Has anyone tried the gControl computer from the other guys?
Its an N100 fanless and touch screen machine with Win 11 installed, but can also run Linuz variants. Yes, it comes with gSender on it but CM would work as well and likely CC if you wanted to have that handy as well.
8GB ram and a 128GB SSD.
The $499 price point seems pretty decent for a 15.6" touchscreen. I have done a bit of searching for just the hardware sans Windows and haven’t run across anything similar.
I won’t put the link in here since its from a competitor, but if you search for gControl computer you will find it.
This is essentially a passively cooled touch screen all in one pc.
I wouldn’t say it’s competing with anything C3D sells but I get where you’re coming from.
All in all, it look like a pretty nifty setup for a workshop pc.
If it’s a well sealed box with passive cooling then it’s pretty sweet. No way for saw dust to mess up the internals and no filters or anything to clean. Plus on most small form factors I’ve owned, the fan starts to die first and the scream is just obnoxious.
You could build an equivalent for maybe a couple hundred dollars less but the time involved would be significant. I think that more than makes up for that cost difference in most situations.
Cool find, thanks for sharing
Small edit, the title is maybe a bit confusing. I would usually think of a “controller” as being part of the motion control. Something more like a MASSO, edding, or similar.
In that regard, the mentioned pc isn’t really a controller replacement.
Good point, I modified the title to be Controller PC options.
Yes, that product in particular does not compete with C3D, but the company in general does.
Thanks for the feedback. I am getting ready to upgrade and though I love my touchscreen PI I may let it go to the person buying my machine as part of a functioning package. Upgrading from a 10 to a 15" screen would be nice. I am not excited about the Windows issues that people have so configuring it to dual boot with Linux may be a good solution.
Agreed that the LOE on putting a package together may not be worth the few dollars saved.
And that price includes some mounting hardware. Most likely a new bracket or mods to the supplied one would be required for the Shapeoko family but the VESA plate and arm are nice to have in the package.
Hopefully you can put your mind at a bit of ease knowing that you shouldn’t need an internet connection if you’re running it as just a shop pc.
No internet means no pesky (and largely unnecessary) updates breaking your system
IMO, with a non-internet connected shop device, I’d only update it when carbide releases some fancy new thing in their software that requires the latest updates…so not terribly often
If I were looking for a replacement shop pc right now, this would be top of my list.
Strong +1 on the value of standard VESA mounting. Should be really convenient to get set up quickly.
