Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?  

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

Yes the printer uses a USB stick, and when you transfer it to the printer your essentially copying it to the USB stick.

There is an Ethernet connection which would be fast, or you can just put your files directly on the USB stick from your computer. 

The wifi is slow, bi6t we're talking like a minute or so depending on the job to transfer the file.  I have had a few jobs take 4 or 5 minutes but they were large fines.

Usually I start preheating the printer, which takes 5 minutes or so  while I wait for the file to upload. 

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

I'm using Ethernet on all my Mk4, XL. Mk3.5, and Minis, and transfer speeds are perfectly fine after the changes Prusa made since the initial release of the Mk4 and XL. 

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

I currently have an MK4 and use WiFi, when using BGCODE I don't think the transfer speed is that slow, but it does take a while if using the old GCODE.  I'll probably order an MK4S upgrade before the end of the month.  I may wait until the High Flow nozzles are in stock to maximize on the shipping cost.

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

The wifi is slow.  But it doesn't matter in the end. Since the Gcode is streamed, the printer starts to heat up immediately after starting. You do not notice that the upload is still running.

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

OK, I guess your right.  I just timed a 14.1 MB BGCODE file and it took 58 seconds to upload.  But like you said it doesn't really matter.  An for me it is a lot faster then making two trips to the shop to put the file on the USB stick.

Anyway, Neal I don't think that the upload speed is anything to get hung up on. 

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

Thanks for the feedback and perspective.   I was wondering if this was going to irritate me as a poor design choice that got in my way and made me wait...
But now that you all have shared that the GCODE is streamed while a several minute warmup makes you wait anyway, good point, it is not going to
be noticed, nor will it slow the start of printing.

Thanks,

Neal

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

Transfer speed and reliability is effected by the quality and type of USB drive.   I was having many problems  with file transfers.   I was using a good quality USB3 after my inition USB2 drive failed.  The MK4 does not have USB3 support code, but others had stated USB3 was not a problem.  After a lot of diagnosis,  I switched back to a good quality USB2 drive and all the problems with file transfer went away. 

As stated file transfer is not supper fast, but fast enough to not be a problem for me.      

The other part of the Wifi file transfer that is overlooked is uploading files while the printer is printing.   You can load multiple jobs ahead.   It doesn't matter if it takes a few extra seconds or minutes when loading files while the printer is running.    You are ahead in the end. 

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

Since the MK4 release a lot has changed. The Wifi-speed indeed is pretty slow as esp32 uart is being used with an ethernet emulation. The LAN-speed however is pretty good and I highly recommend using it instead (and make sure to unplug the wifi module). Also with the introduction of binary gcodes, transfer rates also have improved a lot since the MK4 release. The MK4s won't have any further hw-related network speed improvements, but there are some upcoming network patches/improvements that are currently being worked on.

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

Posted by: @bkerler

(and make sure to unplug the wifi module)

Does that realy make a difference?

I use LAN (Wifi deaktivated but the module still installed) and even that is not very fast.
Fast enough, yes, but still much slower than for example the Raspberrys installed in my MK3S, although that work by Wifi.

By the way, as fare as I understand the upgrade from MK4 to MK4S includes a new Wifi module, so I could imagine that Wifi may be faster.

Stefan

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

I was hoping to see an answer from someone who's used the MK4S.

As far as I'm aware there was nothing that could be done about the transfer speeds on the MK4... nothing they could address in software/firmware anyway. While BGCODE helps, it doesn't resolve the root problem. I'd like to just be able to transfer files over wifi, but the time matters for me. Interference is unpredictable where I'm at, and starting the print before the whole file has been transferred isn't helpful. So I've had to transfer files the old way... USB stick since running an ethernet cable isn't possible with my setup. 

They aren't listing faster WiFi transfers in the marketing... and if it was faster, you'd think they'd advertise *every* improvement. So I went looking for information. In the assembly instructions for the MK4S there's a photo of the new module and it's a bit too fuzzy for me to be 100% sure, but it looks like it's ESP-WROOM-02D. So I looked up the specs and compared them to the wifi module for the MK4 and it looks like the new one is mostly identical... with a slightly lower power output than the one that came with the MK4. With no power consumption differences (meaning it's not more efficient), the one rating for PA output power at 72.2 Mbps was 13 compared to the same metric for the ESP-01S on the MK4 which is rated at 15.5. Roughly 19% less powerful. This is my first time looking at this kind of datasheet though so take my interpretation with a grain of salt. It makes me wonder why they would include it in the upgrade kit if it's essentially the same, but less powerful. 

RE:

It is not due to the WiFi module.
In contrast to Klipper or a Raspberry running Linux, the MK4 has a processor that is too weak.
Since everything runs directly in the processor, it does not need this power and would only require more power on a permanent basis.

If you use Prusa connect, the Gcodec is first streamed to the cloud and then to your printer. Even if there are interruptions, the stream continues afterwards.
If the interruptions in your WiFi are so long that printing cannot continue, your network is more likely the problem.

The connection for the hacker board and the accerolomter is available on the new module. That is why it is being replaced.

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

I have no problem with the transfer speeds for my MK4.  However, I use Octoprint and won't touch the Prusa stuff.  I intend to use Octoprint with the MK4->MK4S upgrade.  Same Octoprint I used with the MK3/S.

I put a 9" touchscreen on my Octoprint box so I can control the printer via Octoprint.  Works great.

RE:

Now that I upgraded my MK4 to MK4S i can confirm that the tranfer speeds are much faster. It may not be perfect, but its faster than it was, and it will basically never bother you. When I am in the office I upload my gcode to the machine and by the time I go check it out in the garage, everything is allready moving.

RE:

There is a hw bug in the firmware which leads to half-duplex mode instead of duplex mode on the ethernet interface. I wrote a PR to fix it and it is being tested currently by Prusa. I assume this will improve especially large gcode transfers.

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

Sorry meant sw bug related to hw registers 🙂

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

Can you clarify how you're transferring files? From the slicer, Prusa Link, or Prusa Connect? 

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

I'm transferring my files via Wifi straight from Prusaslicer 2.8.0, it is noticeably faster than before the upgrade

RE: Does MK4S improve LAN/WiFi xfer speed?

It's not that the MK4's processor is too weak; it's actually quite respectable. The problem is that the WiFi port is connected to a single serial UART line which is a bottleneck even when it's working at full speed (4.6 Mbps). Originally the link speed was turned down to 1 Mbps due to some issues in the ESP8266 firmware causing corrupted data at higher rates, but this was later turned back up to full speed.