My new computer

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
I want to put a computer at every main machine, starting with the CNC machines, in our new shop. It's a lot easier to edit code on a regular computer with a conventional keyboard instread of using the CNC machine console. I also want to make sure that an operator can be tied into the WiFi network so they can access drawings and other data about the job they are running. Right now I can't afford $400 each for a bunch of laptops and quite honestly I don't want the bulk and hassle of having a full computer when 90% of the time all that is needed is a video display. With a touchscreen monitor and the proper software you don't even need a keyboard or mouse.

When I saw my son (a coder and project manager for a business software firm) at Thanksgiving and told him what I wanted to accomplish he told me to "buy a Raspberry Pi and set it up. Tape it to the back of your monitor." Ok, I checked out Raspberry Pi and ended up buying one.

RPi was developed in England as a kit computer for hobbyists and students. All the basic computer functions on one board. It is now up to the Version 4 model B and it's a honey. It has a 1.5Ghz processor, 2 Gbyte RAM, 4 USB ports, an Ethernet cable port, a power input port, a micro SD card reader, two micro HDMI ports (it can drive two monitors!) built in Bluetooth, built in WiFI, and a 40 pin connector for hobbyists to do custom things with. There is no hard drive, the Linux based operating system is on the micro SD card. Supposedly it boots up in seconds.

I bought the computer ($56), keyboard ($15), mouse ($8), case ($7), 16 Gb micro SD card loaded with all the software($15), and power supply ($8) for about $135 after tax and shipping. I have a flat screen monitor that I plan to use to set it up, tomorrow I have to get a micro HDMI to HDMI cable. Once I set it up I can reuse the mouse and keyboard to set up other machines.

In the future, if I can get the touchscreen software to work properly there would normally never be any need to have a keyboard and mouse at a machine.

Here is a picture of all the hardware:

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For a size comparison my new Raspberry Pi 4 mod B compared to my HP11C calculator laying on 5 squares to the inch engineering graph paper.:

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fiver

Well-Known Member
old school,,, new tech... chuckle.

I'm still in utter amazement that that little box will tell a machine how to make a precision part with holes and tolerances in the same place every time a new chunk of metal is locked in it's grip.
 

Ian

Notorious member
The only exposure I have to the RPi was about 5-6 years ago a college buddy came for a visit and was running an entire MMO game through one from my ethernet to my big flat screen tv. He had his keyboard and mouse hooked in to the little 1" square board and it just chugged away....with more processing power than his whole tower gaming computer at the time. He said he gave $25 for it from Parts Express.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
These single board computers are so cheap and so complete that somebody with way more knowledge than me could use them to do almost anything. Somebody posted about a new automated powder measure from RCBS. Wouldn't surprise me if there is one of these or an equivalent brand stuck inside the box running the thing. The only thing the Pi doesn't have yet is the Near Field Communication that allows data transmission from new smartphones and such at point of sale or to read glucose monitors.

For our use I think I can come up with a fully functional touchscreen computer for about $150 per workstation. I plan to watch the ads right after Christmas for clearance sales on monitors.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
When I think back to the first computer I ever saw circa 1980/81, a Tandy TRS-80 IIRC, that took up most of one side of a medium sized office, I am amazed at what we have now. Our first computer was a Gateway in '97, came with Win 98 and all the bells and whistles of the day. We bought it so my wife could do her Masters work on it. $2800.00. We could get a picture via email and it would download in a mere 45-90 minutes! In 5 years we loaded Win ME on it and then XP I think. By then it was so slow, small and outdated (it still had a floppy drive!) that it was overloaded. I still have a couple games on CD floating around for the old computer that won't even play on my laptop with out converting the OS to some old version, something I tried once and got so nervous I gave up the idea. It's absolutely amazing what we have access to today. It's also a bit concerning, but that will take me into politics, so I'll stop there.

I caught the Linux based system part Keith. I'm stone age as far as tech goes, but even I can see the open source guys being the wave of the future, which means the big boys will fight them. That takes me back to politics, so enough of that. Looks like a winner to me!
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
Got it hooked up and running. The first thing I did was call the local industrial electronics supply store and checked that they had a micro HDMI to HDMI cable for the monitor. As soon as I told the sales associate that I had a RPi and a flat screen monitor he said "and you need the right video cable don't you". Yep. "We got a 6' one in stock for $8.50." When I picked it up I talked to the clerk and found out that they sell RPis and all the accessories, and that I could have saved about $35 and 3 days if I had just gone there to start with. Plus another clerk there is getting an EE from the local U and loves to play with RPis and if I ever need help just talk to him. The crazier the application the more he likes to play with things.

