help wanted with installing livecd and UEFI

Hi,
I just bought a new bare-bones pc to replace the old one in my workshop it is a UEFI based model. I tried to install the live cd but it failed. Looking at the ubuntu forum help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI I see that they say use the > 12.04 version.

The background is that I want to control 6 steppers (possibly 7) on my cnc setup and the parallel port couldn't handle this so I bought a mesa 5i25 card plus 2 7i78's last year. Due to the cold winter plus my being ill I am only now getting around to updating my setup. I put the mesa card in my old pc but that machine refused to boot. There is nothing wrong with the mesa card, I tested it on my windows only pc and it initialized correctly. I think the problem is that my workshop pc is an esprimo which has a funny setup regarding pci. You plug pci cards into a carrier which then itself plugs into a propitiatory header on the motherboard. I suspect it is this that is the cause of the problem. There is no problem with he pci based parallel port.

So knowing that I had to update the hardware I put 12.04 on that pc and followed the excellent instructions at www.anderswallin.net/2012/12/linuxcnc-on-ubuntu-12-04lts/ and built linuxcnc on 12.4 using Xenomai. The problem is that the configuration software does not run and so you have to rely on a configuration built under 10.04 and of course I have no such configuration for a mesa card so I see my options as

1) get the livecd and thus 10.04 to run thus allowing me to generate a configuration file for the mesa card .
2) install version 12.04 , build linuxcnc then hope that someone can give me an example of a suitable configuration file.

But I do not know which is the best option (but my preference is option 2) so suggestions or help please.

I still have my old pc with its pci parallel port card that I can use in the workshop in the meantime but this will only utilize 4 of the steppers, but at least I can produce something.

Thanks
Alan

You could just use the existing hm2-stepper config
example and edit it to add the additional axis and desired I/O

Alan,
I have linuxcnc running on 12.04 and zenomai , and I use 5i25 etc , so theirs no problem in walking you through this
either post me what configuration you need or let me know what is not working for you and we can sort it out step by step

you can email or pm me if you wish

Dave

I see that they say use the > 12.04 version.

It might not be that simple - have you actually tried installing yet?

What they are actually promoting is installing the 64 bit version of Ubuntu, you will not be able to run Linuxcnc in realtime on that anyway.

If you have 'secure boot enabled', a Microsoft anti-competition ploy to stop dual-booting, you may have problems getting anything to install.

I would try to get something 32bit installed first, otherwise configurations are irrelevant.

regards

What they are actually promoting is installing the 64 bit version of Ubuntu, you will not be able to run Linuxcnc in realtime on that anyway.

I am informed by cncbasher that the git repository Michael H runs, now compiles on x64, so you could be OK there, don't know if there are debs or if everything is still source code only.
You'll have to scour through what Anders and John Morris have done, I am a bit out of date on that.

Looks like he (cncbasher) has the scripts set up to get the right pull to build it

regards

Thanks for the offer Dave which I will take up. To add to my troubles I have yet to put electronics together and connect the stepper drivers to the 7i78's. I am having trouble with my back at present so everything is progressing very very slowly. I will install 64 bit version of ubuntu 12.04 tomorrow and try to build the zenomi version on linuxcnc and will contact you after that.

Alan

no problem Alan , you'll find theirs no benefit in using 64 bit , and the 32 bit is easier to work on at the moment

Hi,
I have installed 64 bit 12.04 and built linuxcnc with xenomani, got a failed test when running the tests but it seems to run ok. Had to but a pci extender card to plug 5i25 into machine but that also seems to be working it reports DPIO module DEvice 2718:5i25.
I am not sure now how to proceed with the stuff you sent to me.
Thanks
Alan

I presume you mean the 5i25 update zip
ok extract to a directory
then execute the 5i25 update.sh
and follow the on screen instructions

you should then be good to start a pncconf configuration setup

on your 5i25 card there is a label showing the configuration that particular card is set for i.e 7i76x2 etc
you will need to know this