My son is going to try and help me quickly do this tonight…be back. Thanks Jon for all your help, this is great!!!. and more to come!!!
Yes, you will need to disable the kiosk mode code and the auto start chromium on the current RasPi.
You will then need to change a setting in the Raspi-config utility to have the RasPi boot into console mode instead of desktop.
At this point you can run another cut test using your laptop. If the test shows a large decrease in the CPU utilization then it would be worth going through the trouble of building a second RasPi for your display.
Awesome. Let me know if you need help changing the setting to stop the desktop.
ok we are back with great news Jon. My son decided to do all this for me (after I made him finish his homework 
We are officially running 2 Pi’s now, a Pi4 8gb for the Webcontrol service, and then a Pi4 4 Gb ram running the monitor. The Pi4 running the Webcontrol service now, it’s CPU usage dropped a ton. At like 29% maybe with the Pi logged into Webcontrol as well. This is awesome! I need to finish mounting everything right now for the second Pi, but we are good to go! I decided to not Kiosk mode the second Pi for the monitor. I could, and may again, but may be nice to have the desktop for random google searches or whatever if needed. I “may” just move the g-code via SSh or put on a USB stick and run directly from that second Pi. This way it’s a full functioning machine, run the code, no need for a secondary computer if not needed. Then the tablet there to keep close to me if emergency stop needed. You got me thinking when you mentioned using the monitor for the laptop secondary display. Going to finish mounting the second Pi, and then tomorrow morning we run a “real cut” again with the router in the sled. During the cut will work on the metal maslow meticulous Z setup. I sprayed the sled a few days ago, and while the sled was running I have been working on sanding and polishing the aluminum box and clamp for router for the Z axis. At this point, might as well get the best setup since I have the kit while she runs a real test part again.
Jon, Orob, and dlang cannot thank you enough for all the help you have given me thus far!! So tomorrow, if all things go well, we may have a part. Jon I sent you a PM…Feel free to share w/ Orob and dlang, same goes for them. Thanks again More to come tomorrow!!!..Hopefully we have a successful cut
1 Like
Awesome, glad to hear that going to a headless web server lowered the load. Keep us updated on the cut test.
Yes lowered it big time! Will do, I am going to “try” and head down in maybe hour or so. Will check in once complete…I say complete, as hoping no more USB disconnects
We are good have shield power back, slipped out of the power strip with moving stuff all around
why not just upload the gcode using the webcontrol menu in a browser from whatever machine you are on rather than ssh or usb stick?
Any updates? were you able to run a test today
Hey Orob and Jon! Sorry for being MIA, it was very unexpected on an already busy day for work, and had a chance to get the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine this evening since one site was totally converting from Moderna to J&J…I was actually the last “1st dose” shot they would be offering going forward. So I lost a good 3-4 hours today away from home, but got it (after 5 attempts when they get close to end of the day and start giving it to 16 yr olds or anyone walking down the street so as not to waste a single vaccine). Then we had late baseball training as that was all they could get us in for my son. Day got totally messed up, but wouldn’t trade it for anything! Orob, I was considering WinSCP or USB stick to exactly what you mention, can I get to the gcode on my laptop without one of those 2? This is how I will test tomorrow, going to use the Pi running Webcontrol. In the morning, we are back to where I left off. I spent a little time figuring out how to NOT allow the monitor I mounted to second Pi to not go to sleep after a few minutes of finishing that up (as it was annoying me to no end!!) then the text came through to leave right now to get in line as a standby if you want the shot (from a nurse friend). Again sorry for the abrupt MIA, tomorrow I am back at it for a test, router in sled
also now I need to figure out a screensaver, as I bolted so quick I left the second pi on the monitor…at least we know the screen blanking is no longer on!!!
So your design and gcode are done on a laptop and your system control is done on the rpi? You need to get the gcode from the laptop to the display rpi or the control rpi? The most direct route would be to load the webcontrol webpage on the laptop and use the menu to upload the gcode directly. the loaded gcode would then show up on the display rpi as well. if you would rather store it all on the display rpi, you can share a folder on the display rpi with samba
sudo apt-get install samba
(search the forum for samba and there should be some instructions on how to set up samba from about a year ago) Then you can just drag the files from the laptop onto the shared drive from the display rpi and then you can upload the files via webcontrol to the control rpi.
I second this. I have an RPi that I have set up to run WC for me and I did the samba install as well. I can verify that it works as I tested it when I got it set up. Unfortunately, I am in the process of redoing my frame, so I don’t currently have the RPi running. Still recommended, that way you can sit inside in the comfy house and do all your designing, export the Gcode, and drop that file onto samba. Then you can head out to the garage and with whatever device you are using to control, open the Gcode and off you go! Very simple!!
The workflow that Orob described is exactly what I do. I will load the WebControl webpage from my laptop where the .nc file was created and upload the code from there. I then go to my shop where the maslow is and use my Pi control station to run WebControl from there. My control station monitor is much bigger and I like having a dedicated device to control the maslow from.
Yes that is correct Orob. Good call, I forgot about the samba share. Good idea. Yeah right now I load the gcode and launch the cut from my laptop. Then I can see it on the laptop, the screen mounted to second Pi now, and the tablet which I keep closer to me than the laptop. Since I do have a keyboard, I was just thinking move the gcode to a USB stick from computer, then plug into Pi…but I totally forgot about Samba share! Thank you, will look into that.
yes that’s exactly why I talk about my laptop all the time, I run Solidworks on it which a wicked cpu hog. I had to buy a wicked laptop as I wanted Solidworks to load and save very quickly. I hate delay. To the other point, as much as was fine for testing, I hate dragging this laptop to garage. I rather move the code over to the Pi in the warmth, then head down and execute from the Pi. The other option I considered is the Ama’zn Fire HD tablet I bought, has a slot for micro SD card. dlang or Orob, forgot who, suggested to me a few weeks back to invest in one so I did…and noted that sd card slot was a nice feature
So this is “thrice” now you all agree to use Samba share Hopefully Jon I get bonus points for using “thr-i-ice” This is what going to do right now before I head down for this test cut. Thanks all and more to come once I set this up and start cutting.
1 Like
Yes, you get points for using “thrice” in. Double word score for using it in a technical conversation.
1 Like
Nice! Now I could get triple points points I bet by referring to the Samba share setup working on right now by saying…Um yes, I love that journey for me.