So now I have a local source for both parts and assistance. Sweet!

The micro-SD card I bought was bad, so when I first hooked everything up nothing worked. I plugged the card into my PC and it couldn't read it so I reformatted it and then spent 1-1/2 hours downloading the latest software. While that was going on I went to the Office Depot that is 1/2 mile away and bought another blank micro-SD card. By the time I got back the software had downloaded so I copied it to both SD cards. I used the one I just bought and inserted it into the RPI with the power off. When I turned the power on everything came up and the installation of the operating system began. It took a little while but was uneventful. After that I logged into our WiFi and updated all the software, this is pretty common and insures that you get all the latest drivers, antivirus files, etc. Took a little while but again totally wothout problems.

The thing now works just like any other computer but it starts up a lot faster. No mechanical drive. And a lot of free software. There is an Office suite equivalent that will open Word, Excel, etc files. There is a web browser (Chromium) that is a slight variant of Chrome, it's a Google product and I know some folks don't like Google, but I use Chrome and have several Gmail accounts and quite honestly having the equivalent software across platforms is fine with me. There is of course a lot of programming type software (Python, C++, for example) because it is a product originally intended for the educational/training market, but you don't need to use it.

I think I'm going to have fun with this. I think it will do what I wanted to do for the new shop.

I would NOT recommend this if you are uncomfortable working with a fully setup computer. On the other hand, it is easy enough if you have a little help or a little experience working with computers. Remember that middle school kids are using these things in their STEM classes, they are totally plug in and go, no soldering, no DIP switches, no jumpers. And cheap.

The apprentice was looking at it at lunch and said "twenty years ago who would have thought cheeseburgers would be $10 and computers would be $100?"

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Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Speaking of the new shop . . . . Been a couple of weeks since we got an update and curious (ok, nosey) people just gotta know. :)
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Ya know, something like that might be just the ticket for guys like me that only use a computer for web browsing, Quicken and email. This laptop has given my the "Blue Screen Of Death" a few times and I really don't want to spend $300 on another one with Win 10 and all the crap I don't want. Interesting ideas Keith!
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
I've read that the Raspberry Pi system is now the third most popular PC system, behind Windows and Mac. I think a lot of that is because they are used around the world as teaching tools, and the low cost encourages bulk purchases. On the other hand, compared to either Win or Mac there is a lot less software for the RPi, and fewer big name companies writing it. There is enough software to do most of the things people want to do, but a lot less of it and not as much economics-driven competition to improve it. There is a web browser and an email program that comes with it but I don't know about Quicken or a clone.

I wanted to have a way to edit CNC programs and allow access to information such as drawings and notes at every principal workstation at low cost and that objective has been met. There is a lot more we can and probably will do with them.

I'm still trying to load some printer drivers. It isn't nearly as easy to do things like this as it is on a Win/Mac. It is basically a Linux system, you have to do some things in a program called Terminal, which is like using the old DOS command line interface. It's odd, the system itself seems like a step forward in computer hardware and a step backward in software user interface. Like working with a command line mainframe housed in a cigarette pack.

I plan to buy a new Win computer as the main office PC, I have several key programs that will only run on a Windows machine. Probably get one with all the guts housed in a big flat screen display. Got an older desktop short tower PC that I will install the RPi x86 desktop version of the Linux OS and use it as a server hub for all the RPis in the shop. It would be nice if the RPis could access a network printer but its no deal breaker as long as I can print using the main PC.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
Well, it took all morning but I finally got our wireless HP 8600 printer to work with the RPi. The next unit will take 30-40 minutes. Plan to buy a new printer when I get a new main PC so I will check out the list of available printer drivers when I go shopping and buy one that is supported. Lots of HP drivers on the list, I've always had good luck w/their printers and there are a lot of places to buy them.

By the way, the printer installer software is an Apple product, turns out the Mac OS is graphical overlay of a Linux (or Unix?) based system and their software was developed to add printers to Macs.