Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: EMC Problem and Question

Dennis,

This is not a production machine, it is a machine used in prototyping and the reason for upgrading was to put a new computer on line. The old one was on it's last leg and since I was putting a new computer on line, I thought I would upgrade the software to the latest releases.

I'm using Paul Corner's BDI-4 EMC Linux distribution, that I believe is Debian based and according to Sherlines web site ver 4.38 is the latest stable version. For the most part it works great.

I do have an Ethernet card in the machine, and I agree that would be a great way to handle this problem, and plan to do that in the future. Until I find time to run the cat 5 cable and set the machine up on the network I am transferring files via the USB port.

I think you may have hit on the problem with the unmount command. I have not been doing that when I remove the USB drive. That is probably the problem and I with check it out on Monday when I am back at work.

Any way to get long file names?

Thanks for the advice, will let you know how it goes,

Victor A.

----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Schmitz
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 12:01 AM
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: EMC Problem and Question


My first comment is that I'm confused about why you would upgrade a
production machine like that. That's just asking for trouble. And what
is Debian 4.38? According to http://debian.org, the latest release of
Debian Linux is 3.1.

Also, EMC1 is not supported on the Linux 2.6 kernel, but only on the
2.4 kernel. <http://www.linuxcnc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=4&lang=en>
That may be the issue here. To check what kernel is in your distro,
use the "uname -a" command. It may be that Debian distributes
2.4.xxxxx kernels somewhere in its repositories and this would fix you
up.

I also think you'd be better off installing an Ethernet card in the
machine and communicating with FTP (or SAMBA if you must) rather than
a USB card.

The problem may also be that your Debian system is indeed getting the
file system wrong for the USB drive. Make sure FAT32 is supported in
your installation.

Do not reformat the USB stick to NTFS -- Linux only has limited
support for that. The stick should be formated with FAT32 for maximum
portability between Linux and Windows.

The "eject" function you're looking for is the "umount" command.
Always umount the thumb drive before pulling it out or you risk
corruption.

Dennis

On 9/14/06, Jon Elson <elson@...> wrote:
> Victor A. Estes wrote:
>
> >Hi All,
> >
> > Hoping someone can help me with a few issues with EMC. I recently
> upgraded my system from running the old ver 2.xx (Redhat) with Sherlines GUI
> to the new Debian ver 4.38 and Sherlines GUI.
> >
> >1st issue: The old EMC recognized long files names, at least it did on my
> system, the new Debian 4.38 ver does not seem to. Unfortunately all of my
> g-code program files have long descriptive file names, I have a short
> memory. The new EMC recognizes the files but has truncated the files names
> into short file names, like the old MS DOS. Is there a way to get the
> Debian ver 4.38 to use long file names?
> >
> >
> >
> Huuuuh? The only possible way I can think of this happening is that the
> old files are on a drive with
> a MicroSoft file system. (More follows.)
>
> >2nd issue: The new Debian ver 4.38 supports USB, and I have been using it
> to transfer files from my Windows system to my EMC System so I can make
> parts on the mill. The problem is when I plug the USB drive into the
> machine I can access the drive and transfer the files, but if I need to
> remove the USB drive, go back to my Windows computer and make changes, do a
> proper eject on my Windows computer with the USB drive, then plug it back
> into the EMC machine, I cannot get it to recognize the files on the USB
> drive a second time in the same session. I then have to reboot the EMC
> machine, so that the system will read the USB drive and I can transfer the
> file or files.
> >
> >Is there a eject sequence on the Linux system for USB drives like on
> Windows? Anybody have this problem or know how I can correct it and not
> have to reboot each time.
> >
> >
> >
> Ah, now it becomes clear. Your Debian system is apparently
> mis-recognizing the file system on the USB drive,
> that's why the file names are getting trashed. You need to learn more
> about the way Linux handles removable
> drives and foreign file systems. The mount command allows you to force
> the file system type in cases where
> related file systems are partially intercompatible. You can do this
> with the -t option on mount.
> It may be that you need to reformat the USB drive to, say, the ntfs file
> system to make long file names
> more transparent.
>
> >One last question, Any thoughts on EMC2, is it better or any differeant
> than EMC1?
> >
> >
> >
> EMC2 is vastly more flexible, and allows infinite mixing and matching of
> I/O, axis drives and human
> interface devices. It has become a bit more complicated and finicky due
> to this, and the documentation
> is still catching up. But, these are true improvements, I assure you.
>
> Also, EMC2 has fixed several long-standing bugs in EMC1, and there have
> been additional fixes coming
> along steadily, in the area of better motion planning and lookahead,
> smooth profiling, higher-speed
> machining, etc.
>
> Jon




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