Re: EMC & RT Linux

Greg Nuspel wrote:

> From: Greg Nuspel <nuspelg@...>
>
> I have an old 486sx laptop on which I would like to run control software
> for my project if possible. I was wondering if Real Time Linux along
> with EMC is the answer?

EMC does not coexist too well with 486's. They have a different memory
mapping environment than Pentium-class CPUs. One guy claimed to have
made it work, but with great difficulty.

> I am running 4 axis x,y and u,v on a hot wire foam cutter. The unit is
> for cutting foam wings for radio control airplanes. The software has to
> create a spline through the airfoil coordinates. I have a copy of an
> algorithm for this purpose. I had already set up boards for this project
> using the design Hans Wedermeyer created. I was going to use CNCPro but
> it doesn't support macros in which a spline algorithm could run.

EMC has not been run with that combination of axes, to my knowledge.
Fred Proctor is working on generalizing the axes so you can make any
combination. I don't think that is finished, yet. It is supposed to be
available within the next month or two.

> Presently there is some software out there for this purpose but it has
> been written for Windows 9x using an external clock to maintain a form
> of real time control. My problem is my laptop is old has no CD-ROM so
> loading Windows 95 onto a 486sx 25mhz is not very feasible.

I don't think the performance of this system is going to be acceptable.
Most of us are using 100 MHz Pentium-class CPUs, and 16 to 64 MB
of memory. The older versions worked directly through Xwindows,
the newer versions are heavily based on the script language TK/TCL,
which will require even more resources.

Jon