Raspberry Pi benefits?

[wshiwsbrding]

I tried to figure this out by browsing a few threads but just didnt get what I was looking for so heres my questions:

If I upgrade to a v3 (I have a v2), what are the benefits of the raspberry pi option? Just that you can connect via network or wifi? Or does it mean you can print, and not worry about my computer going to sleep?

By using the rpi option, does that mean I cant connect and print via MatterControl anymore? I happen to like using MatterControl so worried about that.

Thanks All!

[Xenocrates]

I tried to figure this out by browsing a few threads but just didnt get what I was looking for so heres my questions:

If I upgrade to a v3 (I have a v2), what are the benefits of the raspberry pi option? Just that you can connect via network or wifi? Or does it mean you can print, and not worry about my computer going to sleep?

By using the rpi option, does that mean I cant connect and print via MatterControl anymore? I happen to like using MatterControl so worried about that.

Thanks All!

Benefits of Rpi:
Can have a camera to timelapse/stream the build
No worries about computer going to sleep
Network accesible
Rpi presumably will not have sudden load changes (Like if you hit render while you're in the middle of a print and it stops in it's tracks for a few moments while it catches up to Mattercontrol)

While the RPi is connected, you cannot print via matter control, as it uses the USB port. However, there are options here. Firstly, a USB switch that is between the Rpi and the Rambo with a port for the computer. These are ~12$. Alternatively, you could slice using matter control and load it to the Rpi, or manually disconnect the Rpi when you want to use mattercontrol.

[wshiwsbrding]

ah ha! That all sounds pretty appealing!

Slice using MatterControl then load to the Rpi is different than just printing via MatterControl the usual way? Could you tell me what you mean on that?

Thank you for your help on this!

[DerStig]

KISSlicer is a great slicer add Octopi and you have a great solution

[Jimustanguitar]

Astroprint is an option as well. It's based on Octoprint, but has some of its own pros and cons. Cloud slicing is one of the perks, although I've never invested the time to tune it in well. It's also easier to hit your printer through the web (i.e. not from your home network).

[timskloss]

We are very happy with our Ocotoprint implementation using a RBPi 3B. Although I still can't get the on-board WiFi to connect to my home network, it works perfectly well with an ethernet cable to my wireless router.

Having the ability to monitor using a web browser elsewhere in the house is great. I can watch the Packers lose and my prints peel off the bed without having to get up!

If you set up port forwarding you can watch and even control your printer from anywhere in the world. JUST MAKE SURE YOU SET UP ACCESS CONTROLS so strangers can't set your hot end to 600 C.

My daughter can submit and start her print jobs from her dorm room over 150 miles away. She just texts me to prep the filament and bed, and I watch the first layer before leaving it to finish.

/Tim

[Xenocrates]

ah ha! That all sounds pretty appealing!

Slice using MatterControl then load to the Rpi is different than just printing via MatterControl the usual way? Could you tell me what you mean on that?

Thank you for your help on this!

It's exporting the G code and uploading the file to the Rpi, which then stores it permanently (Or at least until you delete it), to then send to the Rambo. You could honestly use any slicer for this purpose, or even the built in one on the Rpi.

[mhackney]

You can use OctoPrint / AstroPrint on your V2 and get the benefits of that. I would recommend taking that route first and doing the upgrades incrementally. I prefer OctoPrint because it is "more direct" and does not do stuff behind the covers that I want control of. It is a bit more mature too. Both work.

[626Pilot]

OctoPrint is really good, and the skin it automatically loads for cell phones/tablets (TouchUI) is excellent. You can also hook it up to an 800x480 touchscreen, link in sig. Don't have an enclosure for that yet, but it's coming up on my list of things to do.

[wshiwsbrding]

I finally got a chance (Thanksgiving and all) to look at Octoprint. Wow it looks awesome. Definitely calms my fears of not being able to use MatterControl exactly how I was used to if I were to upgrade to a v3 with Rpi. Which I plan to.

[mhackney]

Or you could upgrade to a V3 without OctoPrint or upgrade to OctoPrint without a V3 upgrade and keep it simple and stepwise. I have commented to folks over and over and over again, don't change too many things at once. The HE280 hot end and auto calibration has a learning curve, OctoPrint has its own learning curve. Neither of these are "trivial". Put them together and a relatively inexperienced user would have no ability to diagnose the inevitable issues that pop up when making change.

Keep in mind:

Once OctoPrint is installed, it connects to your RAMBo with the USB cord. So, if you want to do a firmware upgrade - say like installing the new V3 firmware - you have to open the hatch, disconnect the OctoPrint, connect a USB cable to your computer, upload firmware and then reverse all that.

