PrusaSlicer not "seeing" certain printers
I have 4 printers (two MK3 and 2 Mini+). Each has an Rasberry Pi Octoprint box attached, running the most current version (1.8.6, as I write this). Occasionally, I find PrusaSlicer is unable to find one of the printers, while still being able to connect to the other 3 octoprint boxes. On my desktop, if I copy-and-paste the address of the unfindable box and try to connect to the web interface, I don't have any problem! Each boxes' address is listed on our internal DNS. For example, a box might have an ip address of 192.168.5.12 and that address is listed in DNS as "luxor3d.internalnetwork.edu."
So, since I can connect to the Octoprint instance directly via web browser (with a copy-and-paste of the address from PrusaSlicer), I'm pretty sure it's something within PrusaSlicer that is hanging, rather than a broader system problem. Today I tried shutting down the printer and the Octoprint box, then rebooting Octoprint, then powering on the printer, then reopening PrusaSlicer and trying to connect; for that box it worked. A few minutes later I wasn't able to connect PrusaSlicer to another of the 4 printers. The same sequence of powering off and rebooting didn't help in that case, but testing again about 15 minutes later, I was able to connect again.
I'm baffled as to what might cause this and would welcome any pointers that might help me get rid of this behavior! Thanks in advance.
RE: PrusaSlicer not "seeing" certain printers
Try setting a static IP address for each of the Pis in your network router software.
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
RE: PrusaSlicer not "seeing" certain printers
Thanks! Our network administrator has already given each Octoprint box a specific IP address, so it claims the same one every time it reboots (via DHCP assignment via MAC address). I think the problem isn't the IP addressing or network side, since I can consistently connect via web browser to the Octoprint interface, even when PrusaSlicer reports that it "can't" find that same DNS address itself.
Or am I missing something that a static address would provide, versus a consistant address, DHCP assigned?
RE: PrusaSlicer not "seeing" certain printers
A static address vs a fixed one via DHCP should not look any different to other computers. However, if dynamic DNS is being used, it is possible the entry got removed from DNS.
Are you running prusa-slicer and the web browser on the same system? Even if same, some web browsers now-a-days are doing their own thing DNS-wise and bypassing how DNS is configured on your system. Try to ping the Octoprint box from the system running prusa-slicer the next time it has a problem. If that fails, then it should be something for your admin to track down.
RE: PrusaSlicer not "seeing" certain printers
When you say "address", do you mean an IP address such as 192.168.40.20, or a local domain name such as prusa_yellow.local?
It's been a while since I've played with physical printers in PS but IIRC there was a time when I was able to connect from PS by entering the IP address into the address field but not a local name. That's why I switched all my Pis to static IP addresses and use those in the physical printer configuration. But then again, it's been a while.
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
It might be a networking issue, routers & clients can become inattentive if not addressed for some time, NAS/SAMBA users sometimes have this problem; you may have a utility to 'wake' the network but all you really need to do is to ping the node you are about to address. So: try pinging the pi/printer just before sending from slicer.
If this works park a shortcut on your screen and get into the habit of hitting it first.
Cheerio,