That’s the plan for future firmware and expansion! It can grow to what the community want’s it to be!
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OK, but i keep my laptop beside the cnc, so I can modify immediately the design or toolpath and regenerate the code without going back and forth to the house.
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I have a RedLine update kit on order, not yet received. In the meantime, I downloaded the software and loaded it up on a spare raspberry Pi to kinda get an education on how it works. There’s a lot to like about the product, but when I got to the web interface, I was truly disappointed. The only thing of value (my opinion) is the file upload function.
Having X, Y and Z values being displayed is largely useless as pointed out by others. I couldn’t tell you X=200 from X=150 why that would be of value from a remote location.
I like to start the machine and then monitor and control it from inside a comfortable environment. It also keeps me away from the dust and fumes.
I know this topic has been beat profusely, however I just wanted to go on record as yet another voice.
Speaking of future wanna-haves… it would be beneficial to be able to select multiple files on the file upload screen instead of having to do them individually. Same with deleting files. The only way I’ve found to do this is to first create a folder on the local machine and transfer the entire folder.
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I haven’t tried it you, but there is a camera tab, so I’m guessing you can hook up a USB camera to watch the progress remotely?
It’s definitely possible to setup VNC (virtual network computing) and even VNC via a web browser, if you dig around in my posts you’ll find video examples of both running on a testbed PI.
It’s doesn’t even require any sort of techno wizardry or deep customization, just turning on and existing feature in the Raspberry Pi OS in one case and installing a readily available software package and adding a command to run at boot time in the second case.
I’ve given that a lot of thought over the last couple of weeks and I’m beginning to wonder it setting that up will be left up to the community to do themselves. Possibly there are liability concerns of having a built in feature allowing you the consumer to remotely control a piece of equipment like this? Now, if the consumer does it themselves, then that probably (not a lawyer, not even close to being one, so huge grain of salt here) relieves the vendor of liability if something unfortunate happens.
All that being said, once RTCN / Redline / Onefinity release the Windows/MacOS/Linux version of RTX-S it becomes even easier for the end user to configure remote access to whatever computer they choose to use to drive the system.
Just my thoughts, but in the long run there will be nothing stopping most people from installing their own remote viewing/control software to use their equipment as they choose.
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I’ve seen your post and have been looking at the remote desktop possibility. I run that on some other installations and it works well.
I’m not sure if this would be something to expect end users to set up as it can go sideways in a lot of ways and could be a major support issue. Whatever solution evolves, it needs to be a “button push” away and dead simple.
What BB did, is everything is a web page, whether you bring it up on a screen directly connected to the controller or from another device on your network. It works well and no additives or configs are required.
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I agree with what you’re saying as far as making it easy for folks given the incredibly diverse number of backgrounds who are engaged with woodworking in general and CNC in specific, and not everyone who enjoys it likes to tinker with computers.
My theory on possible liability issues is more recent, previously I conjectured that it’s just a matter of focusing on the core functionality first, before adding quality of life features. If this is the case I strongly agree with this type of development and think it’s a positive business practice.
I’d also be happy to write up how to’s, at least as far as Raspberry PI setup goes. I’ve hesitated to do so, because I don’t want to make extra work for RTCNC, Redline and 1F because it might create a perception that they support/are required to support those solutions; they’re under a lot of release date pressure currently; and they may already have it on their official roadmap in the future.
I’m looking forward to seeing what choices the development team makes, and I’ll say I’ve been enjoying both tinkering and actually doing some carving.
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You can do a multiple file upload now. You just can’t use the file picker to do it. But if you have File Explorer open you can multi-select there and drag & drop onto the file upload pane.
Like you, the only value I find in the remote interface is uploading files without having to resort to sneakernet.
