Linux, gSender and MK2

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1

A lightweight version of Linux can bring an old computer back to life. I have an old (10 plus years) Toshiba we do not use anymore so I decided to try it to run gcode sender.

I actually used Fedora 35 Workstation as I had it downloaded already. It comes with gnome desktop which I do not like, so I installed XFCE, much easier on the old laptop.

Downloaded and installed gSender for Fedora (RPM).

Downloaded Arduino IDE and installed it. You need to do this to get the drivers. In windows as well as linux. (Maybe the drivers can be installed standalone, Sienci could let us know?)

Then it would NOT connect. Google told me I needed write permission on the COM port. CHMOD in the terminal allowed connection and I could jog the machine. But it kept disconnecting. More googling said to give R/Wr permission for your user to the group ‘dialout’ to make permissions persistent. Added user to dialout group and now I can connect, auto connect on startup and stay connected.

I have a strange issue whereby if I jog all the way left it disconnects. That will be another post.

Hopefully if someone is trying to use Linux this info will help! Good use for an otherwise obsolete computer.

Cheers.

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2

This is what I did to get gsender working on linux. I’m using Debian based Netrunner.

  1. Download and install Arduino appimage .
    https://support.arduino.cc/hc/en-us/articles/360019833020-Download-and-install-Arduino-IDE
  2. Reboot your computer.
  3. Open file manager and look in /dev/serial/by-id for a file with the word Arduino in it.
  4. Open a terminal window in this directiory /dev/serial/by-id
  5. In the terminal window, type the following to give your user ownership of this file.
    sudo chown yourusername filenamewithArduino
  6. logoff and log back in or reboot.
    Once I did this the machine came alive, but would disconnect. I changed to another usb port, put my computer in airplane mode (disabling wifi) and rebooted. No more disconnects.
    Hope this helps fellow linux users!
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3

My 18 year old laptop finally died, got this one for free from a friend:

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I had tried a few disrtos (5) and settled on Linux Lite. Easy on resources, easy to install, and simple configuration. All GUI for wifi, user groups, make files executable, open as Root…

Very friendly for users new to linux. Uses simple XFCE desktop.

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Awesome information here. Once I installed the Arduino drivers and restarted gsender, all is well.
I am using MINT (5.4.0-187-generic #207-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jun 10 08:16:10 UTC 2024 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux) and it is working well. On to my first project…