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Cheapest Setup For Ground Control

Software Ground Control
#1

Hey Everyone!

I’m currently trying to get a dedicated garage/maslow laptop so that I can keep my nice laptop out of the garage.
For the last week or so I’ve been trying to make my Chromebook work, but it just simply doesn’t have the processing power needed to run ground control or web control at a usable speed.

Unfortunately I’ve went from one extreme to the other with laptops, I had been using a Dell G7 with 32gb ram…and then I tried the Acer Chromebook with ~4gb ram.

What are the ideal computer specs to run ground control and a fast speed?

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#2

If you want to run webcontrol, use an RPI3 (or 4 if you want) and connect it to the arduino. Then, use your chromebook as the the browser to interface with the RPI.

#3

raspberry pi 3 B is $35 at microcenter, but if you aren’t local to a store, then you can get a complete setup from amazon for about 80 with a power supply and case. You will need an SD card for it. If the chromebook can execute python code, it might be hackable to get webcontrol to run on it since it is a linux variant, but I don’t know that it has been done before. It would defiinitely load the web page from a rpi running webcontrol.

#4

He said he got it to work on the Chromebook, but it was too slow.

#5

I read that after I posted. It would still work with a pi as the server, but that is too bad the chromebooks are so badly neutered.

#6

Yeah, should work well with an rpi. I think the fact that you can put the rpi next to the Arduino with a 6" USB cable is worth the money since it reduces the risk of a loss of USB connection.

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#7

Take any old laptop, put a really light linux distribution on it and run it from there.
I have an old box like that running my machine very reliably and I won’t change that setup until I am forced to.
Didn’t cost me a dime and I saved something from the dumpsters

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