Must the computer be always connected?

Software
1

I am still awaiting delivery (11 long weeks!!) this is why i am asking.
My understanding is that the computer must be attached to the nomad during usage. If so, is there any plan to make a solution that allows the printer to be driven by a raspberry pi or similar in a similar fashion like for 3D printers?

2

Right now, we are not planning on a “headless” machine- we use the PC for the user interface and we don’t want to scale that down.

We have had good luck with Windows tablets that cost between $80 and $200. We’ll be doing a writeup on that in the near future as a buying guide and to let people know what we support.

-Rob

3 Likes
3

This would be really useful. I was already considering taking a Apple mini ti drive the nomad and my form1+, but if I could use a tablet, that would be even better.

4

The Nomad runs fine on a HP Stream7 tablet (about $80). You just need an OTG adaptor cable.

5

I have an old Eee PC kicking around that would be a good size if it’s up for the task. @robgrz , this netbook has 2gb of RAM and I can install windows 7, but it only has a Intel Celeron M 353 / 900 MHz processor.
http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-eee-pc-4g/specs/ - Specs
Do you think this is worth a shot or should I plan to pickup something else to run Carbide Motion?

6

Is the tablet charging via the Nomad this way or is job length limited by the battery life?

7

I was able to use Carbide Motion on a ThinkPad X61T running Windows Vista — it wasn’t fast, but it worked.

For Tablets w/ OTG connections, one wants to get a hub / adapter which affords both power and device connections.