Recommended operating system to use in Raspberry PI

Hi.

I want to use raspberry pi to generate Gcode. And maybe even to make simple 3d files.

Is this possible? Can I print directly from raspberry Pi?

Thanks!!!!

I believe you can run the Cura slicer on Octoprint which runs on a raspberry pi.

That would be great. I will try it.

How about a 3d modeler app? openscad or similar? Could I run it on raspberry?

What should I choose? Octoprint, Astroprint, Octopi or simple Raspbian with some apps installed?

Does Octopi include all needed software?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2016 12:05PM by Crux.

I'm curious as to why you want to run every thing on a RPi? It is not that powerful of a machine for doing things like 3D modeling. I know there is a OpenSCAD type program for Android called ScorchCAD I have used. Might be something like that for Linux.

Thank you for the reply

I am trying to create a 3d printer fully dependent on raspberry pi only.

Sounds good, but I would say the creation of the 3D file is not part of a 3D printer. Just like a Word Processor is not part of a paper printer.

Quote
Crux
That would be great. I will try it.

How about a 3d modeler app? openscad or similar? Could I run it on raspberry?

What should I choose? Octoprint, Astroprint, Octopi or simple Raspbian with some apps installed?

Does Octopi include all needed software?

Octopi is a bundle of Octoprint with CuraEngine and Raspbian. Octoprint basically provides a web front end to your printer. Plus it can run the CuraEngine slicer, so you can send STL files to it to generate Gcode. Although it works on a original Model B RPi, that is pushing the hardware to near its limits. I'd suggest using a RPi3.

Whilst I guess you *could* run OpenSCAD on a RPi, I wouldn't recommend it. Firstly, OpenSCAD can use serious horsepower and need lots of memory, depending on the complexity of your model. Secondly, you would either have to add a screen, keyboard, and mouse to the RPi, or run it via X/Windows.

In my own system, I do all the slicing and modelling on a desktop, then send the gcode to Octopi which manages the actual printing.

Have you tried Onshape as a CAD solution? it is fully cloud and web based so it could probably run well enough on your pi assuming it has a good internet connection.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2016 06:14PM by Trexation.

I think that OnShape actually runs as JavaScript on your own PC??? In which case it could run quite badly on a RPi.

Onshape is completely web based, all it needs is a browser that supports openGL...

Onshape Website

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2016 10:59PM by Trexation.

Thank you for all the replies.

I will try with latest nightly octopi. I now understand that it already includes all tools I need. About modeling, I will leave it to a desktop computer as suggested.

Thanks!