Maybe (another) stoopid question

[Turbojoe]

I swap SD cards out so much between the printer and the computer that card readers are failing. I've done a little searching and have come up empty do far. OK, so we have micro SD card slot extenders for the Ender 3. What about a microSD card slot adapter cable TO USB? Then I can keep everything on a flash drive. If it's out there I haven't found it. If you have please post a link!

Joe

 

[JasonK]

I would just get a rasberry PI and run OctoPrint on it. Then no moving cards around at all.

 

[Turbojoe]

I would just get a rasberry PI and run OctoPrint on it. Then no moving cards around at all.

I do have a PI in a Raspad but I struggle with Linux otherwise I'd never run Windows again on any of my computers. I just don't want to spend hours learning Linux. IF they would just drop the archaic DOS era command lines and use .exe "type" self installing files like Windows I'd convert in a heartbeat and I'm sure millions of others would as well! I'm not a computer nerd so I don't commit command lines to memory. I know Linux is awesome AND free but it's still just not intuitive enough for me.

Joe

 

[JasonK]

hahahahahaha... 'archaic DOS era command lines..... HAHAHAHAHA... Unix predated DOS and LInux's CLI is much closer to Unix (the whole POSIX stuff)... (but then again I find the 'GUI' type stuff to be wasteful in many siutations as it is ridiculously slow for many tasks)

that said... setting up OctoPrint is as easy as flashing the SD card with the OctoPrint 'build', putting it in the RasberryPI, connecting a few cables and turning it on.

 

[Turbojoe]

hahahahahaha... 'archaic DOS era command lines..... HAHAHAHAHA... Unix predated DOS and LInux's CLI is much closer to Unix (the whole POSIX stuff)... (but then again I find the 'GUI' type stuff to be wasteful in many siutations as it is ridiculously slow for many tasks)

that said... setting up OctoPrint is as easy as flashing the SD card with the OctoPrint 'build', putting it in the RasberryPI, connecting a few cables and turning it on.

I hate the Raspad as the touchscreen sucks. That means I'd have to buy a monitor and keyboard to have at the printer right? Basically add a computer to the printer just to use Linux. Not gonna happen. Easiest and cheapest for me would be what I'm really looking for. Just a simple and cheap adapter FROM micro SD to USB if it exists. I don't need to overcomplicate things. Call me a Luddite if you will.....

Joe

 

[Pony1023]

Don't feel bad I haven't made the switch yet either, but I've been debating about it.

From what I understand, you shouldn't need another Keyboard, mouse and screen. OctoPrint is accessible via web-page or web-interface, once it's up and running on the home network. So you can "drive" OctoPrint from your windows machine (assuming you don't bork the communication setup, then you might have to "borrow" your KVMs or re-image the RasPi.

Either way it's a personal choice to do, or not to do. Some like it, some don't. Some printers don't always play "nice" with OctoPrint from what I have read and understand. And to be fair, it's not always the printer hardware, or OctoPrint's fault. But it's been reported to be caused by the firmware updates for a printer. One of the drawbacks of using Open source, and "free" stuff. (OctoPrint is technically free, but a donation for continued development is encouraged).

Hope this info helps you TurboJoe.

 

[skymaster]

wana give this a try ? https://www.wish.com/product/5cdd02...6gIVUdbACh0jugusEAQYBSABEgIUDPD_BwE&share=web

 

[Turbojoe]

All the workarounds are just too time consuming for such a simple operation. I know Linux is superior to Windows but I don't want to devote a bunch of time to it just so I can print a frigging 3D file. That's just insane. ALL I WANT is IF it even exists is an adapter FROM the SD card port to allow me to use a USB drive. No new operating systems, no extraneous B.S. involved. Just an adapter cable is all I ask. If it doesn't exist then I'm fine with that and I will continue as I have been. I don't want to make this any harder than it has to be. Any more than 2-3 clicks means it needs work.

Joe

 

[Ranger_107]

I swap SD cards out so much between the printer and the computer that card readers are failing. I've done a little searching and have come up empty do far. OK, so we have micro SD card slot extenders for the Ender 3. What about a microSD card slot adapter cable TO USB? Then I can keep everything on a flash drive. If it's out there I haven't found it. If you have please post a link!

Joe

oooo I hade that problem when we first got our ender 3 which was pretty recently. It stopped working but luckily I had a nicer reader at hand.

 

[Turbojoe]

wana give this a try ? https://www.wish.com/product/5cdd025e2e33a70fe773d477?hide_login_modal=true&from_ad=goog_shopping&_display_country_code=US&_force_currency_code=USD&pid=googleadwords_int&c={campaignId}&ad_cid=5cdd025e2e33a70fe773d477&ad_cc=US&ad_lang=EN&ad_curr=USD&ad_price=4.00&campaign_id=7203534630&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm_Km2ZHQ6gIVUdbACh0jugusEAQYBSABEgIUDPD_BwE&share=web

Now THAT looks promising. Any idea if they ship from USA? Very little info on the web page so I'm guessing China. Good price though. Maybe an option if I can find more usable info.

Joe

 

[JasonK]

I hate the Raspad as the touchscreen sucks. That means I'd have to buy a monitor and keyboard to have at the printer right? Basically add a computer to the printer just to use Linux. Not gonna happen. Easiest and cheapest for me would be what I'm really looking for. Just a simple and cheap adapter FROM micro SD to USB if it exists. I don't need to overcomplicate things. Call me a Luddite if you will.....

Joe

There isn't going to be a simple item that lets you plug in a USB drive into a SD card as a SD card is just 'memory' while USB is a serial interface with some more complicated stuff... Someone _could_ possibly create a computer device that pretends to be an SD card and then can mount a USB data storage device and 'pass through' the data. But it isn't likely, nor does it make sense as the SD card is less complicated... people just used the SD card and use a USB SD card reader if needed.


Trust me... OctoPrint was the _best_ thing I did for my 3D printer... now it is a few clicks to print something instead of a whole mess of work.

 

[jhitesma]

I actually went back to SD after using octoprint becuase while I hate getting up to sneakernet the card...I found it to be more relaible and less troublesome. I've been using the same SD card for almost 4 years in the same reader I've had for 8 years with no issues. So, surprised to hear you've had multiple failures like that. My card reader is just a cheapie I got at walmart on a trip when I realized I had forgot my usual one at home.

There are the Toshiba FlashAir cards which have WIFI built in and let you mount them as a drive over wifi. But I've heard mixed results using them in printers. Not sure how the creality would react to one. I know some people use them with printers...but I seem to recall there were tweaks to Marlin to get them to work well. I could be remembering wrong though. The Prusa blog says it should work with anything that uses a SD card: https://blog.prusaprinters.org/easy-wireless-printing-with-flashair-sd-cards_8603/

The Prusa firmware apparently just makes it a bit easier to get setup by showing you the IP address of the card when it's active.