Re: LINUX/EMC Help

WAnliker@... wrote:

> From: WAnliker@...
>
> I am getting ready to set up Red Hat 5.2 LINUX and EMC on a p120 computer
> I am need of help on this project.
> What do I need for the computer system? I will have only the LINUX and EMC
> on the system, unless it is recommended that I also have the CAD/CAM on the
> same computer. This computer will be in the shop, with the mill and lathe.
> I have another computer that the CAD/Cam will reside on operating under
> Windows 98. I plan to transfer the programs with floppies if feasible.

Ugh, a big pain. It DOES work, just ugly. What if you want to transfer
something bigger than 1.44 MB, like the latest EMC tar file?

> How big of a hard drive?

1 GB is just about the minimum. I tried to make a 600 MB disk work,
and gave up. I DID want the help libraries on line, they are a big help.

> How much Memory?

I think it will work in 16 MB, but the Xwindows system will be on the
bitter edge of failure. One false move (like starting another program)
and it could go blooey - most likely just thrashing pages to/from disk,
and it could be hours until the next prompt appears. I have 32 MB
on my system, and it performs VERY well. I'm totally happy with
the system, and have no intention of upgrading any computer hardware
on the CNC computer.

> Any other requirements or recommendations?

Yes, get a network card, although that may not be necessary right
at first. Also, get a keyboard cover to keep chips out of the works.

> More questions on LINUX/EMC coming later. Hopefully someone will spell out
> the requirements, and the setup for loading LINUX,

Loading Linux is easy. Sometimes configuring the system for the
various pieces of hardware is a problem. The biggest messes are
VGA cards and Network setup. Some VGA cards just don't work
well under Linux, even though they are supposed to be supported.
I think the problem here is that Linux supports VGA CHIPSETS,
not necessarily specific boards. It seems like even some of the
very popular, brand name boards have 20 different versions,
with different pixel clock generators, RAMDACS and other special
features that vary from what the developers tested their drivers
on.

> and the set up for EMC as
> far as loading onto the computer,

This is fairly easy. Getting the real time patches on and building a new
kernel is a bit tricky, and reserving a chunk of memory for the EMC
shared memory requires some tinkering with system files that people
normally never touch. But, the instructions are there in readme.txt
files and such. But, Fred's make file for EMC is quite clean, and
hasn't given me any trouble in the last 8 versions I've loaded.
Again, the readme files tell you just about all you need to know.

Jon