Ethernet and WiFi capabilities combined on one board
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I think it would be great if on the next version of the Duet has both WiFi and connectivity capabilities combined onto one board. If not this, maybe a break out board could be designed so that adding ethernet or WiFi to would be as easy and plugging in an expansion board.
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This is already planned in the gen3 board. See https://www.duet3d.com/duet3
Looks like it will have both wifi and ethernet on the main controller.
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Awesome! I hadn't seen that. Thanks for the head up
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@jckray @nhof which we put both on the concept board we showed at the TCT it is likely that we are going to have neither on the prototype we do next. That is because the majority of the feedback we got was that its best to have the Comms on a Linux single board computer. That allows for a better comms solution (easier to do things like HTTPS) that more people can program on and adapt to their needs, without having to get involved with the core motion firmware running on the Duet. Where we plan to do it differently from other printer controllers on raspi etc is that we are connecting the SBC to the Duet main board through a high speed SPI bus to ensure reliable and timely communications between them.
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Does this mean we'll essentially not be able to use the Duet without a SBC?
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@tlas said in Ethernet and WiFi capabilities combined on one board:
Does this mean we'll essentially not be able to use the Duet without a SBC?
Or, that a pre-configured one will be "included" with the 3?
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@TLAS @Danal the idea is to more the networking and UI onto the SBC so the Duet 3 wont have Networking built into the main board. I expect we will be providing either a SBC or a image to flash onto an SBC as part of the Duet 3 (or possibly both). One of the advantages of splitting them onto separate boards is that you are free to choose a more powerful SBC (with caveats on porting the SPI driver) that means users who want advanced functions like machine vision can have that.
Of course this is more expensive than an ESP8266 so thats one of the reasons why the Duet 3 will be more expensive than the Duet 2, at least to start with.
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I've been mulling it over quite a bit as to the advantages and disadvantages. I agree with the UI and networking aspects.
My main concern is primarily the space consumption. I think this could be eliminated by either including a SBC on the duet 3, or essentially spacing the board such that common SBCs can 'stack' on top of it.
Also - branding idea! Call it Duet Pi. (3.14...???)
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@t3p3tony said in Ethernet and WiFi capabilities combined on one board:
@TLAS @Danal the idea is to more the networking and UI onto the SBC so the Duet 3 wont have Networking built into the main board. I expect we will be providing either a SBC or a image to flash onto an SBC as part of the Duet 3 (or possibly both). One of the advantages of splitting them onto separate boards is that you are free to choose a more powerful SBC (with caveats on porting the SPI driver) that means users who want advanced functions like machine vision can have that.
Of course this is more expensive than an ESP8266 so thats one of the reasons why the Duet 3 will be more expensive than the Duet 2, at least to start with.
Optional Pre-Built board, optional image... sounds like the right way to go-to-market!
