EMC2 under VMWare?

[jim_stoll]

Will EMC2 run under VMWare on Windows, does anyone know?

I don't necessarily have to actually drive a machine with it, but for the purpose of toolpath simulation, program testing, etc, it'd be nice to be able to do this on my Windows box (where I have my CAD/CAM package...)

Thanks!

[Seb]

I think it should. I've run it in Qemu under Linux (Qemu is another virtual machine similar to VMWare). I did not run any realtime code, but the Axis GUI in simulation mode worked fine for previewing the machine motions.

[jim_stoll]

Hot Diggety Dog!!

Downloaded the free VMWare server and set that up (on my Windows box). Downloaded the Ubuntu/EMC ISO file and installed that in the virtual machine.

Am now running EMC2 in the VM, and am able to do the toolpath simulation, enter/test gcode, etc.

This is very cool - I can now do my Windows-based CAD/CAM and NC generation, and then test them out in EMC all on the same machine! (In fact, I have a decent-sized NC program running in EMC right now, under Linux, as I type this message in my Windows web browser... :-)

This was very straightforward to do, so I'd definitely recommend giving it a try!!

Jim

[AdamM]

The only problem with VMware is that only hardware usable on the host machine is usable on the virtual machine. Also it only supports standard computer hardware nothing like the fancy I/O cards that would be needed for a cnc retrofit with EMC.


If you want to use windows and linux on the same machine and still have full functionality I suggest Dual-booting. Generally use install windows first then make a drive partition or install a 2nd HD, reboot with linux install cd and install on the empty partition or drive. You will then have the option of choosing your operating system at startup.

What I did was to install linux only then VMware in linux, so Windows was my virtual machine. I run mastercam and solidworks from it without problems. It then gives me fully hardware functionality within linux where you need it.



AdamM

[jrcrane]

Jim,

I too was wandering if I could run EMC on VMW and about 2 months ago I gave it a try and was successful on the first try. Very easy and straight forward to setup and test.

Reg

[jim_stoll]

AdamM - luckily, I'm not trying to actually drive my hardware from the VMWare instance - I just wanted to have a co-habitant Linux environment that I could simulate my gcode on with EMC. I do my CAD/CAM steps on Windows (Using Dolphin Partmaster), then transfer the gcode files to my Linux box to do the actual driving w/ EMC. Its a bit of an iterative process, and EMC sometimes complains about something that Dolphin produces, or doesn't do what I expected (user error), so I'm just trying to avoid the hassle of having to physically transfer files, switch between machines, etc on each iteration. I can do my CAD/CAM stuff, alt-tab to my Ubuntu VMWare session, open and simulate the file in EMC, see what happens, alt-tab back to Dolphin, make a change, go back to EMC and test it out, etc. Then, when its all set, I copy it to my actual Linux box, crank up EMC and there are (hopefully!) no surprises! :-) Plus, w/ Dolphin and VMWare on my laptop, I can play with stuff wherever I'm at, whenever I have a few free minutes.

If I didn't have a dedicated machine for my cnc setup though, you're right, I'd have to setup a dual-boot system. I've had no luck driving my CNC setup reliably from windows, thus the switch to EMC on Linux. (Which has worked flawlessly!!)

[jim_stoll]

jrcrane - isn't technology wonderful?!? :-) The very fact that I, a small-time hobbiest, can have a CNC setup in my basement, can do my design in one operating system, can simulate it in another OS on the same machine, can wirelessly transfer files to my dedicated CNC computer, can actually cut metal as a result, etc is a little mind-boggling!! :-) This is way-cool stuff!!!!!

[stratcat50]

It *MIGHT* work slowly in simulation mode. Never as a real controller though.
EMC requires the RT kernel and wouldn't get near enough of the CPU.
Possibly run from the live CD and open files from your HD and save your ini files there too. Might have to have a FAT32 partition for that. That's what I was going to do when I started with EMC. After playing with it less than 6 hours,
there was one less windows machine in the world. I clicked "Install". The CNC machine plays well with our windows network for file xfer. It's just an IBM Celeron 800 with 256MB. You should be able to find one in the $50 range at a local PC shop or yard sale.
HTH, Emory

[flyon]

I tried last night to run EMC2 in VMware and it runs fine. But when I when to "simulation" the program it was very slow. It was probably trying to send the control signals to the port, as it should be doing.

Is there a way to simulation a run but not to send the signals to the port? Or is the problem the RT kernel, and thus there is no way for it get enough cpu time?

EMC2 runs fine as a real controller for my cnc machine. I just wanted to simulation in VMware on my windows machine first.

[acondit]

Flyon,

There is a sim version of emc2 that sends signals to the speaker instead of the parallel port.

Alan

[flyon]

Thanks Acondit,
I used one of the sim configs and now it works fine under VMware when trying to 'run' any GCode.