What To Expect From A 650mhz PIII?

[cbcnc]

Hi All,

I have my old computer on which I would like to run EMC.
In it's day it was a good computer; Asus CUBX motherboard, Intel PIII MMX, 650mhz CPU. It has 128 meg of ram (I just bought 512m more), 40 gig drive and 2 USB ports.
Just to see if it would handle it I tried Ububtu and EMC on CD. It couldn't do it. It just sat there putting more out on disc than it could process.
I was able to get Knoppix 5.1 to run (a plain Debian version). But even that was borderline as it crashed when I tried playing a game of cards.
Hence, the reason I bought more ram.
Another thing I want to do is put a wireless network card in it. My drawing programs are on the more capable machine inside the house.
I run a small CNC router in the garage and am currently using TurboCNC.

So is there any hope of using this machine for EMC, G-code generation, light browsing and a few games?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Chris

[samco]

I have run it on a 400mhz pentium II and 600mhz III. (ubuntu dapper).

Have you put the memory into it yet? The ubuntu emc2 livecd needs at least 256mb and others have needed more. (I have had it work with 256 - 128 would just keep spinning and spinning)

sam

[cbcnc]

Sam,

I just purchased the memory tonight online. I'll have a total of 640 megs in the machine.
Yea, Ubuntu just sat there and cranked away with no screen control.
I was encouraged, though, that I was able to get Knoppix to run. It's been a Windows 98 machine all it's life.
I have no idea if you could apply the Real Time patches to Knoppix. The only reason I even tried it was that I read an article about resurrecting an old PC for a music machine or Jukebox using Linux.

Chris

[neilw20]

I know I should be talking LINUX here, but just FYI I am running Mach3 on a 645MHz HP VL400 with 384 Meg ram. Just the mother board. No cards.
Uses XP (my bad language). Uses resident printer port. USB works memory stick.
The point is, if I can run XP/Mach3/Network in a computer that came off the hard rubbish collection you should be able to make the same or less run under LINUX. I limited it to 40IPM(1000mm/min) so that the occasional theft of CPU by XP only causes a pause of 1/2 a second at random times as the queue gets emptied. 4 hour jobs run perfectly. Generally only 10% CPU loading. 25Khz to 4 steppers X,Y,Z and A.
I must get rid of XP one day.

[unterhaus]

xp is a real hog in comparison to a Linux system.

I have a PIII 900MHz machine running EMC, and it's plenty fast. I think a 650MHz should be fast enough. You are probably better off with a PIII in that range than a P4 that is only twice as fast, those early P4's were a failure.

[cbcnc]

I've been messing with a couple of systems recently. The one I mentioned above and another 150 mhz PIII w/ Win 95.
What I have noticed is that once you decrapify the systems they will work at a respectable speed. Modern virus programs that monitor the system are really big hogs of CPU time. Plus any resident programs on standby.
The upgrade wheel has been churning for a while where faster computers will handle fatter programs which then demands an even faster CPU....

Chris

[unterhaus]

spyware and virus real-time monitors are horrible wastes of cpu cycles. I have a batch of computers at work that are being made obsolete because of spysweeper. Put linux on them, and they fly.

The main trick is to almost never log in as administrator/root.

[cbcnc]

The main trick is to almost never log in as administrator/root.

Unterhaus,

That's good to know.
I am totally inexperienced at Linux. I'm at the bottom of the curve looking up.

Thanks,
Chris

[osphoto]

I was running an old Dell, pIII with EMC2 (Ubuntu live install)

I found on parts that had GOBS of Gcode, the system would respond very slow. There would be a significant 1s to 2s delay in video display of the head display along with similar response to user input. At some points, I think this may have allowed my motors to miss a step. GASP!

The sole purpose of this machine was to run the machine. OH, and it was wireless to my network. However, I use sneaker net (USB Thumb drives) to move my g-codes files back in fourth. I gave up on trying to gain access via network to the system. Plus, version control was easier for my novice experience. lol

I've since upgraded the system to a gateway pIV, my daughters old POS! Hated that system with the XP loaded from Gateway. It's finally starting to show some worth

My slow down has been remedied with this new system.

Not sure what the problem was with the dell, don't care what the problem was and the win win of this is, I get extra space in my shop (garage) for more tools/supplies and Salvation Army gets a comp.

Point is, I guess it doesn't matter the size of your computer as long as it does the job at the rate you are comfortable with. Try it and find out!

[samco]

I assume you were using the axis interface.. On large gcode files and slower computers - the UI will get slower and slower as the axis preview pane draws the cutter path. You need to either clear it every so often or turn off the tool path drawing. (back plot)


It will not cause you to loose steps.
sam

[cbcnc]

Well I'm hoping that memory will help the situation. I'll have to experiment as to what will work.
At this point I do have another machine that is running TurboCNC for my router.
On this PIII machine, running EMC is going to be more experimental and educational for now. If it seems that I need to upgrade the machine I can do that in the future.
I'll be happy if I can get Ubuntu/EMC2 running and configured.

Chris

[cbcnc]

Right now the machine is operating under Win 98 SE.
I realize that I will need to make it a dual boot system, in fact it already is in that I can also boot into pure DOS if I want.
I do have another separate 5 gig SCSI drive, not installed.
Would it be a good idea to make that separate drive a Linux drive? Would the SCSI card be alot of overhead on the system?

Chris