If you mess it up, you can end up with a controller that won’t boot, and you might have to reflash the SD card to get back to a good state.
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Hi @RonHoppus - I think we’re discussing separate concepts. Accessing a NAS from the RPI vs accessing the RPI from a computer? In short, you can enable SAMBA to run on the RPI and act as a file server - you can drop your files from your computer to the RPI directly without the USB stick or the web form.
As for connecting the RPI to a NAS, that should be ‘easier’ - that is just mounting a specific folder from the RPI to the NAS. In this case, you probably need to mount the drop folder to the NAS. Since it’s a soft mount, you can leave the existing folder structure in place and ‘mount’ over the folder to make the NAS act as the local folder. If Dave is correct (not doubting him), the new SW could recognize new files dropped on the NAS folder. That said, the same outcome can be reached by mounting the RPI directly to your computer, unless you need multi-user access from a single folder that the NAS solution provides.
Hope this makes sense - I might be able to do some testing this weekend if you are interested.
-Tom
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It does now. I have been using my PC (from Chrome) to download files to the controller and this seems to work fine for now.
Thanks and thanks for the videos
Quick note - SFTP works with no custom configuration/setup. Get a free copy of Filezilla (https://filezilla-project.org/) and you can use it to copy files to the controller - just use the SSH username/password.
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Randysview, I bought the external wifi you pointed out but do not know how to download the drivers on the 1f to get it running. Could you please point me in the right direction to download the drivers and such
Thanks, Phil Havens
The Rpi recognized it immediately on my system. This is a setup guide that details the steps to take to make sure it’s working: https://howchoo.com/networking/how-to-set-up-the-edimax-ew-7811un-usb-wifi-adapter-on-your-raspberry-pi
It assumes you know how to get to a command line interface as you will need to set it up as the primary. Also note that it is much better to disable the RPi4 wifi to use this.
This discussion (fgoldino comments) show you how to disable the onboard wifi: Support for USB network adaptors (Feature Unavailable) - #26 by rgoldino
Thanks Loads Randy, I will give these things a try.
Phil
$0.02 exceedingly well put!!
I think that’s the general consensus. It’s definitely “stock” in that it seems it was meant to keep the overall system’s cost down while still providing “in the door” functionality. That’s the defense for its inclusion at the sales and marketing levels. Of course, at the consumer level, there are only two choices: take it or leave it. I, personally, would have loved to have been presented with something like the Masso as a supported 3rd option at purchase because that’s where it all inevitably ends up anyway.
On the positive there, I’m definitely content with the controller being the “weakest link”, so to speak, as it’s an aspect of the system that’s pretty much plug & play and easily swapped without requiring any upgrades or alterations to the machine itself.
Again, from the sales and marketing side of things, it gets you in the door without requiring an actual computer for keyboard / mouse control but, again at the consumer level, I’ve found to be far less practical than it is a novelty feature. But that’s a subjective consideration because I do have a workstation connected directly to the cnc, invalidating the underlying purpose of the touchscreen.
If you ask me why I ran a hub, that would be the reason. Again, though, I have things set up in such a way that I don’t actually have to leave the chair to do anything related to the cnc. “Work smart, not hard” will inevitably shave years off my life for lack of exercise so I can’t fault Onefinity for trying to keep me alive in that regard. 
After having / operating mine for about 6 months now, I can happily validate that conclusion.
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I’ve had really good luck using a laptop across the shop from the CNC (away from noise/dust), and just uploading files to the 1F wirelessly. Then, the touch-screen is adequate for probing, picking the file, and running it.
I tend to do a lot of one-off projects, so having a CAD system near the CNC is very helpful as I test and tweak things. If I did more production-like work, the need for a laptop would go down - as long as I could remotely upload files to the CNC.
I will eventually upgrade the controller, likely to a Masso, but mainly to play around with a 4th (rotary) axis.
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