I'm not 100% certain everyone is considering "stand-alone" to be the same thing.  If by "stand-alone" you mean without connecting the scanner to the network but not to a PC, then yes you can use ATLAS 3D standalone with a tablet, phone, etc.  If by stand-alone you mean hooking up a touchscreen to the HDMI and USB ports of the Raspberry Pi, I couldn't say whether Raspberry Pi supported this mode of input or not.  If it does, then yes you can control ATLAS 3D that way by using the built in graphical interface of the Raspberry Pi.  If by stand-alone you mean attaching a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to ATLAS 3D, then yes you can control the ATLAS 3D this way as well by using the built in graphical interface of the Raspberry Pi.

Well, what I meant is that it could be somehow controlled and used without needing another computer or even a network connection. Such as just simply plugging a monitor, keyboard, and mouse into it.

At first when you said it could, I assumed that the FreeLSS software had some sort of GUI, or at least a CLI interface. But then you mentioned you needed a web browser, so then I am guessing that means the FreeLSS software can only be controlled by a web browser and has no GUI, and if you had plugged in a keyboard and monitor directly you would just be connecting to 127.0.0.1 instead of a LAN IP?

That's why I was asking about a touchscreen, I was under the impression that the FreeLSS software had a GUI if you plugged in a screen and keyboard/mouse directly, and was wondering if instead of all that clutter with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse all over the place... it could be made compact by just using an LCD touchscreen for both the screen and input, since there are many available for the Pi. But since you would still need to use a web browser, that would be a mess as you would essentially be attempting to control a web browser through a touchscreen, not the FreeLSS software directly.

Also, I haven't looked into it, but don't many of those screens designed for a Pi connect to the dedicated DSI Display Connector, and not through HDMI?

I just don't know what to do at the prompt to open the GUI in RPi.

I don't know any programming for the RPi but I'm ordering the book so I can start learning. In the meantime I'd really like to get my Atlas 3D running using at least the keyboard, mouse and monitor since my WiFi dongle died.

By the way not only did the wire break on one of my lasers when I was installing it but the WiFi dongle stopped working after using it for about three times.

Any idea when you'll have the lasers in? Do you have any spare dongles available?

Thanks,

   KennyB

"I guess that means using a touchscreen or even a mouse to make the Atlas 3D standalone and control it directly won't work."

If you have a display, keyboard, and mouse attached to the Raspberry Pi, then you can run a web browser directly from the Pi and control FreeLSS that way.

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood what you meant originally. I thought you meant the software could be controlled directly if you plug a display and keyboard/mouse into the RPi that's connected to the Atlas. I didn't realize you would still need to run a web browser and just connect to the server through the browser locally.

So the FreeLSS application has no native GUI and can only be accessed through a web browser then? Guess that means using a touchscreen to make the Atlas 3D standalone and control it directly wouldn't work out that well then.

Which would be a better background behind the scanner flat black or flat white?

This question doesn't belong here, but to answer the question anyway.

I tried both, and it really depends on the subject being scanned.  A black background should be used with lighter colored objects, the white background should be use with darker colored objects.  You're trying to set a contrast between the two so that the scanner can pick it up easier.

A flat black background has the advantage of not reflecting light, whereas a white one, even flat white will reflect the light.  Some of my scans, resulted in the object being scanned and a cylinder above it, which is really the vertical line the scanner projected on the white panel behind the turntable.

...Is a keyboard or text input needed at all or would mouse/pointer input be all the software needs to control and run it?...

If you are asking about getting full access to the RPi, and have the RPi already connected to your Wi-Fi network, another option to run the Raspberry Pi “headless” without a keyboard and monitor attached is to connect from a remote computer to your Raspbian system using the UNIX SSH (Secure Shell) protocol.  This will only work if the remote RPi system has an SSH server running; which the standard Raspbian system will have preinstalled.

If you connect from a Mac OSX or Linux system you can simply enter ssh from the Terminal command line along with the RPi’s Hostname or IP address (e.g. ssh pi/raspberrypi).

If you want to connect from a Windows PC you will need an additional piece of software such as PuTTY to support the SSH protocol.  This application software can be downloaded free from http://www.putty.org/.  This is a standalone executable that will also need the RPi’s IP address assigned by your network router to run.

John

Is a keyboard or text input needed at all or would mouse/pointer input be all the software needs to control and run it?  I know there are many touch screens available for Raspberry Pi, would the FreeLSS software be compatible with displays connected by ports other than HDMI and/or touch input? Or would I have to try doing additional tweaking to the software to enable this?