Before to set EMC2 up or during the setup process, according to the latest version of EMC-2 under Ubuntu 8.04, it is a must to test the computer we are using by running a latency test. In this way we can get the requested value to be enterd in the latency test result value used by the software to set properly the steps generation.
Usually, according to the information provided by the programmers, a valid jitter level should be minor of 15-20.000, easily obtained with a computer of the last decade. Old computers can present values over 100.000, in this case, probably, we have to look for another pc. In very poor word the latency of a computer is the time needed by the computer itself to pass from a job to another. This matter is very important in a CNC environment to prevent step lost.
During the test try to use the pc. As told before, the latency test has been included in the setup process, but if you are using a previous version of EMC2, under linux rt 6.06 for instance, open the linux terminal and simply type: latency-test. Recent versions have a voice in the main EMC2 menu.
This is the result of a latency test on a not so fast, not last generation computer. The latency test result must be reported during the EMC2 step configuration setup