Setting up in Windows is clearly described in Nophead's manual but OS X is just as simple, albeit not explained in any detail so I thought it might be useful to consolidate the information I found and/or worked out for myself.
Installing stuff
First you need to install the FTDI Virtual COM Port drivers for Mac OS X, as the following apps all use this to connect to the printer - I got mine from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
Next, as per the Windows instructions, grab the latest version of Pronterface for Mac (the Github project page always points to a location for pre-built binaries): https://github.com/kliment/Printrun
You will also need the Arduino IDE for Mac OS X to make the necessary changes to the firmware during calibration and to upload to the Melzi: http://arduino.cc/en/main/software
Configuration
Pronterface works more or less exactly as it appears in the manual. If the FTDI drivers are installed correctly then you should see "/dev/tty.usbserial-XXXXXXXX" and "/dev/cu.usbserial-XXXXXXXX" in the list of available ports:
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Select one (both worked for me though there's a lengthy discussion on which is better) and set the baud rate to 250000:
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Next click "Connect" and after a short wait the printer should respond with the same output as stated in the manual:
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You should now be able to setup and calibrate the printer exactly the same way as described for a Windows machine. When you get to the point where you need to make a change to configuration.h and update the Melzi firmware, make sure you have copied the Melzi hardware configuration from the SD card to the appropriate location in your Arduino hardware folder (you can create this at "/Users/[myUsername]/Documents/Arduino/hardware/" if it doesn't exist).
Whilst this is useful for anybody wanting to setup a Mendel90 but who only has a Mac, I actually find it useful to be able to print from both Windows and Mac OS computers. Setting up Repetier-Host is just as simple for Mac OS X; just make sure you setup the printer parameters before attempting to print or you might find the printer trying to overextend beyond its physical limits. To do this, go to the "Printer Settings" dialog where we are mainly interested in the "Connection" and "Dimension" tabs.
Select the port and baud rate as before:
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Define the print area as follows:
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NB - the Home Z position is at "z max"!:
![]()
I've got mine setup to share Slic3r configuration across all of my laptops/desktops (Windows and Mac) so I can print from any computer knowing that my configuration changes automatically replicate across every location. I do this using a combination of rsync and Dropbox, but it could easily be version-controlled via git or similar.
I hope this is useful for somebody! :)o
Installing stuff
First you need to install the FTDI Virtual COM Port drivers for Mac OS X, as the following apps all use this to connect to the printer - I got mine from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
Next, as per the Windows instructions, grab the latest version of Pronterface for Mac (the Github project page always points to a location for pre-built binaries): https://github.com/kliment/Printrun
You will also need the Arduino IDE for Mac OS X to make the necessary changes to the firmware during calibration and to upload to the Melzi: http://arduino.cc/en/main/software
Configuration
Pronterface works more or less exactly as it appears in the manual. If the FTDI drivers are installed correctly then you should see "/dev/tty.usbserial-XXXXXXXX" and "/dev/cu.usbserial-XXXXXXXX" in the list of available ports:
Select one (both worked for me though there's a lengthy discussion on which is better) and set the baud rate to 250000:
Next click "Connect" and after a short wait the printer should respond with the same output as stated in the manual:
You should now be able to setup and calibrate the printer exactly the same way as described for a Windows machine. When you get to the point where you need to make a change to configuration.h and update the Melzi firmware, make sure you have copied the Melzi hardware configuration from the SD card to the appropriate location in your Arduino hardware folder (you can create this at "/Users/[myUsername]/Documents/Arduino/hardware/" if it doesn't exist).
Whilst this is useful for anybody wanting to setup a Mendel90 but who only has a Mac, I actually find it useful to be able to print from both Windows and Mac OS computers. Setting up Repetier-Host is just as simple for Mac OS X; just make sure you setup the printer parameters before attempting to print or you might find the printer trying to overextend beyond its physical limits. To do this, go to the "Printer Settings" dialog where we are mainly interested in the "Connection" and "Dimension" tabs.
Select the port and baud rate as before:
Define the print area as follows:
NB - the Home Z position is at "z max"!:
I've got mine setup to share Slic3r configuration across all of my laptops/desktops (Windows and Mac) so I can print from any computer knowing that my configuration changes automatically replicate across every location. I do this using a combination of rsync and Dropbox, but it could easily be version-controlled via git or similar.
I hope this is useful for somebody! :)o