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Repetier-Host, Slic3r, etc.

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Rick Montzka
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Joined: 2014-04-30 22:50
Repetier-Host, Slic3r, etc.

The following request would be helpful for those with open source 3D printers. Repetier-Host is a common software used to control these printers, but it assumes that it will be installed on a local machine rather than a portable drive. Having this software portable will help students who take their printers between home and school. This would also help people with 3D printers take the printer to a friend's house and show the technology without taking the computer along or messing up their friend's registry.

Program: Repetier-Host

License: Apache License 2.0

Description: Host controller for 3D printers.

Website: http://www.repetier.com/

Other: Keeps configuration information in registry. (Printer type and printer size, for example.) Registry information: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Repetier

Github Location: https://github.com/repetier/Repetier-Host

Program: Slic3r

License: Freeware / Slic3r is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3

Description: G-code generator for 3D printers.

Website: http://slic3r.org/

Other: Keeps configurations in ?user data? and requires re-initializing working directory when moved.

github location: https://github.com/alexrj/Slic3r/wiki/Running-Slic3r-from-git-on-Windows

Repetier-Host controls the 3D printer, but Slic3r does the heavy lifting of converting an STL file into G-code. There are other dependencies for this software; they are listed in the Apache license of Repetier-Host. If this app request is very difficult due to all the dependencies, a portable version of Slic3r would be a great first step. Another software that uses Slic3r and may be easier to convert to a portable app is Printrun (https://github.com/kliment/Printrun). This does close to the same thing as Repetier-Host, but it doesn't have as many nice features (like a 3D viewer and real-time location reporting). Octoprint is another host software, but it is designed to run on a Raspberry PI.

Lastly, there is one more open-source 3D printer host and slicing software called Cura. I haven't used this software, but it may be easier to convert to a portable app because of fewer dependencies. The github location for Cura is https://github.com/daid/Cura

Rick Montzka
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Last seen: 11 months 2 weeks ago
Joined: 2014-04-30 22:50
PrusaSlicer

PrusaSlicer is not an official PortableApp, but it can be run in a portable way. Here's how...

  1. Download the Windows _signed.zip file of PrusaSlicer from the Github releases folder. (Click on Assets to see the available files.)
  2. Extract the contents of the zip file in your portable location.
  3. Create a folder called "profiles" in the same folder as the prusa-slicer.exe file you just extracted.
  4. Start Notepad.exe or equivalent text editor.
  5. Copy and paste the batch file text below into the editor.
  6. Save the file as "ps-start.bat" or an equivalent name that ends in .bat, save the file in the same folder as the prusa-slicer.exe file.
  7. Run the ps-start.bat file. (If it just opens up in the text editor again, rename the file from ps-start.bat.txt to ps-start.bat.)

Copy batch file contents below this line...


@echo off
echo Checking for profiles folder.
if not exist .\profiles (
echo Profiles folder does not exist; terminating batch file.
GOTO problem1
) else (
echo Profiles folder found.
echo.
)
echo Checking for an installed version of PrusaSlicer.
if not exist .\prusa-slicer.exe (
echo Couldn't find prusa-slicer.exe; terminating batch file.
GOTO problem2
) else (
echo Installed version of PrusaSlicer found.
echo.
GOTO success
)
:problem1
echo.
echo This batch file expects a folder named "profiles" to be in the same folder as
echo an installed version of prusa-slicer.exe. Please create this folder.
echo Hint: md profiles
echo.
pause
exit 1
:problem2
echo.
echo This batch file is looking for software called prusa-slicer.exe. This batch file
echo was unable to locate this file. Possible problems include having the batch file
echo in a folder other than the installed PrusaSlicer folder and/or the file
echo prusa-slicer.exe is missing or renamed something else. Fix these problems by
echo moving the batch file to the installed PrusaSlicer folder and/or changing the
echo name of the software or editing this batch file with the correct name of the
echo software.
echo.
pause
exit 2
:success
echo Starting PrusaSlicer and closing Command Window.
cmd /c start .\prusa-slicer.exe --datadir .\profiles

Batch file ended just above this line.

This seems to work fine for me, and I'm in a corporate environment (a college) where I am in the Windows group "users" and can't install my own software. It may be different for you.

I'm not sure what the PortableApps Platform will do. It is likely it will list prusa-slicer.exe, but running that won't store your settings in the --datadir location and will add to the Windows Registry. I also create a shortcut to the batch file and use that to launch the software. Perhaps the shortcut will appear in the PortableApps Platform menu.

-Rick.

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