1280 to Mega 2560

[Thomas Parker]

Hi guys, I have a flashforge ToM and was wondering if there would be any benefit to upgrading the standard arduino to another I have laying around collecting dust. My ToM is currently a 1280 but I have a freetronics EtherMega 2560 doing nothing. (I have not had it long or got it printing yet as waiting for new extruder heater but have just upgraded the firmware to Sailfish 4.7)

http://www.freetronics.com.au/products/ethermega-arduino-mega-2560-compatible-with-onboard-ethernet#.Vm38Wa_ouUk

It says it is 100% compatible:

"EtherMega (100% Arduino Mega 2560 compatible with onboard Ethernet)"

I don't have to use the ethernet for anything, but it wouldn mean that I could...

Cheers

[Dan Newman]

On 13/12/2015 3:31 PM, Thomas Parker wrote:
> Hi guys, I have a flashforge ToM and was wondering if there would be any
> benefit to upgrading the standard arduino to another I have laying around
> collecting dust. My ToM is currently a 1280 but I have a freetronics
> EtherMega 2560 doing nothing. (I have not had it long or got it printing
> yet as waiting for new extruder heater but have just upgraded the firmware
> to Sailfish 4.7)

You will need to confirm that the EtherMega 2560 is not usurping pins needed
by the firmware.

> http://www.freetronics.com.au/products/ethermega-arduino-mega-2560-compatible-with-onboard-ethernet#.Vm38Wa_ouUk
>
> It says it is 100% compatible:
>
> "EtherMega (100% Arduino Mega 2560 compatible with onboard Ethernet)"

For some definition of 100% compatible. It is very likely using some of the
standard Arduino pins so that standard Arduino ethernet libraries can be used
with the ethernet hardware. However, that then means that those pins are not
available to other applications and shields. I could very well be wrong; I
myself have not looked at what pins that ethernet support is using.

Moreover, keep in mind that the Gen 4 firmwares -- Thing-o-Matic firmwares
did NOT use the Arduino APIs one reason for that was to have some access to
some pins and functionality present on the ATmega 1280 and 2560 but not
supported by the Arduino APIs. So, you'll want to carefully go through
the pin assignments in the firmware to make sure that nothing needed by
the firmware has been usurped.

Also, you won't get any benefit from the Ethernet hardware: the firmware
doesn't support it. While you could modify the firmware to do so, I don't
recommend it: supporting tcp/ip while doing acceleration planning and
motion control on an 8bit, 16 MHz AVR is asking for trouble. You'd be
better off buying a Duet 0.8.5 board and using that if having ethernet
support is critical. Either that or putting a Raspberry Pi 2 on and
using Octoprint + the GPX plugin.

Dan

[Thomas Parker]

Thanks Dan. You are a wealth of knowledge. I don't really want the ethernet (it just has it and is laying around collecting dust) but was wondering if the 2560 would give me any extra horsepower that might imporve the print.

Perhaps either way a non ethernet version would be better. I'll leave the ethermega in my box of Christmas lights. Originally it was planned for driving RGB's anyway.

[Dan Newman]

On 13/12/2015 5:06 PM, Thomas Parker wrote:
> Thanks Dan. You are a wealth of knowledge. I don't really want the ethernet
> (it just has it and is laying around collecting dust) but was wondering if
> the 2560 would give me any extra horsepower that might imporve the print.

None whatsoever. The 2560 merely has 2x the program space. It's not faster,
it doesn't have more RAM, it doesn't have more capabilities. For Gen 4
electronics, the 1280 has adequate program space. Program space only became a problem
on the MightyBoard with MBI's so-so programming design. They didn't pay much
attention to RAM usage or program space usage. Particularly with the LCD UI which
they did a very mediocre job with -- their coding of it eats up a lot
of code space and a fair amount of RAM as as well.

Dan