Hi there!
I’m looking into getting myself a good printer and I am wondering if I need to install some platform-specific drivers for them to run. I am running Debian 12 (GNU/Linux) and I am afraid that I must run some proprietary blob to connect to the printer.
Could someone share their experience please? Even if you don’t use Linux, your feedback would be very appreciated!
(Also, while you are at it, please share some recommendations for printers, I don’t really know where to go (>v<) Have about ±500€ )
So there’s zero need to directly connect the pc to the printer. Usually there’s either a microsd or similar to plug in and load to print from that.
However, if you want to, Pronterface is a useful tool for providing command inputs via usb.
It gives you a basic gui to set temperature, manually move the print bead, some telemetry (real time temp charts,) and if you really felt like it… you can print small files across the usb (or push them to the sd and tell it to print from there. Though file transfer rate is usually dog-breath slow.)
Most usefully, it has a command line interface that allows you to send manual gcodes. This is very helpful for tuning and maintenance. (For example m851 will report XYZ offset, and you can set it with for example m851 z-2.47)
Or if you use UBL, create and store the g29 meshes (and if you add t to the command it’ll report values. For example g29 l0 t will load the mesh in slot 0, and report in the box.)
There’s a ton of useful g and m codes.