Not being used to linux (never seen it before) it took me a while to find the linuxcncfiles and select lathe from the plethora of configurations , but I have it now with a desktop Icon.
I think you may have got a sim working. If you have that lets you play about and use the gui but won't drive a machine.

If you are going to use a P/port the you need to use the stepconf wizard to get started http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.8/html/config/stepconf.html