A live cd just for MM?
 

Hmm i was thinking if anyone know how to create a live cd i havent ever try to make one but it will be good to have a live cd with Emc and other free software installed in the same disk and ofc preconfigured for the MM.
Maybe someone have to give it a try it will be great to have an all in one solution together with MM.

Im not sure that would work that well, as everyones machine will be somewhat different. Metric racks, imperial racks, belt drives, direct drive, geared motors, table sizes, different pcs etc etc etc. There may be a way to do it with a setup in the install, but then you would need to know how to do a linux distro compile.

Sakis,

I do believe it's possible to let ubuntu install to USB and run/boot from USB. I never tried it though. This will allow you to store your MM profile to USB and re-use it, or bring it with you. Just a thought...

Ries

Yes is possible to install any distro in usb disk and boot from there i was thinking if is possible to create a precompiled livecd of emc with the extra cam software and a preconfigured emc profile for the MM standars. my problem is that i have never try to create a livecd for any distro and i think is a bit harder to and software to it also ...
I try to learn more about how to create a livecd i will install emc and add software then i will try to take a squafs image back to use it for the live cd will see the results but im not
very sure about if it will boot at all.

I have done a bit work under this idea but there is still to much work to be done
i used Slax 6.1.2 (kernel 2.6.27.27 and trying 2.6.32) with a new kernel patched with rtai3.3(Kernel have crashes issues) add to it 3d support for Nvidia and Ati cards lots of tools i have some software installed already but i have issues running 3d from Usb disk (low read write speed) .at the current state i create some .lzm (like Meshlab and emc2).
Current size is about 300mb iso image.

A live cd of emc/ubuntu exists. One only needs to save the specific configuration files to disk, and the emc stepconf wizard does a good job of creating those.

http://www.linuxcnc.org/content/view/21/4/lang,en/

The point is to create a suite of software in a live distro,that can be used in anyway to lead you to create a complete work from a simple vector to complex 3d editing. A collection of free software, the all idea is not to pay a single dollar to obtain software and still be totaly legal an alternative aproach to a business solution work station.Linuxcnc.org provide only the emc2 in the live cd with no other software.

I can see the value in this. It'd be a good mechanism to demonstrate that open source can be a complete solution, and give the user a head start on finding serviceable apps.

Sakis,

what software would you suggest to put on such CD?
I have been looking for some good software in teh open source area, but a lot of it is still experimental or in a state that it's really not well usable.

The only thing I can currently think of is may be inkscape and qcad, I believe for both of them there are CAD add-ons (qcad version is paid, but may be a dxf2gcode converter??)

I have done a lot of OS myself, but never looked into this corner. I am capable of creating such a CD/USB Stick, I just need some pointers of software to put on the CD.

Ries

qcad and inkscape would be a good start. I'd also suggest heekscad and heekscnc. Sheetcam has a linux version available, but it's commercial software.

I am still trying to understand routers from idea to MM, this depends on what you want to do with your MM obvious:

2D CAD
In the 2D design world I think Q-CAD is pretty solid, stable and works. It even has a CAM addition (paid) if you want, making it a very nice 2D system if your work is in that area and don't have to many $$$.

Free Form modelers (not tight to a specific market)
In the 3D (free form) design area there is not much in the Open source world. yes we have brl-cad, blender and a couple of other (see below), but honestly, they are standing in a very dark shadow compared to Rino, S, Pro/E, pro/Desktop, Catia and some other lesser known 3D modelers. Rino is the cheapest, SW and Pro/E are pretty much competitive in price. SW and Pro/E are parametric modelers (I like these...).

Cabinet Making:
For cabinet makers there are some really nice windows tools, nothing I have found so far in Linux and/or open source.

Some others I found are:
http://www.collabcad.com/
http://openscad.org/
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...itle=Main_Page
http://varkon.sourceforge.net/

One list link before I forgot: http://www.opennovation.org/

Ries

You are drifting into the area of this part of the forum. You are right . . . . . . there are no clear favourites in open source CAD/CAM. However, I think you find a couple of big brand CAD/CAM suppliers who will give you demo versions for a "live cd", enticing users to upgrade to "paid".