LinuxCNC Install using MX Linux 19.4 - Geared Toward New Users - Discussion

tommylight wrote:

CarterKraft wrote:

After going through the complete installation, removing the USB drive and clicking Finish the machine fails to reboot, I tried several times with the same result, it just loads the bios screen says no OS is on the drive.

Enable CMS, disable UEFI, disable "secure boot", all in BIOS, try again. Might work without the need to reinstall.

Perhaps, but it will yield a Bullseye system, and not a Buster system. Which, to a new user makes everything much more complex.

I got it to boot, only thing I changed was changing from MBR to ESP on step of Section 3.
How much does that matter?

You’ll have to use the rip install route and compile every update after pulling it down vs using prepackaged deb files.

It’s not rocket science but some don’t like the extra work/steps.

Also I’m assuming you’re going 2.9 and not 2.8.

I'm over my head here but developing muscle memory haha

I was hoping to get on 2.9 with which ever version of linux is popular here (most support) .

The debian 11 was very plain IMO I am preferring MX so far.
I don't have a working plasma table (or drives for that matter) this is just preparation for when I do.

I have a snag with the "git clone github.com/LinuxCNC/mesaflash.git "
gives "fatal: unable to access ' github.com/LinuxCNC/mesaflash.git ' " message.

I was replying from my phone earlier.  Now that I am back at the computer, I can say a bit more.

Buster is the officially supported distribution for LinuxCNC.  That may change down the road, but now, that's the way it is.  I created this guide with respect to Buster, on MX Linux to give a new user the greatest chance for success with the smallest amount of frustration.  Deviate from it at your own risk/challenge acceptance level.  It is sort of an "here's the way I found to be easiest to get started when I was new to Linux/LinuxCNC as well".

At any rate, the build bot, which creates the debian installation packages automagically creates them up to the Buster distribution.  If you choose to go later than Buster, you are accepting that some of the things that make it easy for a new user are not supported.

If you go the RIP route, you will not get the "start" menu items, etc.  You will have to keep in mind that you will need to run a rip-environment script before running things like pncconf, stepconf, etc.

It's not that it's impossible, but for new users, and for users that are not on a supported distribution, it can be cumbersome.  And if you want the menu items on a later than Buster distro, you could create your own debian packages, but that is far outside the scope of this tutorial.



As for your other post, it's very important that you follow the steps to a T to be successful (which in my humble opinion would require actually being on 19.4 in the first place).  

The line is:
These commands are very specific.  Case matters, etc.