Hi,
This is a great project for the RepRap community and I hope it reaches the "working" status in 2015 while at the same time achieving all its objectives, in particular the low-cost aspect which I see as the pitfall for many previous projects of this kind.
As for the "Ethernet support" option, which would increase the price of the board considerably, I would suggest it is not needed.
Personally I use a small Linux ARM box with WiFi, running OctoPrint, as a front end for all my 3D printers (see OctoGoatBox or RepRapBox in the wiki if you are curious). There is no way a 68MHz ARM MCU can provide the same Web interface as a dedicated dual or quad core Cortex A7 Linux box. Also, Ethernet in a soho is simply not used anymore, most everybody has switched to WiFi nowadays. And finally, having a TCP/IP stack running eats CPU cycles, takes ROM and RAM space and costs hours to develop and maintain, for zero benefit the way I see it.
I also support the suggestion by vreihen above that the already existing and mass produced (hence low cost) LCD controllers supported by the RAMPS board should also be compatible out-of-the-box with this new board, namely the LCD2004 Smart Controller and the 12864 Full Graphics controller.
Finally, I have a question about the firmware development environment for such a board. I imagine one would be forced to stray away from the Arduino IDE, so what is the recommended alternative in this case? Something a lot more complex to use will unfortunately turn away many developers and potential users of this board.
Good luck and thanks for your excellent work so far,
Andrew
This is a great project for the RepRap community and I hope it reaches the "working" status in 2015 while at the same time achieving all its objectives, in particular the low-cost aspect which I see as the pitfall for many previous projects of this kind.
As for the "Ethernet support" option, which would increase the price of the board considerably, I would suggest it is not needed.
Personally I use a small Linux ARM box with WiFi, running OctoPrint, as a front end for all my 3D printers (see OctoGoatBox or RepRapBox in the wiki if you are curious). There is no way a 68MHz ARM MCU can provide the same Web interface as a dedicated dual or quad core Cortex A7 Linux box. Also, Ethernet in a soho is simply not used anymore, most everybody has switched to WiFi nowadays. And finally, having a TCP/IP stack running eats CPU cycles, takes ROM and RAM space and costs hours to develop and maintain, for zero benefit the way I see it.
I also support the suggestion by vreihen above that the already existing and mass produced (hence low cost) LCD controllers supported by the RAMPS board should also be compatible out-of-the-box with this new board, namely the LCD2004 Smart Controller and the 12864 Full Graphics controller.
Finally, I have a question about the firmware development environment for such a board. I imagine one would be forced to stray away from the Arduino IDE, so what is the recommended alternative in this case? Something a lot more complex to use will unfortunately turn away many developers and potential users of this board.
Good luck and thanks for your excellent work so far,
Andrew