Posts made by frontrange

NM, Figured out how to make a 5i work.

Has anyone tried this before? My Z18 has a 3.5 inch LCD with a scroll button type input. Is there any way to drive this with a Duet or am I just going to have to kludge something?

So I have a pair of Makerbot z18's I bought a long time ago because I needed the 12x12x18 build volume, and I really wanted the heated build chamber too. But incredibly, MB didn't put a heated print bed in these things, which was a real show stopper for me. So a few years ago, I retrofitted both with my own HBP and built an Arduino controller that I mounted to the front, it worked well but was a bit of a kluge.

Fast forward a few years and the Z18 has become an orphan, I decided I want to replace the controller and go with open source firmware. I am trying to plan out the new build which will require a new QC toolhead and I'm revisiting the HBP as well. The Z18 has two 12V chamber heaters and I was planning on using the built in bed driver for that, then using an AC bed heater with an SSR.

Since I've never done anything but low voltage DC heaters I'm just checking to see if there is any reason (other than aversion to mains) that I would not want to do that? It saves me the second power supply so I can tuck everything inside the chassis easily, so desirable just from that standpoint.

I'm done. So just keep the process of upgrading a NOS board at least 10X more complicated than it has to be with the current docs and repo organization. It's not my problem anymore...

Just to be clear, I finished the machine work on my printer 3 years ago but it sat next to my workbench for all that time unused because I've been kind of busy.

Does anyone think I'm the only guy who has a Duet printer project on the shelf waiting to be finished?

Like I said, in the end my solution was simple and covered updating my 1.18 all the way to current in one step. I'm pissed because I had to spend so much time figuring out the steps and locating the files. Is it really unreasonable to expect that someone on the other side of the equal sign for this monetary transaction do a little due diligence and clean up the awful documentation because I've read the comments by others and I'm not the only one who's had to just suffer through a firmware upgrade when dealing with older code releases.

MY beginning if you'll read the title of this post was 1.15, I have no idea what you're talking about.

BS, I made a single image that covered everything back all the way to the beginning, but I had to scavenge the files from different places and fix the directions. If I'd known what I was doing I could have had it done in no time and all that would be involved in maintaining that image is updating files and re-linking names.

This is just your bullshit excuses to cover for bullshit process.

It was only 3 years man. I've been in the industry for 40 years and I've seen decade old firmware as many times as current firmware in customer equipment.

Oh that's really rich. There are over 30 releases between where I started and the latest, and you think everything I needed to know could have been found by reading each and every set of release notes on every one of them huh? You pretty sure about that??

And I'm sure you also read all the terms and conditions on every web site you visit before checking OK?

Of course your suggestion make MUCH more sense that doing it my way and making one sd image and one set of complete instructions, why do that?

Just adding that note isn't a fix for this. The documentation is a cross between a train wreck and a boiler explosion, I've honestly never seen anything like it. You don't give an end user and endless list of if..then..else conditions to get through a firmware upgrade, then leave out a third of the steps.

In the end I went form 1.18.1 to 2.04 in one step, but first I had to scavenge all the files from different places, and then make copies of some with different names to satisfy the initial firmware, etc, not knowing except by trial and error what release of what would work with the other files I collected. Why can't there be one damn image with the latest stuff, and any additional renaming, duplication, whatever in one SD image? That is exactly what I did but it took hours of misdirection to get there...

And then maybe have someone actually run through all the steps and make sure they ARE ALL WRITTEN DOWN...

This board cost me under $200 to buy, and nearly 10X that in my time just to get the stupid firmware update done.

After walking away from this for a bit it occurred to me that following those directions may have wiped my network configuration out without happening to mention that tidbit.

Sure enough, that was the last problem. I wouldn't ever recommend this process to anyone else, leave it be or buy a new one. I wasted a full day on this.

Whatever floats your boat.

Told you I'm done, its in the trash where it belongs. Thanks anyway.

After spending however many hours trying to do what I would have thought was a simple firmware upgrade I've come to the end of my rope with this thing.

I followed every set of directions to the letter. I went on a scavenger hunt for the latest needed files spread across multiple releases because nothing is properly organized so you can just do a single download and roll. And I have now got the latest code installed on a controller that will not start the wifi.

These directions are crap. Some of the missing steps I could figure out, like they start by telling you to disable the wifi in config, and never tell you to go back and remove the comment, or they tell you to just plug in the sd card and send the upgrade command, but make no mention that the card isn't reread till you power cycle so files will not be found.

What other steps are missing? I'm too old to keep torturing myself with trying to get this haphazard collection of ideas to work.

Thanks anyway...

Now what?? Right back to where I started, just stuck at a slightly later release:

M997 S2
Trying to connect at 460800 baud: success
Erasing 3125248 bytes...
Uploading file...
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Upload successful
ok
M115
FIRMWARE_NAME: RepRapFirmware for Duet WiFi FIRMWARE_VERSION: 1.18.1 ELECTRONICS: Duet WiFi 1.0 FIRMWARE_DATE: 2017-04-09
ok

I do not understand what you are telling me to do. I am on Duet WiFi FIRMWARE_VERSION: 1.18.1 ELECTRONICS: Duet WiFi 1.0 FIRMWARE_DATE: 2017-0

I need some actual direction here, if I'm supposed to pick and chose files between different releases, or files are misnamed or whatever I need actual directions that can be followed without bricking this thing again, that is assuming I can resist the urge to crush it with a sledgehammer.

Where do I find this please:

M997 S2
File DuetWebControl.bin not found
ok

I got this far, but still no wifi:

M115
FIRMWARE_NAME: RepRapFirmware for Duet WiFi FIRMWARE_VERSION: 1.18.1 ELECTRONICS: Duet WiFi 1.0 FIRMWARE_DATE: 2017-04-09
ok
M997 S1
Trying to connect at 460800 baud: success
Erasing 290848 bytes...
Uploading file...
5% complete
10% complete
15% complete
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Upload successful
ok

I followed the direction to reload (Recovery #3) up to a point and got USB back up.

Now here's the problem from the web page (Recovery #1):

"Also copy file iap4e.bin (for Duet WiFi/Ethernet) or iap4s.bin (for Duet Maestro) into /sys
If your board is a Duet WiFi, also copy the new DuetWiFiServer.bin file into /sys"

Any idea where I might find these two files because they are not on the 2.04RC1 files area on github.

Well, this is just awesome. The oldest I found was 1.18.1 and that install turned it into a brick, I can't get to it with terminal, web, or panel.