Probe Basic .deb Install

Probe Basic .deb Installation Guide for use with Debian Bookworm and LinuxCNC version 2.9 or Later

Important Requirements

  • Probe Basic is currently designed for 1920x1080 screen sizes only!

  • Probe Basic Install by apt is for amd64 only currently!

  • Probe Basic requires graphics hardware that supports OpenGL 3.2 and OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) 1.50 or later

  • Probe Basic is tested on xfce4, during install of Debian 12 ISO:

  • DO NOT enter a Root password during installation, leave blank and skip this page.

During installation, this screen below will appear, be sure to uncheck gnome and check xfce as pictured below. No other changes on this page are needed.

_images/xfce_check_doc.png

Download the Linux Debian 12 Bookworm ISO Image File

Download from: https://www.debian.org/download

Select the Linux Debian 12 Bookworm Netinst CD ISO from the above link. You will need to make a bootable DVD or USB thumb drive depending on how you plan to install. The software below is extremely easy and works flawlessly with Linux Debian OS images:

https://www.balena.io/etcher/?ref=etcher_update

We recommend using a 2-4GB USB drive for quicker flashing.

Installation Steps

  1. Create your flash stick for LinuxCNC and proceed to install and boot the system. (Note: It is advised to have an ethernet cable internet connection during install).

  2. Select the graphical installation option.

  3. Follow the steps on screen to complete installation.

  4. When you reach the Linux Desktop Selection Page, uncheck the GNOME option and check the XFCE4 option.

  5. After installation, open the main terminal and run the following commands:

    sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Installing Probe Basic

Requirements:

  • Debian 12 Bookworm

  • Python 3.11

  • LinuxCNC 2.9 or higher

  • xfce4 desktop environment

  • OpenGL 1.50 or Later graphics support

  • QtPyVCP

  • hiyapyco

If you haven’t installed LinuxCNC, use the following command:

sudo apt install linuxcnc-uspace linuxcnc-uspace-dev mesaflash

After installation, open LinuxCNC and start the axis sim briefly to ensure successful installation.

Download the following files:

https://repository.qtpyvcp.com/repo/probe-basic-dev/python3-probe-basic_0.6.0-8.dev_all.deb

https://repository.qtpyvcp.com/repo/qtpyvcp-dev/python3-qtpyvcp_4.1.2-56.dev_all.deb

https://repository.qtpyvcp.com/repo/hiyapyco/python3-hiyapyco_0.5.1-1_all.deb

Installation Commands

Navigate to the download directory, right-click, and select “Open Terminal Here”. Run the following commands:

sudo apt install debhelper-compat dh-python python3-setuptools python3-yaml python3-pyqt5.qtmultimedia python3-pyqt5.qtquick qml-module-qtquick-controls libqt5multimedia5-plugins python3-dev python3-docopt python3-qtpy python3-pyudev python3-psutil python3-markupsafe python3-vtk9 python3-pyqtgraph python3-simpleeval python3-jinja2 python3-deepdiff python3-sqlalchemy qttools5-dev-tools python3-serial

sudo dpkg -i python3-hiyapyco_0.5.1-1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i python3-qtpyvcp_4.1.2-56.dev_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i python3-probe-basic_0.6.0-8.dev_all.deb

You should now be able to launch the Probe Basic sim from within the LinuxCNC applications dropdown menu.

Note: When updating/installing the latest .deb files, the Probe Basic sim configuration files will be overwritten. It is strongly recommended to create your machine configuration files with unique names to avoid having them overwritten during updates.

To build your own machine configuration, please follow the Machine Config section of the docs.

Uninstallation

To uninstall, enter the following commands in the main terminal:

sudo dpkg -P python3-probe-basic
sudo dpkg -P python3-hiyapyco
sudo dpkg -P python3-qtpyvcp