Ive just started trialling GCodePrintr last night and I have the basic functionality sorted. I am having trouble loading large gcode files though. I can load a <20MB file with no issue, a 50MB file hangs at 80% and a 100MB file hung at about 43%. This definitely seems like a memory issue, is there a way to confirm that?
If theres no work around then this is a deal breaker for me, I run a large printer and often print large models, files of 100MB+ are not uncommon for me.
My hardware is a Nexus 7 (2012) which has 1GB of ram, I had hoped this would be sufficiently powerful to run GCodePrintr?
Android makes only a subset of the full memory available to the app. For 1GB Tablet this is usually 128-256mb. GCodePrintr has to load the full gcode file into memory to avoid delays when printing. 100mb files will likely hit this limit, however I have implemented a memory optimized gcode parser which can be enabled in the settings (Fast Parser). Please try. In addition please make sure to optimize your slicer settings to produce smaller gcodes (e. g. disable comments)
Ok thanks, I will look into it. There are only a few comments in my code, I don’t think there is much I can reduce there. These are big parts, 100x100x300mm for example, large gcode files is just something I have to deal with. I look forward to trying your Fast Parser =)
Fast parser worked for the 50MB model, its printing right now! I will test it out with some other larger models too.
I take it the messages on the console about garbage collection are to do with your fast parser allocating memory? It seems to pause the print just fractionally when it does that. Doesn’t have any visible effects on my current part, but im worried it might show up on more detailed models.
ok. the garbage collection message is shown when Android starts to free up memory in the background. Its not under the control of the App. Usually it happens more often if Android memory is short. It heavily depends on the hardware: the impact is lower the more memory it has and the faster the CPU is. For printing >=100MB files you might need a tablet with more memory and faster cpu.