Marlin vs Klipper

[Zucca]

Hard to believe there is no thread about Klipper here.

I am using Marlin since 2 years, very happy with it. But the more I research about Klipper the more I want to try it out.

I have a Ender 5 with SKR Mini E2 and a Lenovo Laptop running Octoprint on FreeBSD.

I hate raspi and I would like to continue to use my Laptop as Klipper host

1.6 GHz Intel Core i5-4200U (Haswell)
4GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM

should be plenty for controlling the SKR Mini..... and running a web interface.

More about Klipper:



It is hard to ignore...

[ch_scr]

Why not run it in a Linux VM? I've installed it on a Linux before (Armbian on an OrangePi), the way around the "Raspberry Image" is documented, and not too badly. Not sure why you insist on having your Laptop tethered to it?

[Zucca]

oh it is an old laptop with a broken one line display. Perfect for the task!
Still investigating FreeBSD vs Linux... Klipper needs python and serial port same as Octoprint

Since I managed to install successfully Octoprint on FreeBSD I feel like I can do it.

FreeBSD is more stable than Linux on paper. that said not sure if it plays a difference here...

anyway on top of that the laptop has a touch screen, so if go with gnome maybe I can have the web interface right there... it would be soooooo cool.

written on my shitty phone sorry.

[ch_scr]

The USB2Serial should be easy enough to get into a VM - you'd probably want to run the visualisation (browser) on the host OS in that case? But if the laptop is dedicated (or smth like a NUC or "Tiny Mini Micro" together with a small monitor) it would only be logical to have the linux straight on there. Or, maybe there is an argument to have it compartmentalized in VM's for the machine to also "serve" other purposes. It would make backups / updates easier I guess?

[Zucca]

Yes the Laptop will be 100% dedicated.

ah backups! I like it! Good point!

I assume all what I need to back up is the "Printer.cfg" and that's it!

not sure if I need a VM only to do backup....

I give it a shot for Linux, any distro suggested?

That said, I love FreeBSD. Just designed to serve... no gui, ssh, nothing else.... rock stable...
Do the job once and forget about it.

I also have an old iPad (collecting dust with the unsupported apps because of the too old iOS) which would be perfect as a touch screen for the web interface.
Soo.... before I run into problems with the web and/or gui eating up resource for the printer I go with the iPad.

It looks a very promising rabbit hole.

[ch_scr]

My go-to is Debian, partly because I use Armbian for the OrangePIs (no real alternative there IMHO) - as it allows me to stay in a consistent universe.
The "compartmentalized" solution only becomes viable IF the dedicated always-on PC begins to serve multiple roles (home assistant comes to mind) and the need for decoupling of these tasks (and their management) arises.