1. Download a generic Linux installation image.

You can install RTXI on any Linux distribution you like. Keep in mind that the installation scripts we use work for Ubuntu and Debian. Your distribution may name or organize packages differently, so you'll have to account for that on your own. Below are download links for generic Ubuntu GNOME live CDs.

2. Burn the image to a DVD or a USB drive.

You can use whatever DVD burner is available on your operating system. If you want a live USB, you may need additional software. For different operating systems, check out:

Linux

Use Startup Disk Creator

Windows

Use LinuxLive USB Creator.

MacOS

Use UNetbootin.

3. Follow the built-in installer and install the operating system.

Boot into the live CD. When prompted, start the installation process. There are no special considerations to be made at this step. Installers are generally intuitive, but if you have issues, there is a plethora of information online for how to install various Linux distributions. You can find help for installing Ubuntu GNOME here.

When the installation is finished, reboot and log into your system. Be sure to remove the live media, or you might boot back into the live CD.

Note: You may have to edit your BIOS settings to let you boot from media other than your hard drive. When cold-booting your computer, hit the necessary keys, usually F2 or F4, and open the menu. From the menu, look for your boot options. There you can manually override the boot order of devices on your system. If you're booting from a DVD or USB, look for your DVD drive or USB label, respectively, and set them to be first in your boot order. Save you changes and exit your BIOS menu.

4. Clone the RTXI repository using git.

Open a terminal. You can use the applications menu or enter the CTRL+ALT+t shortcut. From the terminal, install the git package. Git is a version control system that can synchronize files over many machines. We use it for developing RTXI source code, which is hosted on GitHub.

$ sudo apt-get install git

Once git is installed, use it to download the RTXI source code and access the source code for v3.0.0.

$ git clone https://github.com/rtxi/rtxi
$ cd rtxi

Tip: The above code will download the source files to wherever you are in your filesystem. If you are within your own user directory, then the source files will only be accessible to your account, not anyone else's. To download the source code in a central location that all users can access, consider:

$ git clone https://github.com/rtxi/rtxi
$ sudo mv rtxi /home/
$ cd /home
$ sudo find rtxi \( -type d -exec chmod u+rwx,g+rwx,o+rx {} \; -o -type f -exec chmod u+rw,g+rw,o+r {} \; \)
$ cd /home/rtxi/

Note: Don't do this if you have a user named "rtxi". Rename the RTXI folder you cloned to something else.

5. Install RTXI and real-time kernel dependencies.

Install the dependencies for RTXI and for installing the real-time (RT) kernel. Assuming you are in the cloned RTXI directory, run:

$ ./scripts/install_dependencies.sh

The script will run for a while, updating your current packages and installing ones needed later.

6. Compile and install the real-time kernel.

From the same directory, run:

$ ./scripts/install_rt_kernel_evl.sh

The script will download the sources for the Linux kernel and the Xenomai EVL library. Before the kernel starts compiling, you will be prompted to edit the kernel config flags. A UI will pop up that looks as follows:

This is the config menu that allows you to edit what you want compiled into the kernel. For optimal performance, edit the following options:

1. Enable EVL

   From the top menu, follow the path:
   --> Processor type and features
   --> EVL real-time core (enable)

   Hit SPACE on all the drivers to have them built into the kernel. A "*" beside the field means that the drivers are set properly. Note that "M" means that the drivers will be built as kernel modules, not built into the kernel itself. "*" is the desired setting here, not "M".

   Hit ESC to get back to the top menu from where you started. Be careful to not exit the configuration menu.

2. Select your processor type.

   From the top menu, follow the path:
   --> Processor type and features
   --> Processor family

   Select the option that corresponds to your processor type. If unsure of what processor you have, open another terminal run:

   $ cat /proc/cpuinfo

   This will display the CPU information needed to correctly select your configuration. Most newish computers with Intel processors usually have an i3, i5, or i7. For them, select Core 2/newer Xeon.

   Note: For 32-bit systems, Enable -fstack-protector buffer overflow detection should also be disabled

3. Disable power management options (Xenomai 3).

   You need to disable some CPU scaling capabilities of the kernel that can otherwise interrupt the real-time framework. Note that this is not needed for evl version of xenomai. From the top menu, follow the path and disable:
   --> Power Management and ACPI options
   --> Suspend to RAM and standby (disable)
   --> Hibernation (disable)
   --> CPU frequency scaling
   --> CPU frequency scaling (disable)
   --> ACPI support
   --> processor (disable)
   --> CPU idle
   --> CPU idle PM support (disable)
   
   

   To disable drivers, move the cursor to the item and hit SPACE until the field the left is blank.

Once all the flags have been set properly, exit to the top menu. Hit ESC again and choose to save the configuration and compile the kernel. Compilation, depending on your system, can take 10 minutes to a few hours. You are free to leave the system. The install_rt_kernel_evl.sh script will compile the kernel and install it automatically. When the script terminates successfully, reboot the system.

From the boot menu, select the "Advanced" option from the GRUB bootloader to open up a submenu that lists all the available kernels. The real-time kernel will be named x.y.z-xenomai-4, where x.y.z is an automatically selected kernel version closes to the one already on the system. Select it and boot the system.

7. Install RTXI.

Install RTXI with the install_rtxi.sh script. Again from the root directory run:

$ ./script/install_rtxi.sh

Give your password when prompted. The script will also prompt you for an installation mode.

evl

Install RTXI so that it uses the real-time EVL kernel.

xenomai

Install RTXI so that it uses the real-time xenomai alchemy skin kernel. This is used for installing rtxi on existing xenomai installation that was used for rtxi 2.4 and older

posix

RTXI will not perform in real-time, but with this option, it can be installed this way on systems without a real-time kernel. This is used for trying out RTXI and testing purposes.

If you want real-time performance, enter "evl" to use Xenomai EVL and wait for RTXI to be installed. If upgrading from a previous version of rtxi and you wish to keep xenomai 3 installation, then enter xenomai. When the installation script terminates, RTXI is ready for you to use. To start RTXI, run:

$ sudo rtxi

8. Install modules.

By default, a clean installation of RTXI only contains system modules. To use custom modules, you will need to download and install them separately. All RTXI modules are available on our GitHub repository. You can view all our modules and instructions for installing them on our modules page.

NOTE: Under the newest version of RTXI 3.0.0 some plugins may still be unavailable. Email rtxi support if there is a plugin you wish to use that is not available yet for RTXI 3.