Networking

[Toby]

This is somewhat off topic, but I figured there's a good chance someone here knows the best way to do this...

I have an old laptop connected to my M2 that I use for slicing and printing. My modeling is done on a different laptop. The annoyance I'm trying to eliminate is in getting the models from the one to the other. I've used an SD card, email, and tried Windows home network, but each has it's downsides.

What I want is a networked hard drive that is always accessible from both PC's, but not dependent on the internet being up, and not dependent on both PC's being awake. The wireless router I have is supplied by my ISP and I'm not sure if there are some limitations in it. At least Windows Home Network seemed to have some problems.

I want something simple. Is there an easy way to do this, say with a Raspberry PI?

[jsc]

Probably the easiest solution is to use a router connected drive. What model is your wireless router? Many models have the ability to take a USB external drive and make it available to Windows.

If that is not possible, you have a few options. One is to get your own wireless router. Another is to get a standalone "NAS" box, which is basically a drive with a little embedded computer. A third is to DIY a NAS with a RaspberryPi and a drive. Cheaper, but requires some know how, or at least strong Google-fu.

A friend of mine got a "plug computer" and raves about it, you might check those out as well. The one he got is called the Tonido plug.

[Toby]

The router brand is Zyxel P-660-HN-51. It's got 4 ethernet ports, with one of them labeled "WAN" as well, but no USB ports. They have a manual and apparently some way to configure it through a web app, but I'm not clear on what can be done with it. A usb SSD that plugged in somewhere else and showed up as a drive on each computer would be perfect.

When I look into NAS's I keep running into "Install our software..." and then user's complaining about it. I'd like to avoid that. If I have to go through an app or web page to get data from one pc to the other, then it's not worth it. Is there a plug-and-play solution to this, like where I plug the thing in, find it on each PC, and then it's simply a drive that shows up in each file system?

[jimc]

On a network storage drive you shouldnt need some elses software to get access. You should just be able to go into "my computer" and it should be listed like any other drive. The software is probably to work with other functions like the cloud or maybe its a backup assistant, who knows. Arent your laptops setup to file share though? You should be able to just drag a file from one computer and drop it on the desktop of the other. Macs and pcs dont like to play nice and even I can do that here.

[jsc]

Your router does not support external storage.

Well, here's the plug computer I referred to: http://www.tonidoplug.com/
$120: http://www.amazon.com/TonidoPlug-Networ ... B007JDL6CM

If the price is acceptable, I would just get that and an internal 2.5" drive, plug it in, and you're done. But read the reviews, they are mixed.

If you don't want to spend that much, you can do something similar with a RaspberryPi ($30 not including external drive) and some investment of time. Have a look through this to see if it's something you'd be interested in doing: http://www.howtogeek.com/139433/how-to- ... ge-device/

[Toby]

Arent your laptops setup to file share though? You should be able to just drag a file from one computer and drop it on the desktop of the other.

I tried to do that with Windows Home Network, but it didn't work. The folders would appear sometimes, but I never did successfully access the files of one PC on another. I kept getting error messages, the folders would appear and disappear, it would run through pointless diagnostics, etc. That's why I was wondering if my router was causing a problem.

But if I'm reading you right, you're saying that I can buy an NAS, plug it in, and then access it directly as a drive on each PC without having to install any software. Does it need my router or is that built into it?

[Toby]

Thanks, Jin. That R-PI project looks interesting. Since I've been wanting to learn more about R-Pi anyway, and the network storage isn't an urgent priority, that may be a good way to go.

[j-rod]

if your laptops are both connected via wireless, any file transfers are going to be slow between them unless all the wireless gear was purchased in the last few years (dual band, 802.11n or 802.11ac). with older hardware, only one wireless connection can be "talking" at a time, and with two laptops you have 4 transmits for one round trip (laptop1 -> router -> laptop2 -> router -> laptop1). add to that the fact that windows networks are notoriously chatty and you've got yourself a real headache. you might try connecting one of them to the router with an ethernet cable and see if your file copy experience improves.

[jimc]

Toby i am far from a network pro. I just know i was able to link my mac and pc without too many ussues and its and easy drag drop transfer from one to the other. I do know i read something online where i had to go deep into the security of yhe pc and make a funny change in there to get them all talking nice but it worked well. That is on win7

[sprior]

I started off using Dropbox - the modeling/slicing machine put the gcode file into Dropbox which was synched to the printing host machine. Then later I switched to a Raspberry Pi running Octopi so I now model/slice on my favorite laptop then upload the gcode via the OctoPrint web interface and that controls the print. I can even use my smartphone browser to check on the print status and with a webcam connected to the Pi it shoots a timelapse video of the print, then emails me when the print is done.