PI evaluation cumbersome

EngelenH · June 2018

First of I love the interface, the idea and the implementation.

Currently using Octoprint with reasonable success but I find the octoprint interface (especially the touchui) a little too user unfriendly especially for smaller touch screens (like the 3.5 adafruit one I have).

So I downloaded the Pi version of Repetier Server, flashed it to an 8gb card ... and it wouldn't even boot. Mind you I blame that one on the card. It's an old and slow card.

Then flashed it to a 32gb Lexor card, and it boots but no wifi showed up after 10 minutes so I decided to go move the pi (I use wireless because I have no network cables at it's normal location) upstairs and connect it to an ethernet cable. This worked. I started the trial went through a WLAN config. Installed the Adafruit display drivers (it's not HDMI but connected to GPIO) and admittedly messed up there by selecting the mirror HDMI option (this usually results in a scaled display mode with the touchscreen input not matching the screen). The PI reboots then and as expected the repetier UI appeared.

This is when it all went to hell in a handbasket. For some reason my Wifi router (and internet cable modem) suddenly started using a completely different address range. I assume it sensed an IP conflict and thus started using a different range to compensate. As the only thing going on at the time was me configuring repetier on the Pi I suspect both the modem and Pi were in conflict (not sure why)?

Worst of all the Repetier UI complained about needing a license but due to my own mistake I could not use the Touchscreen to try and fix it on the Pi directly. Of course with the modem and Pi also seemingly in conflict over IP ranges getting to the Pi remotely was also out of the question. Your basic catch 22 scenario it seems.

I guess my point is that having to struggle with both the experimental nature of something like a Raspberry PI and a licensing mechanism is a bit much.

I am not saying remove licensing, just make it so it is not an additional issue to have to deal with while you are trying to get the basics (i.e. the PI) running if that makes any sense.

Repetier · June 2018

I have no real idea how the pi should affect your wifi router. At start up it runs in AP mode and then you can connect to your wifi and it will use dhcp configured by the linux tool NetworkManager. We do not go into linux internal and just call known command line tools to configure linux wifi.

Regarding license screen. It has everything you need to get it running. It has a wlan config - exactly the same as when license is running. So you can set and check wifi config already there.

Or you configure wifi directly on the sd card when inserted in windows, see
https://www.repetier-server.com/knowledgebase/wlan-configuration-on-sd-card/
This is especially preferred if you have the display not working to configure it at start.

I know it is not all perfect, but there are so many configurations possible that there is no perfect preset that works for all.

EngelenH · June 2018

I think the conflict arose when it was running in AP mode or shortly after. I got onto the PI at the start and configured the Wifi connection (while it was hooked up with ethernet to the same router that does the wifi). Possibly both tried to play DHCP or decided to use the same IP. Not sure. The Wifi router probably noticed the conflict and switched to a fallback IP range. It's hard to tell. As soon as I switched of the PI and rebooted the router it went back to the default 192.168.0.0/255 range.

The WLAN configuration on SD-Card is a good tip though, thanks. I think on the whole this might be a safer option. Just preset the Wifi settings with a good text editor and let the Pi be a DHCP client only. Just my 2 cents worth. I would certainly add it to the PI image download page as I suspect most people will want to go that route.

Repetier · June 2018

Good idea to link the article in download page.

PI evaluation cumbersome

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