Just a small rant: Friends don’t let friends use Sprinter. It’s like using Windows 98 in the year 2013…
Use Marlin (or another MODERN firmware), and anyone who tells you otherwise, just look at them and tell them they’re wrong, and to stop suggesting Sprinter to people…
How do you see that a firmware is modern or not?
Active commits/recent versions. Sprinter hasn’t had any active development for over a year now. With as fast as 3D printing moves, a year is ancient. Imagine what it was like 2 years ago…with people all using Skeinforge and stuff…
what features does Marlin have over sprinter?
(don’t just point me to the read me on marlin, it’s out of date, I believe that the lookahead and arc functions for example were added to sprinter)
The lookahead and arc functions have changed over the course of a year. Sprinter has not been updated since the original port. The planner is more efficient. Marlin is actively developed. Supports more boards, configurations, and results in better quality prints. There are also features such as auto bed leveling, PID tuned bed and heater, automatic generation of PID tuning parameters, delta support, etc.
just the PID tuned bed alone is worth switching.
@Matt_Kraemer1 , your use of question marks there make it seem like you think all of those things are obvious and we should know them, and that it’s shameful that we don’t. A simple list would have done.
EEPROM storage of settings was also in Sprinter.
@Tony_Olivo I believe SD support is also available… But I suppose I’m just lazy as I still haven’t finished porting my configuration file to Marlin. This weekend… But I have the Orlando mini Maker faire to go to. Now I’m just being a complete bum
@Tony_Olivo “seem like you think all of those things are obvious and we should know them, and that it’s shameful that we don’t” – It kind of is. Marlin surpassed Sprinter a long time ago. That’s why I’m ranting. People should have swapped ages ago yet I continue to run into people that are suggesting to others that they use Sprinter. I’d think it was shameful that someone was still using Skeinforge the same way I think it’s shameful that someone is still using Sprinter.
@Eric_Moy , that’s why it took me so long to switch too. I had some mods to Sprinter to use pins on my modded electronics, so the switch was a big pain for me. I’m glad I did, but it took me a year to get around to it. I still don’t even like to pull the latest changes.
@ThantiK , at any rate, this is a good way to get the word out, tell people about the advantages. Not everyone is looking at Github to see what’s been going on if their printer has been “just working”, even if the quality of their year old Sprinter build isn’t as capable as modern FWs.
@Tony_Olivo I just wish they kept as many settings named the exact same, or at least in the same spot in the config file. I already ported to repeteir, but backed it off. I want to stick with Marlin as it’s got way more development. It’s on my long laundry list of printer upgrades. I suppose I should look at the ROI, much better performance for no monetary cost… Yes, I should do this first :o/
Funny enough I’ve had Repetier firmware strongly recommended to me, which seems to be a fork of Sprinter.
@Chris_Roberts_chrisj I think you’re right, but Repetier still shuffled around all the settings and renamed a bunch. I guess I’m just a crotchety old man that resists change. That internet thing will never catch on
640k should be enough for anyone!
When I was a lad my first computer had 1K and a 16K expansion pack, and I considered myself lucky. You tell the kids of today and they won’t believe you.
I’d rather get people interested in continued development of sprinter than bin it altogether.
mainly due to sprinter having an arm port for the 4pi
Edit: and yes, EEPROM settings and SD are in sprinter. it does have PID autotune as well, not sure weather just for hotend or not though.
@Jonathan_se5a_Sorens kliment (the originator of Sprinter) has moved over to Marlin development. It’s just so far fetched that it’s going to be revived. It’s a much more feasible effort to port Marlin to the 4pi than it would be to continue development with Sprinter. Likely it wouldn’t even be all that difficult, none of the code is really microprocessor specific except the libraries, which could likely be brought over.
I think that if you’re satisfied with the results you’re getting with your current firmware (and your entire stack for that matter) then it’s perfectly fine to be oblivious to the advantages of Marlin, etc.
…however if you are looking to improve them, or troubleshoot a problem, reviewing all the code you use, including the firmware, is a great first step and something that seems to get overlooked in general, but specifically in terms of firmware.
It’s certainly inconvenient, and can be intimidating to non-coders (editing config files, knowing details about the electronics, compiling code & flashing microcontrollers) but that’s where the community comes in, and there’s almost always someone available to help if you get stuck on those things.
3D printing is still new enough that there are significant advantages to be had by operators willing to spend time in place of money, and the best prints I’ve seen out of non-pro machines (under $10k) have all come out of custom repraps, and not from off-the-shelf “it just works” machines.
That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with simply “using” a 3d printer, but my point is that if you want to get the most out of your machine, time spent learning about & maintaining its components is necessary.
(sorry for rant-jacking your rant @ThantiK )
Thanks for the post Tony. I have been using Sprinter for a year and didn’t upgrade because it worked fine. I’ll check Marlin out once I get a working controller board.
There is a bug in sprinter where the z motor enable pin is mapped to the wrong pin in the config for teensylu, and subsequently printrboard. I tried to commit a fix, but I was told “it needs to be in the experimental branch” so I gave up.
The sad part is that a total noob, like myself, enters 3D printing via http://reprap.org Wiki where all the software you just mentioned as defunct, is talked about as if it’s the latest and greatest 
I quickly realized the wiki was outdated (on the surface anyway), but many “don’t know what they don’t know”