My future-wanna-have is an OTA update process that doesn’t lock up my machine. I can only successfully do an update like today’s firmware using a thumb drive like it’s 1999 again. I’m told my network strength is an issue - but I’m not sure there’s a practical way to get better than -30db (it only takes -60db to support streaming video so lord knows why the far better -30 isn’t good enough for a trivial file transfer - especially when I use it all the time to load my g-code files remotely). I expect I’ll be told the wifi is too good 
JH - Thanks for the info, I’ll give your suggestion a shot.
Regarding your WiFi signal, -30db is a very strong solid signal. The higher the number, meaning the closer to 0 (zero), the stronger the signal. I only achieve that level when my devices are in close proximity to an access point. There’s an access point in my garage, literally 10 feet from the CNC, unobstructed. I performed an OTA update to my test machine and it went very well…just a very few minutes and it was done.
In case you haven’t already tried it, if you’re connecting with a 5GHz signal, connect to 2.4GHz instead, if you have the option.
Higher frequency gives you more bandwidth, but is more susceptible to interference and loss of range as it’s more easily absorbed by walls and such.
Since you have a great signal, you might be experiencing packet loss, which would be more disruptive on larger files, and it’s possible that switching to 2.4GHz will help that.
This is more of a, it’s worth a shot suggestion, than a ‘I definitely think this is your problem’ one.
Yeah. I’ve been in the tech industry for decades - I made sure my house was setup for no issues. My wifi router is 12ft from my OF with clear line of sight. I’ve got an external antenna on the HMI because the Redline internal wifi antenna is pretty weak and stuck in a faraday cage. Support only has one answer to the problem - weak wifi. Since the remote connection works fine for file transfers I can live with the occasional need for sneakernet for a firmware update.
[quote=”L.M" ]
Since you have a great signal, you might be experiencing packet loss
[/quote]
Not according to my packet sniffer. I expect it’s probably a set of either minimally meeting spec ratings on multiple hardware components that are all okay on their own but fail to provide the uninterrupted throughout when assembled into the unit I got. Like a Friday build 
Or there’s something about my network routing outside the house that the handshake between the RPi and the Redline servers can’t handle so it dies. But that’s all pretty opaque and would require end to end network route tracing that would be time consuming and tedious. I’m leaning in that direction myself. The mountains of WNC aren’t a hotbed of technological excellence so I wouldn’t be surprised if my ISP is doing something funky that gives the Redline servers fits.
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One other thing to think about…The external WiFi gadget that plugs into the USB port that OF recommends is a complete WiFi transceiver…not just an antenna. So you have a WiFi transceiver inside your CNC controller and another inches away plugged into a USB port on the controller. Don’t know if maybe there might be some interference there.
On another level, in an earlier post it was mentioned that you might not be wanting to tie up your one & only USB port with an external WiFi adaptor. A possible solution is a USB hub that’ll give you a few extra USB ports. You might be able to mount it behind the controller or some other out-of-the-way location. This is a pretty cost-effective way of expanding your USB port capacity.
Given your experience, I’m sure you’ve gone down this road, but I’m going to throw it out there for completeness and as a issue isolation method that might help others in the future.
Redline does have an external ethernet port on the back of the HMI, so if you wanted to isolate ISP shenanigans, you could run a cable out to the shop (provided that’s feasible) and run on wired ethernet.
That should give you a definitive, WIFI versus ISP malarkey answer and you’d know if you got a Monday or a Friday machine… 
I can see getting a combination of parts that cause the issue, but there’s so little in there. It’s a off the shelf Raspberry PI, a commodity portable touch screen, a beefy power supply and some bits and bobs that are extenders for the ports. That being said, you’re only one noisy power supply away from frustration.
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This a great idea.
FWIW, the HMI does have two available USB-A ports, but you can fill those up pretty quick just with a external WIFI antenna and the dongle for a wireless joypad, so, yeah, adding a small hub is a good thought.
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That’s something that people don’t generally understand - you can be too close to a wifi router or access point and you can put mesh routers (or access points) too close together and get worse performance.
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