Repetier Host 2.0

ruggb

The only thing I like, so far, is the movement controls. Makes it much easier to handle.

What I really don't like it the size of the lettering for the current temp. It is an improvement but maybe only good for young eyes. How about doubling the font size. There is plenty of room.

The fact that when things are on, extruder, bed, fan, the color change from black to blue is very hard to discern especially if your pointer is still over the icon. Making on = red would be a lot easier to see and infinitely more obvious.

It is about usability, isn't it??

Repetier

Actually the temperature font size is at maximum. Also it looks like there is plenty room above, I can not use it for letters here. Some constriction from winforms that the control content needs to be inside it's own rectangle. If I make it bigger it adds spacing to the boxes so everything needs more space. If that is too small, watch the bottom of the host windows in the status bar. There you also see temperatures much bigger.

Regarding on/off I will discuss with our designer. Maybe we can make a stripe across the icon if disabled to pronounce it a bit more.

Doug40

I have to agree with most of the comments of ruggb above.

I don't have an issue with font sizes as much as I dislike, correction -- detest, the overall reduction in contrast, and thus readability, of the page. I have seen this lately in other applications, and I can honestly say that IMO reducing the contrast of a page containing text that is intended to be read by humans has to be the work of someone who views such displays as a fashion element or piece of art rather than a tool to convey technical information to humans.

In the short time I have spent using V2.0, the only technical improvement that I have noticed is the addition of the Prusa Edition of Slic3r. I like the new controls in the manual mode, but the discomfort I experience using it makes it second choice compared to V1.6.2.

I haven't seen a change log, so I don't what else I might be missing, but I don't think I will be using V2.0 for long. I'm going to be using the Prusa Edition of Slic3r and the current Cura Engine with Host V1.62 on my high-usage computer and leave Host V2.0 on the computer that drives the printer and nothing else. And, it is only going to stay on that computer until I convince myself that that there's nothing I can't live without in V2.0.

dmkmedia

is it just me or if you have 2 extruders they apear side by side and not underneith each other like on the last version

kkava

Print Preview doesn't show any 3D content. Just a blank cube, regardless of if I import gcode or slice from within Repetier Host. The printing statistics show the correct figures, it's just the 3D graphics are missing. Any suggestions?

The previous version (1.6.2?) worked fine. It's gone now though... I wasn't expecting it to be uninstalled without prompting.

UPDATE: For some reason, the "Filament visualization" is disabled by default in the fresh install. Clicking on it enabled the filament visualization. That should be fixed.

Repetier

@dmkmedia We had one user with the same problem and could not reproduce it on several computers. The user reported that after reinstallation it was ok. Actually both have fill option top so the layout manager should position them below, but for some reason doesn't do it for you.

Have you tried what happens if you say 3 or 4 extruders?

BTW: This part is unchanged from last release.

Doug40

kkava said:

The previous version (1.6.2?) worked fine. It's gone now though... I wasn't expecting it to be uninstalled without prompting.
If you are using the Windows version and it is really gone and not available on other sites, send me a PM. A quick search shows there is a portable version of 1.6.2 available on more than one site.

briankb

Glad to hear someone speak up about the font sizing and contrast. Just today I went looking for the preferences to hopefully up the font size. I have host and soon server running on a small 8" windows 10 tablet ($89!) and it's hard to hit the host's fan on/off or any of the buttons. I understand the limits of winforms but maybe there can be two modes touch and normal. And now that someone has pointed it out I agree about the toned down contrast. The look of v2 is nice but a little more contrast would help it even more.

Doug40

I generally like the look of the manual controls in V2.0 and the general icon design. However, I find the use of at least some of the manual controls is inferior to V1.6. The ones I stumbled with were the pushbuttons to turn on/off the bed heater and extruder heater(s).

In V1.6, when the heater controls are toggled, there is a red diagonal line through each pushbutton that either turns on of off depending upon the operation, giving you clear feedback that the an operation was performed. This is good design.

V2.0 only changes the color of the icon, and there is not a clear indication that you really did anything until you move away from it. Several times I found myself repeating an option because I didn't do what I thought I did.

I got the feeling that the Tool Tips stayed visible as long as the pointer hovered over the control. If I'm correct, this a great improvement. I was frustrating to try to read some of the long and complex tips when they disappeared after a few seconds.

I'm likely done commenting on V2.0 for now as I reinstalled V1.6.2. It was like putting on an old pair of shoes, but I know I'll install a later version.

Repetier

Good news is that our designer send me new icons with different icon for off so that it willbe easy to see difference in next release. Also we increased contrast for text to make it more readable.

Doug40

Good news indeed, I'll be looking forward to the next release. The contrast thing is an easy trap to fall into; it seems to be popular recently, and those implementing it probably have the eyes of a 20-year-old. There is a similar but opposite trap that people who post photos on sale sites often fall into. That is placing a dark-toned object on a white background when photographing it. The camera, not having a human brain attached to it, most times will underexpose the object of interest, resulting in exactly the opposite of what they were trying to show.

Doug40

There is another thing I forgot to mention, and that is the fact that V2.0 changed information displayed on my printer during a print. I didn't look hard enough to see if there was a way to disable it. I like to see what is going on in the printer, and V2.0 replaced that with something I don't want and don't need. The new display didn't present any information that wasn't available elsewhere, but prevented display of the normal data displayed by Repetier FW 1.0 Dev.

Pardon my editorializing, but this also seems to be trend that I've noticed lately, "the mother-knows-best-syndrome".

Repetier

I think you mean the print status with filename and progress bar. That is something printer vendors really like as it shows things a novice can understand. Actually it is the firmware showing this - only thing is host know knows printer wants this and sends the data required. If you look into Commands.cpp in firmware you find this:

#if FEATURE_CONTROLLER != NO_CONTROLLER

Com::cap(PSTR("PROGRESS:1"));

#else

Com::cap(PSTR("PROGRESS:0"));

#endif

If progress is returned 0 it will not send these data and stick to the screen you are used to see. Maybe I should add a config option to select if you want it or not:-)

lucassiglo21

there is another annoying thing in v2.0..the fact that you made everything too white makes very hard to use at night/in a dark environment..the color theme is too light.

Doug40

Repetier said:

I think you mean the print status with filename and progress bar. That is something printer vendors really like as it shows things a novice can understand. Actually it is the firmware showing this - only thing is host know knows printer wants this and sends the data required. . . . . . 


Maybe I should add a config option to select if you want it or not:-)

I certainly understand a manufacturer wanting to make their product less tech-scary for novices and I think it is the right thing to do. At the same time I'm sure there are a lot of folks like me that would welcome the option to select the original data display.

Repetier

Unfortunately it is not themeable. Changing theme takes 2 month. It is not a webpage where a different css makes it look different. We have nearly 1500 image files that needs to get replaced and as I said the system used does not support theming so this is not an option. We will improve the icons to make things more clear.

mgros

When I try to load an amf file, the program displays the following error "The givenkey was not found in the dictionary" and does not load the multi-material 3d model.
With 1.6.2 this did not happen.

Can you help me?

Repetier

Wait for 2.0.1 where we fixed it. Problem is the Name metaata which is written Name and we expect now "name" as slic3r 1.3 generates it. Will come very soon.

IGOR

Hello everybody. I do not start a new version of Repetier Host 2.0.1. It opens a window and immediately closes it with an error. I looked into the memory dump, this is an application error. Win7 x64 / Help. The combination of the application with Slic3r Prusia

Repetier

Are you talking about prusa slicer or why do you pronounce it? What is the error message?