June 19, 2010
 

RepRap Host on OSX Snow Leopard

After seeing Renoir's blog post about how he got the Java RepRap Host software working in OSX, I figured I'd give it another try.  I had given up on it and installed Ubuntu on an old PC, but it's kind of slow and I was having issues with 3D applications through VNC to it... anyway, Renoir's solution got me working, but was kind of ugly.  I think I figured out a better way to do it.  Here's the steps:

svn co https://reprap.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/reprap/trunk/reprap/host

cd host

./host-package-release

cd release/reprap-mendel-20100620

curl -O http://iharder.sourceforge.net/current/java/librxtxSerial.jnilib

./reprap

Preferences -> Port(name): /dev/tty.usbserial-FTESF4XM

Might need to exit and restart ./reprap

Your port name may or may not be the same, I don't know.  There are a few graphical glitches and I'm not entirely sure if everything is working since I don't actually have a complete Mendel yet, nor have I actually used the RepRap host software before, so I don't know if the glitches I'm seeing are normal or not.  However, I was able to test the electronics, controlled a stepper motor, and was able to load an STL file.  I'm waiting for mouser to deliver the last few connectors I need to wire my Mendel up this week.  I'll find out if it works then.

Filed under  //   java   osx   reprap  

Comments (13)

Jun 20, 2010
 said...
Thanks :-)
Looking at it again fresh in the morning gives you a much better perspective.
Fixed my post to reference yours - much cleaner
:-)
Jun 20, 2010
stevew said...
Check out June 18's ReplicatorG 0017 written by many of the same people, appears the two are converging. 0017 now includes Skeinforge, graphic rendering of STL files and compiles commented gcode. I tried it yesterday (failed on a 10.5.8 PPC laptop), it runs well on OS X 10.6.4 (Intel). I've been using 0016 to drive my Mendel, but have yet to dial in machines.xml - I used SAE 5/16" all thread for Z-axis lead screws.
Jun 20, 2010
Tony Buser said...
Wow, RepRap Host is slooooooow. I managed to get RepSnapper to compile on OSX which I've heard is a lot faster. However, RepSnapper connects and then immediately times out. It also crashed when I tried to convert an STL to GCODE. I'm glad to hear ReplicatorG may work with Mendel, I'll have to give that a try. I'm really hoping a native OSX app like Pleasant3D makes some progress soon, since that looks like the best solution.
Jun 20, 2010
Adam said...
What does your RepRap_Machine field (in Preferences) read? I messed mine up...
Jun 20, 2010
Tony Buser said...
RepRap_Machine is GCodeRepRap. If you delete ~/.reprap/reprap.properties it should create a new one with the defaults.
Jun 27, 2010
Kulitorum said...
RepSnapper supposedly works on OSX - please goto #repsnapper on the same irc server as #reprap and ask - they will help you.
Jul 07, 2010
bobbo said...
great stuff thanks for the help. I had to change cd release/reprap-mendel-20100620 to the current folder which was for me release/reprap-mendel-20100707 other than that i just copied your commands into terminal one at a time and everything worked. thanks can we reference this page on the reprap wiki? happy to add it. I can't run replicatg because we have a stepper extruder and replicat g doesn't support it yet. So we use repsnapper on the pc's but wanted to run the reprap host on the mac as an alternative.
Jul 07, 2010
Tony Buser said...
@bobbo sure no problem. By the way, the latest release from http://blog.reprap.org/2010/06/new-release.html works on OSX without needing to recompile it. You just have to download http://iharder.sourceforge.net/current/java/librxtxSerial.jnilib into the root directory.
Jul 08, 2010
bobbo said...
Thanks Tony,  I put the information here. http://reprap.org/wiki/DriverSoftware#Mac  I did my best to explain it hopefully it was enough.   thanks for your help. I hope you get your printer working  We have been building a bertha sized machine for the last 7 months and it's just now starting to print and I wanted to run the host software from my mac not some old PC I had laying around. So I appreciated your post. thanks again. bobb
bobbhansen@mac.com




Apr 09, 2011
Kevin said...
Reading posts like this makes me feel so out of my element when nobody else seems to have trouble, but I'm hitting a snag following your directions. I'm just copy and pasting your terminal commands, but I get an error after I paste in "./host-package-release":

ERROR: directory ../mendel not found

I'm guessing that some directory/folder/files have changed a bit and this no longer maps correctly. This brings me to a couple questions I have when trying to do things manually without terminal:

1) When ./reprap is referenced, is that the same thing as clicking on reprap.jar in the latest release folder (reprap-mendel-20110207)?
2) From those instructions, it looks like I just put the librxtxSerial.jnilib file into the latest release folder and magically things will work the next time I click on reprap.jar

Can anyone see what I'm missing and point me in the right direction?

Apr 09, 2011
Tony Buser said...
It's been a while since I've tried reprap host (I've since switched to mostly RepSnapper or occasionally trying ReplicatorG, neither of which are really simple to get working either)  I believe reprap host still doesn't include the correct librxtxSerial.jnilib in the distribution, but I believe you can just get the latest release and download that file instead of building your own host package release.
Apr 12, 2011
stevew said...
Haven't done anything with my Mendel in a while, stalled on heated build surface.

Struggled early with librxtxSerial.jnilib locations and versions; however, the correct library comes with the Makerbot source RepRap host stuff and has for several generations./Applications/replicatorg-0017-mac/ReplicatorG.app/Contents/Resources/Java/librxtxSerial.jnilib
/Applications/replicatorg-0018-mac/ReplicatorG.app/Contents/Resources/Java/librxtxSerial.jnilib
/Applications/replicatorg-0021-mac/ReplicatorG.app/Contents/Resources/Java/librxtxSerial.jnilib<\code> I have 17 versions of this library on my iMac. An Intel Mac mini running ReplicatorG.app on Makerbot Electronics (v2.3?) prints gears (that warp due to lack of heated bed).

Apr 20, 2011
Kevin said...
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of ReplicatorG. I've abandoned trying to mess with the RepRap host and I definitely wouldn't have gotten my motors working if it weren't for ReplicatorG. This has been a MAJOR step forward in this project for me. Thanks!

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