If you connect OctoPrint, you will not be able to use Matter Control as your control application. You could still use it to slice and save your gcode files to print (or use any other slicer in the same way).

It's the little things like this that cause friction and most people don't expect or even anticipate. When I recommend doing things sequentially, I really mean it.

My assertion is you will get more bang for the buck with OctoPrint now. There are still developments going on for the V3 auto calibration so why introduce all of that uncertainty? If printing over Wifi is more important than the learning curve you've already surmounted with MC, then go for it. If having a web cam is important, then go for it. If having your computer sleeping and killing a print, then GO for it. Erratic USB streaming affects print quality. In the early days, all of my host computers had some form of USB hiccups (short pauses, etc) on some of the more complex parts I make. OctoPrint - event though it is communicating over USB too - eliminates that because 1) it is a dedicated connection and 2) the processor is more or less dedicated to the printing task (no interruptions from network activity to get emails, refreshing a display, servicing auto backup of files or the 1000s of other things desktop operating systems have to do).

[HComet]

Just a note that you can install the Arduino development environment on the Raspberry Pi and use it to upload new firmware to your printer. You will also need something like VNC installed so you can remotely access the Pi's desktop and the Arduino development environment.

I always make sure I have ssh, vnc and webmin installed so I can remotely manage/access my Pi's.

[mhackney]

That's interesting, hadn't thought of that. Might be an option but my experience with VNC is you need to be careful not to leave it running in the background while printing (unless it has changed significantly in the last few years). Otherwise it can chew up processor and cause problems. What's your experience with it on the Pi?

Once you have it installed, how do you get the firmware source up to the Pi?

[HComet]

I actually run quite a bit of stuff on my OctoPrint Pi including pigpiod. I have mine set up with OctoPrint pluggins that leverage pigpiod to control some relays so I can turn my printer and some lighting on and off remotely. It also auto-powers off the printer 10 mins after a print completes. I've found that using the Pi camera and MJPG-Streamer are the biggest CPU pigs with pigpiod next. Never really noticed VNC causing a problem.

I used to have a Pi 2 and just switched to a Pi 3. I did turn the camera off to save CPU during prints with the Pi 2. I'd also stay away from using VNC while printing more because of bandwidth.

I use a combination of shared folders via SMB, sftp and using Chrome on the Pi to get things to the Pi. Generally for printing I have OctoPrint monitoring a shared folder which I can drag & drop gcode files to from my laptop. Slic3r will also upload directly to OctoPrint if you have it configured.

[mhackney]

Thanks, yeah my experience was on a Pi 2 with VNC also. The 3 is much faster. I might just give this approach a shot, thanks.

[geneb]

Windows users can install xrdp on the Pi and use the Remote Desktop Client that's included with Windows. Works great.

g.

[mhackney]

What's a "Windows user" Gene?

[geneb]

It's an operating system built by a company that can trust their customers with a multi-button mouse.

g.

[mhackney]

Is that the one with the blue screen?

[Xenocrates]

Is that the one with the blue screen?

It's only blue if you can't get past the login screen. Perhaps try hitting enter rather than sliding your finger across the screem?

[zxaber]

That's interesting, hadn't thought of that. Might be an option but my experience with VNC is you need to be careful not to leave it running in the background while printing (unless it has changed significantly in the last few years). Otherwise it can chew up processor and cause problems. What's your experience with it on the Pi?

Once you have it installed, how do you get the firmware source up to the Pi?

I actually used the Pi to install firmware when I built my printer a few weeks ago. The x11vnc program, which I used for the VNC server, by default only accepts a single connection and then quits when you close it. So if you have performance (or security) concerns, you can just run x11vnc from an SSH connection and then connect with your preferred VNC flavor.

That being said, I don't believe the OctoPi prebuilt image has a desktop environment installed, so you'd have to set one up. It's not terribly difficult, but does require command-line use (which isn't necessary to just get OctoPi prebuilt working).

Once you have a VNC connection open and the Arduino dev environment installed, the program itself is identical to other OS versions. I was able to follow the Youtube guide on firmware uploading.

I'm told that MatterControl can be installed on a Pi, but I had a heck of a time getting dependencies (mono-complete, specifically) to install and I'm not quite sure if it's true.

[JFettig]

If you're running Repetier firmware, I'd highly recommend Repetier server. I've been running it for at least a year now on my RADDS, its seamless integration, you can edit the eeprom as well as flash it right from the pi. It does appear that they've changed it to add a "Pro" version which has the flashing feature. They recently came out with a raspberry pi image that I'm running.

I did have problems with any USB connection(from pc, pi) on the RAMBO board that came with the V2. I'm not sure if they're still running that but I think that board has a usb controller problem as many have been running into USB problems.