Warning: The Mac Software package could RUIN your Solidoodle!!!

All these Mac incompatibilities and problems make me sad...

I'm Pretty sure most mac users that read "Mac compatible" didn't expect to be doing all these things to their system just to get things to work. From all the threads on here and google groups, it sure seems like a huge task to even get the software to even load properly. It's supposed to be an easy printer to use and it seems like it's way harder than it should be, especially on a system that is widely known to "just work."

On the bright side of it though, it teaches me how to use the computer a little better and get to know some of the inner workings of OS X.

Hope things get fixed soon... And I'd like to personally thank you guys that have been figuring things out with the Mac side, because I'd definitely would never figure anything out on my own. I know the guys at Solidoodle have their plate full and are probably too busy with us nagging them for our printers to focus too much on the software side. So I'm happy that you guys are familiar with the system and trying to figure things out for us noobs. Thanks guys!

I've finally got skeinforge working on the PC and the start.code sends the Y off in the wrong direction. I've now flipped it so that works but the print starts printing in the corner rather than the middle.

Pronterface does show my print in the corner, but that wasn't a problem when I was using slic3r.

Is there a way to get pronterface to reliably show what is going to happen on the print bed?

Ah, no endstop switch at the top of the Y axis? That's very good to know.

Thanks John. I noticed in the pronterface python file, you can edit the default build area, so there is a quick way of making it default for new people who download the package.

John:

The Mac instructions on the Solidoodle web page can be confusing. They do not have step by step screen shots like the windows version. Taking a few minutes to add these would save you a lot of time in the long run, and make for happier customers with a better first impression of the software.

The first thing the Mac instructions ask you to do is check the Python Version. Only recent Mac's come with Python installed, so most people with a Mac more than a couple years old will be confused right off the bat. The directions should indicate this so people know what to expect and look for. Most Mac users are not familiar with Python so they may not know to type 'Cntl-D' to exit Python in the terminal screen, another potential confusion factor.

Ponterface comes up wanting to run in terminal mode, I had to change the 'open with' settings to get it to come up. The directions should indicate that this may be the case and what to do  about it.

Step 2 says to install the Arduino FTDI drivers. A lot of people have the Arduino environment on their Mac so this step may not be necessary, but there is some confusion as to exactly what Arduino version is required. The directions should tell us what to do if we already have the Arduino environment on our Mac. The directions say that 'some users may have to manually install the drivers'. How does a user know if this is the case for him?

3D Enthusiasts and experimenters understand what Ponterface and Skeinforge are, but other customers will not. Just a simple paragraph explaining what these software packages are and how they are used would be helpful.

If you could get with someone, who has not done 3D printing, during lunch and watch them install the Mac software it would give you a better idea of where to add clarifying information for the instillation process. This would only take a few minutes and would be a great benefit to your customers.  Screen shots and a brief explanation of each step would  save new customers a great deal of time and get them to using the machine sooner.