Do you use a dedicated Computer for your 3D Printer

[Geoff]

I have a tablet attached to the side of the printer which can slip in and out easy, but I prefer to print off SD card. ReplicatorG sends the Gcode line by line, so if your PC crashes so does your print, so safer from SD card.

[RapidProtoCo]

I have a Ubuntu amachine that I have been using for fun, id love to get it printing, any recomendations of software I should start with?

www.RapidProtoCo.com

[SteveJWilson]

I don't currently have a dedicated computer to run my printer. I'm currently running the software off of my everyday laptop.

@3dkarma- I recently picked up a raspberrypi, with the hopes of using it to run my printer. Are you only using the pi as a remote unit through octoprint, or does it have enough processing power to run/control your printer on it's own?

[3dkarma]

@SteveJWilson - The pi just runs Octoprint. The printer has a Melzi controller, which is in turn plugged into the pi's USB port. While there's a stepper motor board for the pi available from allthingsmicro, I'm not aware of any controller software that'll run on the pi. My toolchain is: slice on desktop with Slic3r (could do it on the pi, but it's faster on the desktop), drag it over to the OctoPrint web page and set the print off from there.

[SteveJWilson]

Ok thanks. That's helpful.
I've heard rumors of people running a Reprap machine just off of a raspberry pi alone, but I haven't seen it successfully done.

[3dkarma]

I have a Ubuntu amachine that I have been using for fun, id love to get it printing, any recomendations of software I should start with?

www.RapidProtoCo.com

Pronterface or Repetier Host both run on Linux, with Slic3r.

[ralphzoontjens]

I just bought an Ultimaker and only have one laptop that occassionally I can imagine using for the CAM software, CAD, and rendering all at once. I didn't even consider whether that could be a problem. Does the CAM software need a lot of CPU power?

Using a Raspberry Pi seems like a great idea, probably going to look into that.