First time using octoprint today. Have to say I’m rather impressed. It was so easy to do. My only concern about adding it to my personal machines is the price as Pi’s are not super cheap.
Can anyone comment as to how this compares to using an ESP8266 and controlling it through something like repetier host?
I would definitely like to add one of the two options.
Why not try a pi zero?
@Alexander_Pritchard last time I checked it didn’t work with the Zero. I have six of those so I guess I’ll give it a try!! Thanks!!
@Griffin_Paquette I don’t see why it should not work, they work they same way and have the same ports. Oh, you might need a USB hub. Perhaps that is why it is not listed. I would give it a try. I picked up a zero recently also. Btw pi’s are only 30 bucks for a 3 at microcenter. Built in wifi too!
For $35 the pi3 is the best investment I have ever made for my 3d printer. Octoprint is awesome.
@Ross_Bagley $35 isn’t bad for one printer but I would need to add it to 3 or 4 so that gets up there. I have a couple zeros so I’m gonna try them first.
@Ross_Bagley nope I’m still gonna slice in my cura and then just upload the g-code.
You could also run multiple instances on one computer. People are reporting success with multiple instances on one Pi (2 or 3, big no on the 1 - you want multiple cores if you are thinking about multiple instances). Using an old Laptop or similar is also an option though - contrary to a common misconception, OctoPrint runs basically anywhere, even though most people (including myself) use it on a Pi - which probably is also the reason why I’m staring a test cluster of 7 while typing these lines XD
@Ross_Bagley I do wish people would stop quoting that $35 price tag. America isn’t the only country in the world, a pi3 costs a little over $60 here.
@Griffin_Paquette I tested OctoPrint and the new PiZero a few months back and it all seemed to work fine (http://blog.mybigideas.uk/2016/05/controlling-3d-printer-with-new.html)
In terms of cost, once you’ve added in the USB Hub and Wifi dongle, you may be better off going for a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3. In terms of compactness however, you can combine a PiZero with a Zero4U USB Hub plus Raspberry Pi camera into a fairly small package. Which is something I’ll be trying out now that the PiZero is a little easier to purchase (At least here in the UK).
@Leo_white I totally understand where you are coming from as I would have to add the wifi dongle and add a couple ports. I’m incredibly fortunate and live near a store that sometimes has the Zeros for $5. I picked up some and have yet to do anything with them so I would love to try. I want to keep it as compact as possible.
To add to the Pi zero discussion, OctoPi 0.12 wasn’t yet compatible with the zero, the current 0.13 image however should be (its based on a compatible Raspbian). Manual install on a regular Raspbian image is also always an option. What makes the Pi zero not that ideal as a target device was already mentioned: once you’ve added all the extra hardware in order to use it with your printer, you are not better off than with a regular Pi moneywise, and personally I wasn’t too happy with all those dangling adapters either 
YMMV of course.
@Griffin_Paquette If you’ve already got the bits then that makes it much easier! I had a handful of WiFi dongles and USB Hubs that weren’t being actively used, so was pretty cheap for me to try it.
In terms of compactness I combined the Pi, Hub and Camera together last night using a ‘ZeroView’ board (https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOyjwuyfMCJ4S4Omoj0DWyfry7BUBKZTG56Y45OqOZZig895g53aJeWvGVFj8v1rA?key=YjUzVEE5Rk5SakkxZWxOZVYzcTJhdDdxb1ZvUVVB) which came out pretty small.
Of course I may end up 3D printing a different case, depending on how I end up attaching it to the printer.
Ya know, if I could merge a bunch of Pis together to make a MegaPi (or is that a MagPi…no wait, someone owns that trademark)…or a SuperPi and treat the whole thing as one big monster computer, now that, that would be something. One computer to rule them and all that. I currently have 2 PCs running 5 printers using S3D, Cura and Reptier, so I know it is doable for at least one hardware/OS set.
To add to the multiple instances on a Pi, I have 3 instances running quite happily on a Pi2 plus 1 webcam. No issues except user error (killing the wrong printer etc) Works fine, no real slow down from data rate issues.
I also have a Zotac ZBox running 2 instances and my Desktop runs an instance for hardware testing when needed as well. Anything under 10 hours gets thrown at Octoprint, which is 99.9% of my prints. It just keeps getting better and better.
I don’t know what a Zotac Zbox is, but I might guess that it’s some form of linux, which brings to mind a question.
OctoPrint runs on a Pi board computer running appropriately configured linux. Could one have a “full-blown” computer running some form of linux and have OctoPrint running once for each 3d printer connected to the computer? With expansion cards, one could have eight to sixteen USB ports available. Of course, with USB hubs, even more ports, but no improvement in performance for that fact.
@Fred_U - The ZBox is a micro PC, it’ll run whatever OS you shove on it. But yes, Dependent on the amount of internal hubs, the computer has you could run a fair few off a stand-alone PC.
@Fred_U yes, as said above, OctoPrint runs anywhere where python is available, not only on a raspberry pi and even not only on Linux. It runs just as well on Windows and on Macs. I keep OctoPrint strictly platform agnostic so that people can run it wherever they want.
There is also the $9 (US) C.H.I.P computer. It runs linux and I have two of them and I plan on trying to see if I can get Octoprint to run on one. It has built in wifi so that is a plus.
Based on the replies, it would appear that it might be more cost effective for a multiple printer user to consider using a more powerful platform than a Raspberry pi, in order to ensure sufficient performance, and have OctoPrint in place for each printer. I’ve thrown away some computers for lack of practical use, each of which might have been powerful enough for two or three OctoPrint sessions. Per the OP constraints, cost may be more easily managed in this way.
