MakerGear Software

This page will hold a changelog of the M2 QuickStart App (frequently shortened to "QS App" or "QS") and Z Offset App for hardware revision E printers. The QS App uses Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 (http://semver.org/), so not all combinations will be used or released publicly.

Quickstart

v1.1.8-Beta

Beta release:
- Fixed a bug with multiple Starting Height adjustments done through a single instance of the app.
- Implemented command logging - through the Edit menu, there are 6 logging levels to choose from (default is level 3, where all sent and received commands are saved; all levels are fairly similar at the moment), and an option to Export Log. The log is stored as a 10,000 line circular buffer - the last 10,000 commands sent or received will be stored and able to be exported, so once the buffer is full the oldest entries will start to be overwritten.
- Added step labels to the Bed Leveling and Starting Height Adjustment processes, so users have a better idea where in the process they are.
- Added restrictions to the Bed Leveling and Starting Height Adjustment processes, to prevent double-clicking of the Next button and thus skipping important steps.

v1.1.4-Beta

Beta release with a bug fix for international users - localization of the decimal separator ("." in many countries/languages, "," in many others) caused a bug with displayed and calculated values for temperature and position.

v1.1.3

Official release of tested 1.1.2-Beta, with minor updates (a few typos).

v1.1.2-Beta

Various bugfixes - an unplugged thermistor would cause the connection message to popup, as the filters caught the "start" part of "restart" in that error message; SD file listing works better; fixed UI in Linux (aside from some of the scaling stuff that is window manager etc. dependent); prevent timeouts when using set and wait heating commands; added more useful print-finished behavior, and then fixed it to work properly if the computer went to sleep while the print was running (mostly an issue on Mac);

- Improved the general connection and monitoring side of things, so should be more stable.

- Added an autoconnect option, again primarily for new users - gets a list of connected serial devices, and tries to connect to them counting up; if you have more than one printer connected, or you would prefer to choose what printer to connect to, you can still of course use the Manual connection.

- Changed the Full Controls options in the print screen, so that you have full temperature controls and not just a material selection.

- Added setup instructions and scripts for using the App on Linux (tested thoroughly on Linux Mint 17); zip folder includes the three packages that should be required and a simple script to install them, as well as a script to change the permissions of /dev/ttyACM0 (the most common assignment for a connected printer that I've seen) so that all users can access it without needing to be added to the dialout group (a temporary option until the user is added to the group and logs out/logs in again).

- Many little changes to UI and text, and lots of code changes to make it easier to maintain and improve.

v1.0.0

Changes from pre-v1.0.0 versions:

- Biggest change - the entire UI has been made scaleable in multiple ways. First, the app can be resized and maximized, and all text and controls will scale with it (so the quickest test if everything is too small would be to just maximize the window). Second, to account for even more temperamental DPI settings (Linux especially lets you change DPI on the fly, without letting GUI programs know), there is an Edit, Adjust Font Size menu (with keyboard shortcuts) that will let you scale the font size of all text elements independent of the window size or scale; obviously, this can be used to scale the text to a ludicrous size, so should really only be needed if the calculated scaled size is a bit off on your setup.

- The connection process has been strengthened - you'll only see a Connected message if the connection succeeds, and you'll be alerted if the connection fails (after a certain period, depending on what you were doing).

- The leveling and starting height process has been refined - the basic steps are the same, but the actual process has been reduced to an initial check of the starting height and bed level with the feeler gauge, and then only adjusting one or both depending on what is needed (if the bed is level but starting height is incorrect, only adjust starting height; if bed is not level, level the bed and then adjust starting height).

- The starting height and bed level adjustment processes now respect the current offset and do not reset it - those with custom length extruders or custom bed surfaces should not have an issue with headcrashes with this setup. That being said, take any precautions you feel appropriate until comfortable with where the app will move with your specific setup.

- The entire process has been brought more in line with introducing new customers to the printer, while gently walking them through checking that the bed is level and starting height is correct; the new leveling system should remain stable during shipping, so a brand new machine should just need to confirm everything is still good and then start printing. Text instructions have been clarified, and an accompanying video is in production (which will be linked directly from the app, so users can follow along).