Feasibility of upgrading BB to Redline controller

Firmware (BB Buildbotics) (Discontinued)
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I’ve been doing some digging and this seems do-able from a technical standpoint. Seems like Redline’s controller is actually a RealTime CNC RTS-X controller. The RTS-X controller is available in both closed loop (elite series) and open loop (BB version) as seen here - Home - RealTime CNC Documenation Hub . If you look here Software - RealTime CNC Documenation Hub their software UI matches the Redline UI, and further down the page you’ll see their software can run on a raspberry Pi, they even provide the image for it. Here https://realtimecnc.com they note they have partnered with Redline and Onefinity for distribution, Furthermore, if you look here Product Specs - RealTime CNC they note their software (the UI, etc.) can run on Windows, MAC and Linux (Raspberry Pi). This is super awesome!

I believe what this all means is that with an updated Redlline/RealTime CNC RTS-X standalone controller (hardware) it may be possible to just re-flash the Raspberry Pi in the current BB controller to run the UI software, or if you prefer simply use a PC/MAC to run the software for more power. The heavy lifting appears to be done by the controller itself though.

Anyhow, I think that’s what all that means. Of course I could be completely wrong. Thoughts?

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Hi Manfredo,

Your analysis is pretty much accurate from the RTCNC standpoint. Here are a couple of important points:

  • Our (RTCNC) software is designed to work on multiple platforms as you pointed out. We are currently polishing the RTS-X software to run in landscape mode for Windows, Desktop Linux, and Mac platforms. (The Redline controller is natively portrait mode).
  • In terms of the Raspberry Pi, we targeted the Raspi 5 for its improved processing power and GPU. I believe the Raspberry Pi in the BB controller is an older generation with significantly lower horsepower. We have not tested it on older generations of Raspi, and I would be skeptical whether they have the necessary performance.
  • The RTCNC ecosystem is partitioned such that the host PC (or Raspi) handles high-level tasks like the user interface and 3D display while the controller hardware runs an optimized real-time operating system for motion planning, motor control, and peripheral interfacing.

Let me know if you need any additional information. I am happy to answer any questions.

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I’ve been researching this too. Last week I installed the pi image on one of my pi5s so I could explore the ui. It looks very promising, so that’s exciting. It’s also SO hard for a hobbyist coder/robot guy/tinkerer like me to be patient waiting for future hardware and RTS-1 upgrade path info for my wall mounted OG BB machine. I’m looking seriously at going Frankenstein with an unsupported controller, but I would hate to leave the onefinity community here!

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Many thanks! If a BB > Redline upgrade path was offered, I’d actually consider ditching the Rpi in favor of a NUC PC, you can get pretty powerful NUC for not a lot of money and it’d outperform the Rpi. But, it is super encouraging that it’s doable so maybe we’ll see an updated controller box in the near future that features an Rpi/Redline that can replace the existing BB. I’m sure this is very likely in the works :smiley:

To be fair, I have no complaints with my BB controller, it serves its purpose well for me. But the underpowered Rpi in it is a bit of a thorn in my side from a future proofing standpoint.

Are the connectors on the BB controller compatible with the RTS-X controller? Or would a wiring harness be required?

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