Blind Maker just ordered my MK3S but Prusaslicer keeps crashing out on me on my 2018 MacBook Air... Please help!  

RE: Blind Maker just ordered my MK3S but Prusaslicer keeps crashing out on me on my 2018 MacBook Air... Please help!

I think its great that your able to 3d print. I'm sorry I cant be much help I know it was difficult to set up voice commands for my mom to use a computer when she was no longer able to  type. Also I'm not a mac user so I'm not sure where you should go from here. I'm wondering how you do z adjustment? I suppose you could adjust z a few clicks at a time and feel the surface then repeat.

Its a good thing blind butchers can use cut proof gloves nowadays. Maybe we can get a few more blind 3d printer users so accessibility issues get worked out. I'm thinking the camera system to detect failed prints might be useful along with the filament sensor included in the Prussa design.

One thought I have is too separate the two issues, it may not be slicer that is the problem. Long ago in a galaxy far away I used to be a software test engineer. My suggestion is too try Prussa slicer without Voiceover, if it runs on the computer without crashing it would lead me to believe Voicover may be the problem. If it continues to crash I would try to uninstall and reinstall Prussa slicer unless their are other users with the same issue. Once you can determine if its caused by Prussa slicer or by the combination with Voiceover then you can request help from Prussa and or Voiceover to figure out why its happening.  You should also open up Task Manager? (I'm not sure what apple calls it) and monitor memory usage and disk swapping or disk usage up until crash. If memory usage is continuously increasing and or extremely high, above 85 to 90% or even approaching 100% your computer in most cases will not be stable. If memory usage approaches 50% with only the two programs running I would still be looking at hardware as a possible issue.

Prussa slicer is a bit of a memory hog on a Windows PC I'm getting around 200 MB to load then add part and slice can easily reach 1,000 MB with a fairly simple file. It also puts a large demand on the processor which any voice software will already be using a lot of. It appears your Mac air 2018 uses an Intel I5 Processor with 8 GB of ram, My guess would be that it is enough hardware and it will probably be a software problem but I don't have enough experience with accessibility software to give you a definitive answer.

RE: Blind Maker just ordered my MK3S but Prusaslicer keeps crashing out on me on my 2018 MacBook Air... Please help!

Hi,

these are some great suggestions. Yeah, it is software, someone with far more knowledge than I has said the framework used for PS isn't really compatible with how VoiceOver works, which might be fairly easily remedied in a future build, Apple as a ton of guides out there to build in accessibility from the ground out. Unfortunately, as far as I know, I'm the only blind person trying to use PS, or any other slicer, but I do hope that there are others out there.

It's an incredible technology, and amazingly powerful (Forgive the hyperbiably), for the blind especially. Was watching a travel documentary about Machupicu in Peru, so I hopped on my mini  factory,  found the STL and printed it out on my Ender3. Isn't that fantastic?

I've actually cancelled my order as I'm not willing to hand over money  for a package that is not yet accessible. Cura works to a point but I'd really want to be able to use PS as that is  all part of the experience and, from reviews I've read, will produce optimum results.

I will try running PS with VoiceOver off, unfortunately I won't actually know  if it is working or doing anything in that case, but can poke about and then check if it has crashed out afterwards. I think it is simply VoiceOver doing it's best to read something that doesn't want to be read, this is in layman's terms of course, it's not my wheelhouse. I've sent an email to customer support offering my input and really hope that, as a progressive company full  of  problem  solvers and the top of their class for consumer printers, that they will listen. Just imagine an MK3S in every blind school for use by teachers to create objects, maps, brail labelled items etc as well as students who are blind being able to grab an STL and get a clean perfect print by themselves. I'm lucky to have an engineering background and the bloody minded tenacity that makes me metaphorically  kick things until they work, but now I can understand how it is done, I really feel more people can and should be doing it, sighted and blind.

It's thanks to the amazing community of 3D printers that are so kind, so welcoming and ready to take on a challenge and provide advice. I just hope JP is willing to take this on at some point. It could be a real feather in his hat too, marketing wise, but I don't think that this would be the point, hopefully he will consider it in future iterations of the software just because it is right.

Thanks for your reply.

RE: Blind Maker just ordered my MK3S but Prusaslicer keeps crashing out on me on my 2018 MacBook Air... Please help!

@in-121

Which program do you use for voiceover? I don't have a Mac but would be willing to install it on my PC and try it. That's obviously not an ideal, apples-to-apples test, but it would at least be a data point. I will also try to find someone with a Mac that can try it out.

It may also be helpful if you were to install a remote-desktop of some sort so tech support could poke around with your permission and maybe get things going a bit better.

Regards

RE: Blind Maker just ordered my MK3S but Prusaslicer keeps crashing out on me on my 2018 MacBook Air... Please help!

I just did a quick test with the in-built Windows 10 narrator. I was able to import an STL, slice it, and export the gcode without PS crashing.

The narrator did not detect areas of the screen until I clicked on them to bring them into focus so I had to move the mouse and click on them until I happened to be in the right spot and then it would tell me what was selected.

There are ways to script sequences of operations to streamline workflows. Would you benefit from that if I could put together a script that would lead you through a flow that let you open an stl, slice it and then export the resulting gcode? I know that would only work when everything went smoothly, which with 3D printing is not that usual, but in cases that it did, it may be useful.

How do you operate the printer once gcode is loaded?

RE: Blind Maker just ordered my MK3S but Prusaslicer keeps crashing out on me on my 2018 MacBook Air... Please help!

@william-m48

Hi,

Firstly VoiceOver is part of Mac OS universal access so specific to the OS though thanks for the offer. In theory it means that it should work with most OS apps because it is 'baked in', sadly it's not as simple as that as there are some implementations required by the developer.

Yeah, I'm going to bootcamp on my MBA this afternoon and try the windows version of Prusaslicer. That is encouraging that you could get it talking at all. There are specific key combinations for narrater or, as I will be using, NVDA to navigate elements on the screen without using a mouse. 

I will see how that goes. I'm loathe to reinstall Mac OS purely to test this out, so might do a serape fresh install of that too for testing purposes. Hmm. That might be a good idea first thinking about it.

thanks for your help.

RE: Blind Maker just ordered my MK3S but Prusaslicer keeps crashing out on me on my 2018 MacBook Air... Please help!

Resurrecting this ancient thread in hopes of finding some assistance as well. I lost most of my functional vision a few years back. I was an Android and pc person that jokingly made fun of the whole Apple i-verse. Well, now that I can no longer read I have come to realize just how well Apple has nailed accessibility for the blind and visually impaired. I too rely on voiceover and have yet to find accessible cad/slicer software or printers. I’m pretty much dependent on Apple devices now. I still have a pc but to be honest I’ve found it to be way too much of a headache as nvda (open source screen reader, my preference on pc) and narrator (windows native screen reader) often don’t work very well with third party software. I would like to dabble in printing but am lost in finding something that will work. I would prefer something that connected directly to a computer, tablet, or phone so that the screen reader would read aloud the menu to me. A stand alone control screen with buttons is of zero use to me without sighted assistance. I prefer not having to use sd cards either, again due to vision issues. So, if anyone has had success in using and design software, slicing software, and printer with voiceover (preferred), nvda, or narrator, please share! I haven’t ordered my printer yet as I don’t quite see (no pun intended) how I would be able to use the built in control panel. I’m guessing that worst case, I could use the seeing ai app recognize text function on my phone to read the menu to me and have some tactile dots installed on the menu buttons so that I could find them. An Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or usb connection with software or app would be the better option, I believe.