[Retroplayer]

Really, it exposes the flaws we mentioned earlier in instructions. Difficult to think of everything.

(86) refers to 586 or 486, etc... Really it just means "hey this is OLD stuff!!" Windows 7 likes to be 64 bit, but has a 32 bit compatibility mode for the old stuff.

Ok, so you found the Arduino folder. But we are not dragging and dropping the files.

You want to select the 3 folders in the library folder, right click, and pick COPY. Then go to the Arduino folder, open the libraries folder, and then right click on some white space and choose PASTE.

You are adding those three folders from the Marlin download to the libraries folder in the Arduino.

Does the Arduino folder also have another folder named projects? That might be something also different on Windows 7.

[buddydog]

Retro your dealing with an idiot on this subject. I'm the guy who you tell to go check the voltage and he says "yeah yeah I will check the voltage" but he doesn't have a clue what the difference between voltage, current and resistance is.
Building up one of these programs spread throughout the computer seems beyond my comprehension. Am I supposed to get these other programs (library and marlin) into a program called arduino? Can I just "drop" them on top of the program called arduino? Do they find their own way to where they belong? I have an ace in the hole in my old college buddy that eats this stuff up.I may get him on the phone and "cheat"once more on this stuff.

[buddydog]

We are posting at the same time.I'll try what you said in #41 and be back.Can I buy you and Rolf a drink?

[buddydog]

Ok that seemed to work and miracle of miracle it appeared I already had put those in that library's file apparently through drag and drop because I had to keep saying replace. For what it's worth that first library's file had 2 other entrys before the thre whatever's .0 and .1 I clicked .0and it had crystal something and 2 more, highlighted those thre and copyied, and then putthose in the librarys folder in the arduino. Whew have no idea what I did or why. Now to tackle the marlin.I'll follow your directions on that and see if I do better.

[Retroplayer]

To make things a little simpler, you don't NEED to copy the Marlin folder to the Arduino/projects folder. It just makes things more tidy. You can just double click on Marlin.ino in the Marlin folder where you downloaded it. It will open in the Arduino IDE.

But you can't get much farther until you have the RAMPS board.

If you double click on the marlin.ino, you can click on the CHECK MARK icon in the Arduino IDE to do a verify and make sure you have all the right bits in all the right places. You can do that without the RAMPS board.

[buddydog]

No joy. I copied the marlin folder (I didn't open it and copy all the files in it), I just right clicked on marlin folder and hit copy, then tried to find "C:\Program Files\Arduino\Projects" It wasn't anywhere I could find? Am I supposed to make that myself?

[buddydog]

To make things a little simpler, you don't NEED to copy the Marlin folder to the Arduino/projects folder. It just makes things more tidy. You can just double click on Marlin.ino in the Marlin folder where you downloaded it. It will open in the Arduino IDE.

But you can't get much farther until you have the RAMPS board.

I'll go try that

[buddydog]

Marlin h, marlin, marlin main.cpp marlin, serial.cpp,marlinserial.h but no marlin .ini

[Rolf_K]

I am about to bite the bullet, because I found this:
3D Printer Mega 2560 RepRap Ramps 1 4 A4988 Driver Endstop LCD 12864 B | eBay
At $50 it seems like a very good buy and now that I know that help and a free drink is available, I just had to sleep on it :-)
By the way nothing has been said about adding additional memory in the SD slot.

[buddydog]

So when my ramps gets here what do I "open" I have an arduino thing on my desktop, but I have to start a marlin separately?

[buddydog]

I am about to bite the nail, because I found this:
3D Printer Mega 2560 RepRap Ramps 1 4 A4988 Driver Endstop LCD 12864 B | eBay
At $50 it seems like a very good buy and now that I know that help and a free drink is available, I just had to sleep on it :-)
By the way nothing has been said about adding additional memory in the slot.

