[Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
I am using PrusaConnect on a printer connected through Eduroam network. Thus, I do not have control over the wifi network configuration. My printer does get a new IP address every now and then. I do notice that when I try to upload a new model from PrusaSlicer and get a timeout error.
My suggestion is for PrusaSlicer to rely on connect.prusa3d.com knowledge (where the new IP is updated as I guess the board pings home from time to time) and to update the IP address of the physical printer setup automatically.
It is not a big deal for me to do it by hand from time to time, but I reckon the problem could happen often for users with their own home setup unless they know how to force a fixed IP address for their printers on their home wifi router, so it may be useful for more people than just me. And it can cut support requests that otherwise can happen because "PrusaSlicer no longer talks to my physical printer".
Cheers,
misan
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
I don't know how Eduroam is configured where you are located. But did your RasPi/Prusa get assigned a public IP Address? I know in the university where I used to work, we used to be able that a hostname is assigned to network-connected devices instead of using an IP Address.
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
@danielattia I mentioned my problem but I think the feature requested can be useful for many more people.
My setup may not be very common so my problem is not important here. On my campus, I can register a MAC address and get a fixed IP address so the problem would go away but there is some amount of red tape to go through I prefer not to do at the moment.
Right now my printer is running off the radar so to speak, which works with the occasional hiccup.
What I have been thinking about lately is that not all the printers whose IP is configured as a physical printer in PrusaSlicer are running PrusaLink (most of them may be using Octoprint instead) so my suggestion would not be applicable to those.
On the other hand, PrusaSlicer may know about a physical printer but no PrusaAccount information was needed to configure it. I do not know if some type of token can be exchanged with the printer for PrusaSlicer to gain access to the corresponding PrusaAccount connect.prusa3d.com site. This is fine because I am not implementing the feature myself 🙂
I just thought out loud in case developers could see some merit in the proposal.
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
How did you find the MAC address of your PI? I'm attempting to add a print farm to Prusa Connect at my highschool.
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
How are you planning to have the Pi connected to the HS network? e.g. wireless or wired (if using a regular Model B Pi and a USB cable to the printers).
Depending on how the network is configured, it may be better to have the Pi added via 802.11x Auth to make sure that the Pi is given a public IP address, so a firewall won’t prevent PrusaLink from communicating with PrusaLink.
How did you find the MAC address of your PI? I'm attempting to add a print farm to Prusa Connect at my highschool.
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
We are using a Pi Zero W and will be connecting wirelessly.
The plan is to find the MAC address then give it permissions and a static IP on the network.
Is there an easy way to find the MAC address?
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
@brazoswood-hs
You can get the MAC address:
- if using a router that you can have access to you can look on the client-list of the DHCP server the entry with your printer's IP address
- if you connect using ssh to your RPi, you can use ifconfig command
- if already connected to PrusaConnect you can see the MAC address in settings
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
What program are you using to write the PrusaLink image onto the microSD card? I would suggest that you have a look at this guide for "headless" install.
We are using a Pi Zero W and will be connecting wirelessly.
The plan is to find the MAC address then give it permissions and a static IP on the network.
Is there an easy way to find the MAC address?
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
I cannot connect to the schools network until I have the Mac address. I have access to the network equipment.
I used the guide to install PrusaLink. I don't know the login, pi/raspberry doesn't work, so I don't know how to use the command line.
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
- if using a router that you can have access to you can look on the client-list of the DHCP server the entry with your printer's IP address
It does not have to be your school network, it could be your home network (MAC will not change). Of course you need to configure the image with the proper network data. You can even use your cellphone with the Internet sharing feature to share the network, once the Pi connects you can see the MAC address in the phone ...
RE: [Feature request] Auto-update PrusaSlicer's IP address of physical printer
I was afraid of that. I have 8 raspi zeros. I will have to check each MAC address, then load the PrusaLink image for each one.
RE:
You have a chance to enable ssh and to set a password at step 9 of the setup process: https://www.prusa3d.com/downloads/manual/gen_prusalink_sending_en_2021-06-02.pdf
Yet another way to access the system is using the serial console through a serial to USB adapter. You can use putty or other serial terminal software to log in to your board too. Then, use the ifconfig command to get wlan0 MAC address.
However, now that I think about it, you should use the Raspbian image for this, as the PrusaLink image does not use the serial port as a console.