ok awesome. Maybe will try again, but move home FIRST…then load the G code, and take it for a spin to see how far I get through the same cut? Just to see if the USB cord changeover solves the dissconnect?
Running without the router? Give it a shot.
ok cool! Pulled router, she is on the floor and unplugged. Here we go…
I have to step away for a bit. Did you see the final update? The program completed the cut without errors.
I just did now!! So it is not my code, thank you so much for running that Jon! That takes that out of equation. I am pinging 77-85% on the CPU right now, bounces. Ok cool, I will be here when you return! Thanks again and talk to you in a few, maybe with better news we will see 
17.3% complete - no issues CPU 73-85%
36.8% complete - no issues CPU Just saw it ping 99%!! working on that hole the USB disconnected in last time. Back down to 73%-85%…but a second time now just noticed 98%…yeah now its pinging 95%-99% while making the ring around the hole…drops back to to 73-85% as it makes left to right passes, but when it did the circle again before dropping the Z down for another pass, pings 95%-99% CPU…Like clockwork it is doing this as it works on this hole. This is with NO other devices connected, I have the tablet off which I DID have it on a few days ago when the USB connection last failed
72% complete - 73-85% CPU usage with occasional pings to the 90’s with a few 98-99% hits.
93% complete - same CPU usage - almost there!
100% complete!! No USB disconnect using 6 inch USB cord. next we deal with the excessively high CPU usage when using a display monitor.
good so far. how did it end up?
almost done! 94% there…no issues outside that CPU usage pinging at 99% which I think you are going to tell me it’s an issue, which I agree with…
its an issue but one that can be addressed after
agreed, this cut almost complete is a HUUUUGE step with no USB time outs. Good call on the 6 inch USB cord Plus I have NO power anywhere near that cord anymore. Not even close.
Jon we have success, 100% complete! NOW I feel like getting very close, the CPU usage clearly an issue…no way should be pinging that high for me to consider that acceptable. I do not think I overclocked the pi, but not sure if that matters? if not, the 2 pi configuration, that’s what I think should shoot for… Let me go cook something quick for kids, be right back in like 30 mins
i never overclock. aleays prefer to find a way to reduce the cpu load rather than increase its capacity
ok sorry back. I think that is a good idea, especially with the amount of hours this would be on a day when running. Is it hard to use a pi just for display? Never thought of doing that before. Also, surprised the Arduino doesn’t have it’s own power supply when you use the shield. I have not looked back there in so long, but can you power that individually as well so the Pi doesn’t feed it (well the USB feed the power)?
No, really all you will be doing is building a second RasPi, and using it’s browser to access the webserver that is currently running on your current RasPi. You and your son could even configure the new RasPi to work in kiosk mode with the autostart of Chromium just like you did for the RasPi you have running now. It’s no different than using your laptop or a mobile device to access WebControl. The goal it to offload the functions of running a desktop, running Chromium, and driving a display onto another RasPi or device and letting the RasPi that is currently running the WebControl web server to do just that.
It’s no different than if you were using a laptop to access the webserver. Thats what I do now but from what you said early on though the laptop isnt such a good option for you.
So the Arduino has two power sources. The first is the Raspi that you currently have running and is connected via tha USB cable. The RasPi powers the Arduino through the USB cable but it DOESN’T provide the shield motor power. The power supply that you connect to the shield will provide not only the motor power but ALSO powers the Arduino. Right now you should have a RasPi connected to the Arduino with a USB cable AND a seperate power supply connected to the Arduino shield. None of this will change if you build a second RasPi to power a display. To be clear, a second RasPi and display will NOT affect the current Arduino/Shield - RasPi hardware configuration. For the purposes of the next test you won’t need the second RasPi as long as you are comfortable using the laptop.
It just occured to me that we hadn’t discussed this sooner. Have you thought about just using you current diisplay monitor as an external monitor for your laptop?
oh geeze, I did not even think of that!!! So…if I saved saved the image on my computer, your saying just make another SD card, drop it in another pi, hook up to the monitor? That easy?? Then put this pi in service more only, no display? If YES, is it better to just use the image that is is buster Lite (I think it is called), from the wiki site? Make it as lean as possible? …or at this point, just use cloned SD card and make one only service mode?
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So it powers both, i did not realize that? I figured that the power supply was only for the shield, not the Arduino as I could fire up the pi and Arduino, WITHOUT the motors on, or so I thought. I do not do that, but maybe I should make sure the shield is on first before kicking on the Pi. Thank you for this!! There are not 2 power supply ports on the back, one for pi and one for shield is there? I will try to check with mirror… I like the laptop in front of my face, like really close so I can see well…when I have to type something I think would be hard to see the display, but when below it and maslow moving its very helpful to see what is going on!
What you want is one RasPi running the web server and another one runing a Raspian OS with a desktop and a Chromium browsr. One RasPi runs one thing, one runs another. Neither is running both. I’m not a fan of copying the configuration of one RasPi and moving it to another. If you copy the current RasPi image (web server) to the second RasPi (display), you will need to make sure the WebControl web server is stopped or disabled on the second RasPi (display).
Idealy, yes. To build a truely headless machine you would have used Buster Light. However you can disable the Desktop on your current RasPi and have it jsut boot into console mode (no desktop).
You can power the Shield and the Arduino throguh the Shield power supply but you will still need the USB cable to communicate with the Arduino. You can power the Arduino and the Shield through the USB cable BUT the motor power portion of the Shield will NOT be powered by the USB cable.
ok I gotcha now, take this Pi configuration, split it up where one Pi does one thing…and the other pi does the other thing. I get it now!! Thanks, this doesn’t sound that bad. I can take this 1 and use to run the Webcontrol service. I will take out the code to display, and to auto start Chromium to log into IP address in kiosk mode. Then the part I just took out, put that on the second Pi. I think that is it…
ah ok, this is why I was able to communicate with it. Gotcha so really the power when running is coming from the shield power. I get it now!