Damn you Rolf! Don't start with the memory. I'm in over my head here anyway. Also I paid 71$ for that thing two days ago and I didn't get any cables!. Now I'm really ticked ;-)

[buddydog]

Ok I went back to my marlin folder and hit plain "marlin" which had the arduino logo next to it, and it opened arduino so I guess it must have loaded laser stuff into the arduino program? If I had my ramps perhaps I could "upload"a laser configuration to it?

[Retroplayer]

Yep. The Arrow icon would send it to the RAMPS board if you had it connected.

The check mark icon will do a verify, which basically will check to make sure it can compile without any errors. You can do that right now while you have it open. You don't need the RAMPS board connected

[buddydog]

I hit the checkmark icon and a little bar moves across and turns orange and say it has errors.? Also my computer screen has turned blue a couple of times and turned off after posting a page about some error in windows.It restarts but I am worried. I don't think it has anything to do this programming. HP replaced a hard drive in it two weeks ago and I am afraid it's going again. I may disappear on you guys. I guess I'm done until the ramps shows up anyway. Thanks again for all this Retro.!

[ELaser]

I hit the checkmark icon and a little bar moves across and turns orange and say it has errors.? Also my computer screen has turned blue a couple of times and turned off after posting a page about some error in windows.It restarts but I am worried. I don't think it has anything to do this programming. HP replaced a hard drive in it two weeks ago and I am afraid it's going again. I may disappear on you guys. I guess I'm done until the ramps shows up anyway. Thanks again for all this Retro.!

On Your PC

Start button > control panel > administrative tools > computer management - new window will pop up

left tab click to expand

event viewer > windows logs > system

look at the error logs one at a time, copy and paste what it says into google, event viewer is THE first place to go to diagnose a windows system.

[Retroplayer]

I am about to bite the bullet, because I found this:
3D Printer Mega 2560 RepRap Ramps 1 4 A4988 Driver Endstop LCD 12864 B | eBay
At $50 it seems like a very good buy and now that I know that help and a free drink is available, I just had to sleep on it :-)
By the way nothing has been said about adding additional memory in the SD slot.

The SD slot is used so you can save your G-Code files to it and then place it in the machine and print without being connected to the computer. You can also store often used g-code there to start on demand. We'll get to it

The only difference in the one that you found vs. the one Buddy and I have been discussing is the stepper drivers. The one you linked to does 16 microsteps and the one Buddy and I are discussing does 32 microsteps. What that means is that for every 'step' of the stepper motors, the one sends 16 pulses, and the other sends 32. The extra steps means better holding torque, faster speeds (in some cases), and more resolution. But the laser is only so precise anyway, so it may not really matter.

[buddydog]

Thanks for the windows instruction. I'll check that later. The sd slot should be just like 3d printer and that was one of the reasons I want to go this way. Right now I have my spare laptop attached to the laser. After this is figured out if it works ok it will follow any laser I buy in the future. No more dongle! Retro you made me feel a little better that "ours" is better than the one Rolf posted but I would have bought that one if I had seen it. I think I bought a couple spare steppers for my 3d printer so I'm gonna play when the ramps gets here.
My rivet job went better this afternoon thank to some other advice on another forum. Maybe I'll start on the real thing tomorrow and make some 2024 expensive scrap. Only about 1000 ea of 3/32 x 3/16 rivets (the kind that bend over instead of smashing correctly if everything isn't perfect.) in these things and every one has to be perfect! No big deal.

[buddydog]

Windows 7 doers not have that apparently. I did find some things but it wants me to update mccafe and I don't like doing that cause I think it puts more ads on the machine?

[ELaser]

Windows 7 doers not have that apparently. I did find some things but it wants me to update mccafe and I don't like doing that cause I think it puts more ads on the machine?

Win7 DOES have that

alternative method

press windows key and R simultaneously

box will pop up

type in

eventvwr.exe

press enter / return

event viewer window will open directly

[buddydog]

Win7 DOES have that

alternative method

press windows key and R simultaneously


box will pop up

type in

eventvwr.exe

press enter / return

event viewer window will open directly

That worked! Thank you I'll go explore it.