000 steps per second, if lucky and with a bit of fiddling (this is from what i read here, i stopped using RPI since version 3B)
Mesa can do 10000000 (10 million) steps per second on any or all pins, if pushed, does 1-4 million for years on end, can use any pin as input or output, does steps, encoder counts, PWM, on any pin (the FPGA part), can be programed as needed, extremely reliable (i have over 80 or 100 or i have no real clue in daily use on industrial machines weighing several tones without a single issue ever for many years), and by far the best support on planet earth in the form of PCW.
Yes i am biased, from experience, no i am not payed by them, and yes any price you see for Mesa boards i have to pay at least twice that, and i pay it gladly for the piece of mind i get with them, i can sleep calmly without worrying something might fail.
-
As for RPI, i personally use old "enterprise" PC's and some laptops, so if you can find such things it is another alternative, i can get Lenovo T470 for 120-150 euro, with 14" touchscreen, battery, plenty of RAM and NVME, with built in network jack, for me this is much cheaper than any RPI combo and more powerful and usable.
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01 Dec 2025 07:57 #339557
by unknown
Replied by unknown on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
They do seem somewhat robust, but there is always a chance. Not to sound like a doom goblin.
Whilst I have no empirical evidence, not having the resources nor $$$ to test, I feel (for lack of a better word) that Ethernet does provide some electrical isolation as opposed to direct GPIO connection.
Ethernet also frees you from being shackled to a single platform.
Tommy provides some very good information. Whilst to forum may appear to be a little biased based it would come down to a few points.
Tommy's mention of performance.
Reliability.
Wide range of options regarding hardware.
Many many more inputs than via GPIO.
The fantastic support from PCW, even when dealing with cloned items bought off AliExpress, or those building there own custom boards using dev boards and hashed together sundry parts.
Customised firmware, based on the available source, is no issue to have built. So far I haven't seen requests for new firmware features. Maybe this has happened I can't say for sure either way.
And finally, which I almost forgot, the knowledge of many of the forum members.
Whilst I have no empirical evidence, not having the resources nor $$$ to test, I feel (for lack of a better word) that Ethernet does provide some electrical isolation as opposed to direct GPIO connection.
Ethernet also frees you from being shackled to a single platform.
Tommy provides some very good information. Whilst to forum may appear to be a little biased based it would come down to a few points.
Tommy's mention of performance.
Reliability.
Wide range of options regarding hardware.
Many many more inputs than via GPIO.
The fantastic support from PCW, even when dealing with cloned items bought off AliExpress, or those building there own custom boards using dev boards and hashed together sundry parts.
Customised firmware, based on the available source, is no issue to have built. So far I haven't seen requests for new firmware features. Maybe this has happened I can't say for sure either way.
And finally, which I almost forgot, the knowledge of many of the forum members.
The following user(s) said Thank You: tommylight
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01 Dec 2025 08:07 #339559
by tommylight
forum.linuxcnc.org/30-cnc-machines/31792...rofit?start=20#85721
Replied by tommylight on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
Does this qualify:Customised firmware, based on the available source, is no issue to have built. So far I haven't seen requests for new firmware features. Maybe this has happened I can't say for sure either way.
forum.linuxcnc.org/30-cnc-machines/31792...rofit?start=20#85721
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01 Dec 2025 08:11 #339562
by unknown
Replied by unknown on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
I was think along the lines of "I would like the mesa firmware to support this piece of hardware I have" which may or may not have been retrieved from a Soviet UFO warehouse.
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01 Dec 2025 08:16 #339563
by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic The Current Bread & Butter Setup?
That was very close to what you describe, i had some Serial Absolute Encoders that would cause me much grief to replace mechanically, so it was magnificent that PCW made the firmware i could use with those encoders.
BTW, that machine is still in daily use, and never gets powered off.
BTW, that machine is still in daily use, and never gets powered off.
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