python version

rodw wrote:

The inability to get Python 3 running happily on Mint was the reason why I went to Bullseye. I don't mind compiling Linuxcnc.

That doesn't make sense, I had no issues building LinuxCNC on Mint with python3.
Buildbot packages was a different story because the Mint python3 versions were different to the python3 version that Buildbot builds with.

Yeh, but I was on Mint 17.3 (shows how long ago I set up my machine which has only ever run master back when 2.8 was master). Back then you had to compile the kernel to get PREMPT_RT.

Eventually, Master dependencies could not be satisfied so it forced my hand. I played with MXlinux but it would not support my networking hardware reliably. So then I went back to Mint 19.3 because V20 had not worked before.  The Python version rolled forward to 3.7 and Mint 19.3 was only on 3.6 so my config broke when Pulled an update. I could not get the python versions working together (right when the python3 transition happened). So then I decided to give Bullseye a try as it did not include Python 2.7. I set it up on another machine initially, then spent a lot of time setting the environment up on my production machine so I could mange it remotely and I decided to build and install the debs. I had never ever done that before! That was a mistake! Seems like when you do that, you can never run RIP again!

In  all honesty, the change to Python 3 and the need to run master branch to get QTplasmac has created a minefield in my view. Everything is very unstable.  I tried to revert to my gmoccappy config. Gmocappy runs on Python 3 these days, but plasmac insisted it needed to be upgraded to qtplasmac. I don't understand why. 

Bullseye is a good option if you want to totally remove Python 2.7 and don't mind compiling Linuxcnc. But Debian requires a lot of little things to be done that  other distros don't eg Auto logon, sudoers group and manual network setup

MX has the same drivers as the equivalent Debian version, MX19 = Buster and MX21 = Bullseye.

I have a package install plus several rip installs on a single machine without issue, of course only one can run at a time.

PlasmaC wants to migrate to QtPlasmaC on master branch because no work was done on PlasmaC to convert it to python3.

Between that network hardware and the J1900 processor, I'm not sure why you don't look for more compatible hardware rather than constantly messing with different operating systems, drivers, python versions, etc. relentlessly while simultaneously complaining about how unstable everything is.

I also have several machines running the latest QtPlasmaC with zero issues.

I've been using J1900s for over 5 years without any problems. Its all I've ever used. My current config has the lowest latency I've ever achieved.
But eventually Mint 17.3 was unupgradable.
I had a perfectly working version of QTPlasmac running on Mint 19.3 until the dependency for Python 3.7 was added preventing a RIP upgrade and I could not resolve python versions on a machine that already had 2.7 and 3.6.
So on your guys recommendation, I moved to MXlinux but it did not give me reliable Wifi networking. Sometimes a driver was there, sometimes it wasn't after the preempt-rt kernel was deployed. Yes I had questions but that was before Snowy built that comprehensive instruction set.

Despite how Phil says the drivers are identical, there must be some differences in driver deployment with MXLinux, as the hardware installed perfectly on Mint and Debian 11.
The move to Debian 11 went smoothly, the hardware was supported until I broke it. But its fixed now and I am happy.
Perhaps if I had been a couple of weeks later a lot of the Python instability  would have subsided.

Long term I'm looking forward to the day that the whole ISO install is removed and the install will be on Debian 11 as a packaged install which Andy has alluded to. I just got there sooner!

 I agree with you Rod, I have a machine at customer that I cannot upgrade because it would break because of the python debacle. 
I installed mx with qtplasmac and I have wifi issues. So now I have two machine's at two separate customers that I am stuck until this python s%&t gets fixed and there is a clear path on what to do to upgrade.