Improve gCode processing performance for raster engraving
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In topic https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/12785/duet-2-wifi-performance-for-laser-raster-printing/6 I found out that Duet 2 (v2.0.4) has a limit of about 550 gcodes/s which is about 5 times slower than Cohesion3D or default GRBL on 120MHz LPC and 2 times slower than default Smoothieware.
My understanding is that Cohesion3D firmware was modified specifically for laser engraving so that even with slower hardware it is able to process commands faster. The Cohesion3D has 2 other problems with large raster engraving gcode files that usually weight 30MB:
- Communication is painful when speed is required - removal of the SD card to upload gcode
- Communication is slow if done over serial as the laser firmware doesn't support any kind of networking.
I wasn't able to find any product which would provide both fast communication and fast printing.
I would like to know 2 things:
- Is it a major refactoring to speed things up or a couple 'if' statements to disable features that take CPU time but are not required for the raster engraving.
- Is there a desire to make such changes to the firmware in any foreseeable future to enable support for "powerfull" CO2 lasers
If there would be any support from firmware I would create open-source adapter PCB project to provide a drop-in replacement for controllers in most popular K40-style CO2 lasers.
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Firmware 3.0beta12 was able to achieve 1300 gcode/s although I didn't update the config and the laser wasn't firing so it might go down once the config is fully migrated.
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it is on the firmware wishlist to implement the rastering solution we discussed with Jason from lightburn.
