pslicer on pi 3
My computers are all rack mounted. My machines are connected via wired gigabit or 10 gigabit. Getting wifi up is a bit of a hassle, and moving a rack mounted computer is a big hassle. I can spare a raspberry pi 3 that I can move around. My goal is to update the firmware on the printer, and/or install the MMU2S firmware/software. Evidently I have to run the slicer to do that. So, unless I can chain together "enough" USB cables to get from one room to the other about the only choice is to put the slicer on the Pi 3 and use that.
does the slicer stuff run on a pi 3 w/ raspbian? I won't be doing actual slicing with it -- I can set up wifi and octoprint (I hope) and do the real slicing from a big computer. Do I have to "build" a flavor for the Pi? I haven't even done a "file" command on the image that lives on my Centos machine, so maybe the thing is Java, but that's kinda moot if the software doesn't actually run on the Pi. (As usual, the firmware update isn't supposed to be done over wifi.)
RE: pslicer on pi 3
"So, unless I can chain together "enough" USB cables to get from one room to the other" in theory I believe USB 2 is good for 5m although personally wouldn't exceed 1m.
If you need distance either wired Ethernet or WiFi.
Considering how rarely you need to upgrade firmware, just use the SDcard.
There was some talk on the Octoprint board, of allowing printer firmware updates via Pi/Octoprint.
RE: pslicer on pi 3
I did get PS running on a Pi 4 with the OS that used to be called Raspbian. It was a pre-made Pi build. I have not done any flashing with it, but I assume it would work. The Pi 4 is actually fairly quick with slicing.
RE: pslicer on pi 3
There are USB cable extenders to 100' or so. I have a Monoprice USB2.0 50 footer. Seems to work. They also have USB-CAT5-USB adapters that say 150' -- and they are cheap at $15 a set.
ps: I just use a notebook when I want to flash new firmware. Easy, always one around, and they are portable by design.