Arduino USB Possible?

Hi everyone, I was wondering, if I get an arduino for use with a reprap, do I need the serial version? Has anyone gotten the USB version to work? Will any of the code need to be modified to get it to work? I would love to make those modifications . . .

Also about PICs, is it arduino firmare OR PIC firmware? Or do I need both?

I am very interested in modifying the firmware to try to get rid of some of those delays and enhance performance. (I don't have a reprap yet). Obviously I need to know which one to "hack". I really want to use Arduino exclusively, no PICs. Does the system have both arduinos and pics or is it one or the other?

Please send a copy of your reply to my email address, it would be most appreciated. Thanks!
Willow

Sorry, I don;t have your e-mail address.

The USB Arduino is just a serial Arduino with a built-in FDDI serial-to-USB converter. So no, it shouldn't matter at all.

Vik :v)

Plus, the gcode firmware has solved or at least relieved many of the pausing issues and it has great potential.

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Jay

Hey Willow,

The Arduino's are drop-in compatible (all of them!). We have a firmware for the Arduino that emluates the current PIC system 100%, including pausing problems.

A group of people on the forums have created a GCode Interpreter firmware for the Arduino that uses GCode to send commands. with that, you can drastically reduce segment pausing. I have that working with the RepRap host software and will have it ported back into trunk soon.

Once that is done, we'll begin work on a 2nd generation protocol that will be even better than the gcode for our purposes. It will support a much larger point / command queue, and will just generally be awesome.

The arduino stuff is a really good route to go down, and I encourage you to give it a try!