Pronterface is a host software for Reprap electronics, originally developed by Kliment.
It is mostly oriented towards 3D printing but can also be used to control laser cutters and CNC routers.
Pronterface’s website is at http://www.pronterface.com/
Mainly for 3D printers, but very useful for debugging problems with any types of machine because it does communication very well and reports problems instead of ignoring them.
Pronterface’s download instructions are located here.
There are pre-packaged versions for Windows and MacOSX
Linux users have specific instructions
There are two ways to connect to Smoothie using Pronterface, via USB, or via Ethernet.
Everybody has USB, and Smoothie does too.
Smoothie uses serial over USB (ACM), allowing Pronterface to send commands and G-codes for execution, and even to upload files.
To connect to Smoothie, follow this procedure:
Port
, this refreshes the list of boards connected to the computerPort
button. This can be something like /dev/ttyACM0
on a Linux machine, or COM1
on a Windows machineConnect
If everything works correctly, the Pronterface log panel on the right should show something like:
Connecting...
Printer is now online.
Now, Pronterface will start reading and displaying temperatures, and will allow you to interact with your machine.
Smoothieboard has an ethernet connector, it exposes a web interface, but also a serial (telnet) interface.
You can use that interface to connect to Smoothieboard over Ethernet, using Pronterface.
First of all, set up your Smoothieboard to activate Ethernet: see the Network page.
Settings > Options
menu, then go to the Printer Settings
tab, and check that the TCP streaming mode
option is checked.Once you have confirmed that the Network functionality works normally (for example by accessing the Web Interface), you can now try to connect using Pronterface.
First, find your Smoothieboard’s IP address, here we will for example say it is 192.168.1.10
.
Now, in the Port
drop-down menu, where the USB serial port name usually is, enter:
192.168.1.10:23
And click on Connect
.
If everything works correctly, the Pronterface log panel on the right should show something like:
Connecting...
Printer is now online.
Now, Pronterface will start reading and displaying temperatures, and will allow you to interact with your machine.
In addition to all of the nice buttons and controls the Pronterface interface offers, you can use the Send
input box and button to send G-codes and commands to your Smoothieboard manually.
Sending G-codes requires no special treatment at all, simply input the G-code into the Send
input box (lower right), and hit the Send
button.
You can find a list of useful G-codes here.
In addition to G-codes, Smoothie understands a set of commands.
You can find a list of useful commands here.
However, sending commands is not as trivial as sending G-codes.
Because Pronterface is used to G-codes, but not commands, it will ignore commands if you input those as-is.
So, you need to add a @
character before the command to send it.
For example, to send the version
command, you need to actually send @version
.
Smoothieboard has an SD card, which is used to store configuration, but also G-code files.
You can use Pronterface to send G-code files to the Smoothieboard, which are then stored, and which you can then play as you wish.
This is useful in particular if you have problems with USB connection errors, or insufficient USB speed (both extremely rare problems).
To send a G-code file to your Smoothieboard, follow this procedure:
Load file
SD
SD Upload
in the menu that popped out