Hey JFab,
They answered this question here and here. You don’t click on the links I provide, do you?
Replacing a computer that does its work well makes no sense. It can introduce new unknown bugs and security issues. I run a internet router that I’ve set up myself that works this way for over twenty years with a motherboard of 1994 and a WD caviar hard disk of that age too. Hard disks today are not what they used to be. A workstation with full of ECC RAM of 2008 still works for many purposes. I prefer operating systems that run on old hardware like Devuan and sometimes I teach people on how to set them up because this makes you save a lot of money. Okay, for my main workstation I run a recent Xeon with full ECC RAM but I have a reason to do this. But on many other systems, I run old hardware because there is no reason to replace them. I run many computers for specific purposes with mainboards of the 1990s and 2000s and they run absolutely fine.
Still, you did not answer my question. What in the process of loading and running a toolpath on the Onefinity Controller is too slow for you?
Replacing a computer just because it is five years old is nonsense. I think maybe you come from the need to install a new windoze version every five years? But there is no windoze on the Onefinity Controller, it has an unixoid OS.
I have not changed the Operating system I use on my workstation and production notebooks since 1994, just always make all upgrades and switched from Debian to Devuan when Debian forced you to switch to systemd, but it is still the same operating system (Systemd is not a daemon, it’s a disease).
Do you want two reasons for wanting a better Raspberry Pi in the Onefinity Controller? I give you two:
- Parsing the uploaded g-code file and generating the helper files could be faster
- With a Rasberry Pi that has 3D graphics acceleration support and enough RAM, you could see the 3D toolpath simulation on a display connected to the Onefinity Controller (and you would no more be forced to use a remote computer with 3D graphics acceleration and drivers to see it).
But since you did mention none of these two, It seems to me that you want to upgrade the Raspberry Pi just for upgrading something, without need.
Raspberry Pi Ltd. writes:
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B will remain in production until at least January 2028