I was talking to a buddy about Mach 3 and how it takes pretty much all Windows XP will handle (so I've been told). He's a programmer that uses Linux for his work, and he said I should check around to see if anybody is successfully using Linux to run Mach 3... so... anybody doing that?

Chris

When I run Mach3 on a 1Ghz PC, task manager shows about 25% CPU usage.

I run my lathe and mill with Via Pico mobos and CPU is under 20% all the time.

Mach will not run under Linux.

Hood

Yeah, my PC doesn't struggle with Mach 3 either. Where I'm told the "just barely works" part is windows it's self. I'f had a couple failures with it just by pushing the Tab button to get rid of the jog window. It's also stopped on me one other time when I bumped the keyboard. I'm not complaining, just like to have it running the best it can.

My friend says anything will run under Linux, that's the point of Linux... you just have to have Linux set up correctly. I'm just asking around to see if anybody has jumped in to it. Maybe I can get him to! If so, I'll definitly post it here.

Thanks!
Chris

Only Linux one is EMC2 its free and real time, but to program stuff in it ie: tool change/probe. is much more involved than mach.
http://www.linuxcnc.org/
check it out.
maybe able to run it in xp emulation but not sure if it would be safe.

Well I am sure there will be a lot of people wanting to use Mach with Linux so if he can do it they will be happy. Dont know that much about it myself but Brian and Art I am sure have both said it is not possible as it is a windows programme.

Doing things like changing screens can cause problems when code is running so best not to do that, Rev 4 will be a different beast all together and rotating the toolpath when code is running wont even bother things

Hood

Yes, if I change screens, my machine will stop for a second or two. But my screens are very graphics intensive. And my PC is slow. But, it's running a g-code file right now that has 170,000 lines of code.

The only way I can see to get Mach3 to work in Linux is by using Wine or Crossover. I just installed Mach3 in Wine, but when I went to start the program it locked up and Crossover doesn't list Mach3 in its supported apps.

I suspect it won't work, but I could be wrong.

Well, I'm not one to get technical just for the sake of getting technical, so for now, I'll put this on the back burner and turn the burner off. There is a Mach 3 rev. 4 on it's way? I can wait for that. For now I'm just careful to not do anything with the 'puter while a job is running.

Well I can tell you I am doing some testing on Rev4 and you can run code and whirl and spin the toolpath and it doesnt hinder the code running at all
Hood