Marvell enters the 3D Printing Market with SoC solutions

For those of you waiting for 3D printing to take a step forward, it may be about to do that with Marvell today announcing their new 3D printer specific SoC solution (system-on-chip).

Rather than having 3D printer manufacturers using off-the-shelve chips to drive their 3D printers, they will now have an option that is specifically built for 3D printing.

Included are:

• Marvell’s 88PA6120 SoC
• 533MHz ARM v7 compatible processor
• Dual real-time microprocessors for precision motion control
• Rich user interfaces with touch LCD support
• Integrated 10/100 PHY, USB, DRAM, eMMC
• Multiple motor controls and print head interfaces
• HW encryption support for IPSec & SSL
• Several Marvell WiFi/Bluetooth options such as Marvell’s 88W8801 Avastar® Wi-Fi SoC
• Full-featured Linux SDK, including real-time 3D motion control, Ethernet and WiFi network stacks, LCD user interface, and board support package
• Full development tool support
• Flexible hardware development platform with connectivity options for multiple 3D printer designs

Read more about what this means for 3D Printing at: http://3dprint.com/30793/marvell-3d-printing-socs/

Can anyone that's familiar with this and what's on the BeagleBone Black and make a worthwhile comparison? BBB runs an AM3358/9 running at 1GHz, dual real time microprocessors for motion control, has a network jack, has graphics, seems to have all the features the Marvell chip claims. How well each feature stacks up, is an open question.

As it is, BBB hasn't made much of an impact in 3D printing. The biggest drawback for a custom board is AM3358/9 is that it's a pain to design a board for because of how TI set up the pads, it's more difficult to work with than other BGA chips.

First party support is an improvement though. Put out an affordable evaluation board please? One that can actually be wired to a 3D printer without grief, with software that is ready to use? I know that's a lot, but if it costs too much or is too much hassle, hobbyists probably won't switch to it. RAMPS has been supersceded by RAMBo, and yet there's work on improving RAMPS rather than trying to find ways to make RAMBo less expensive, because RAMPS is so inexpensive.

"This means that there will now be a reliable way for manufacturers to require their users to use their own proprietary filament or other printing materials."

Ick.

Marvell, a world leader in numerous high-tech areas including the Internet of Things, has recently released the Marvell® 88PA6270 which is said to be the world’s highest performing and most advanced printer system-on-chip (SoC). Meant to power the industry’s best multi-function printers (MFPs) and copiers, it also offers great potential for adding speed and complexity to 3D printers, and integrates ink, laser, and LED technologies as well. Read the full story here: http://3dprint.com/90144/marvell-88pa6270-soc/

It would be nice if they made their dev boards more widely available. It would be nice to have another option. Integration into a locked-down machine doesn't sit well with me though.