[North Country]

Hi Chris Albertson
Are there any idiot proof tutorials out there for running LinuxCNC on new equipment? I will not consider any parallel port configurations.
I am a machinist and not a programer or hardcore computer tech.
Thanks

[chrisalbertson]

You have to know a little about computers or else how are yu going to create the G-code files.

There is a fork of LinuxCNC that is better if you want to run of all kinds of different hardware but doing that is going requires computer skills and programming.

If you want to run on a modern PC and need better performance than you can get with a parallel power then the tested method is to buy an FPGA card from Mesa.
These cards can connect to the PCIe bus slot in the PC or some of them use Ethernet. PCIe is easier and is what most people use.

The Mesa card looks like just a simple but expensive parallel port card. But no. Some of the controller code runs on the card, not on the PC.

As for how to set it up. Yu download and burn a CD. Then boot the CD. You can then click "install" after the CD boots. After that there is a configuration wizard that you can run that sets it up for you. This works if your hardware is a "normal" milling machine. Do't expect the wizard to work if you have a 7DOF robot arm with a spot welder on the end.

Instructions here:
Getting LinuxCNC