Karl Johnson, Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 by Karl Johnson - 9 Comments

Virtual Desktop and Oculus Quest Tips & Tricks

Hey, Karl here. I wanted to share some experimenting I did with the Oculus Quest we purchased as a family gift for Christmas. One of the features I was looking forward to was wirelessly streaming VR games from my PC. It is not officially supported by Oculus but Virtual Desktop allows you to do this. Virtual Desktop is an app that can be purchased through the Oculus store. Unfortunately, there are a couple of steps that need to be taken to stream VR to the headset. Oculus forced VD to remove the emulated VR feature in its official store version. Once it is purchased you can then sideload the emulated VR version through Side Quest. Side Quest is a simple tool that makes sideloading apps easy and has a bunch of demo and games that aren’t in the Oculus store. The instructions are easy to follow on the Side Quest […]

November 6, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 1 Comment

Quick Update for the AnyCubic Photon S Photon Workshop V2.1.17.RC1

Just last week I did the first part of the review of the Anycubic Photon S. One of the pain points of printing was the long workflow. Chitubox Prusa slicer Photon File Validator Photon Workshop First thing I have to decide is if the model needs to be hollowed to conserve resin. I load up the model in Chitubox and use the built-in tool to hollow the model. After the models hollowed and a drain hole is placed I export it to an STL and open with Prusa Slicer. In Prusa Slicer, I orient the model and use its auto-support feature and auto-orient feature. It is a roll of the dice if the orientation makes sense. I want all the supports to be on the back/bottom of the print. Little marks are left when removing the supports. I have found that Prusa Slicer has the best auto support feature. Then […]

November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 by Karl Johnson - No Comments

How to install Duet 2 Maestro Board on HE3D K280 3D Printer

Quite a while ago I reviewed the HE3D K280 delta 3D printer. Up until now, I did no mods other than the ones that I completed during the initial build. I have been very happy with it with the exception of the noise caused by inexpensive drivers and the salmon skin due to the drivers as well. The K280 prints big and pretty accurate at modest speeds. Today I am outlining how I upgraded to a Duet 2 Maestro mainboard. With this upgrade, I am jumping from an 8-bit board with generic drivers to a 32-bit board with TMC2224 drivers. The upgrade was quite painless and straightforward but not without a few hiccups. The Maestro is Duet’s entry-level board for about $130. I attempted the Bigtreetech SKR 1.3 with TMC2130’s but the firmware wasn’t quite there yet. I opened an issue on Marlin’s GitHub page which explains the issue in […]

November 4, 2019November 8, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 24 Comments

Sovol SV01 Upgrade with BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 Control Board

Sovol SV01 Upgrade: Bigtreetech SKR mini E3

Karl here with a quick upgrade guide. The one complaint I had in the review of the SV01 3D printer was it was loud. Today we are going to look at resolving part of the problem by replacing the Creality board with the BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 V1.2 control board sold on Amazon for around $37. Fan noise at a later date. This board is ideal because the SD card, USB, and screws line up for nearly a perfect replacement. I did not bother hooking up the filament runout sensor. I have never found them particularly useful and always ensure I start with enough filament and bypassed it for the review. The board comes with TMC2209 drivers which significantly reduce the stepper motor noise as well as stop any salmon skin. SKR Mini E3 Warning This board is a replacement for the board found on the Ender 3. Below is […]

November 1, 2019November 1, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 15 Comments

Anycubic Photon S Review – Part 1: Getting Started with an SLA 3D Printer

Hey, Karl here with something different. I will be breaking this one down into at least 2 posts. There is a lot to cover. In this first post, I will be sharing my initial experiences with the Anycubic Photon S. It is an LCD based SLA 3D printer. You might ask what is that? If you are a long-time reader you may have ran across my traditional FDM printer reviews. FDM printers use plastic filament on a roll. The filament is fed to a hot end which melts the plastic and deposits layers. Most everyone is familiar with this kind of 3D printing and is easy to understand. LCD based SLA printers work a little differently. We’ll start from the bottom. At the bottom of this printer is a bunch of ultraviolet 405nm LEDs. The LEDs turn on and shine through a 2k LCD screen. Above that is a vat […]

October 12, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 4 Comments

How I Adopted a Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway on my Existing Home Network

Hey Karl here with a quick write up on how I adopted a Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) into my existing home network. I ran into a few issues so I wanted to share and hopefully help someone else. I have had 2 Unifi access points cover my home for several years now and I recently upgraded my internet to 100 Mbps. I was maxing out at about 95 Mbps with downloads on my existing 100 Mbps Linksys router and I knew I was leaving some bandwidth on the table. Spectrum is my internet provider and I have always got more than what I paid for. I placed an order on Amazon and 24 hours later it was delivered. I have a couple of things that made this challenging. First I run my network on a 10.0.0.1/24 subnet with devices that have static IP address and I host my own […]

October 8, 2019October 9, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 29 Comments

Ugoos AM6 Review – An Android 9.0 TV Box with Plenty of Options

Karl here….With another review. Today we look at the AM6 from Ugoos. Ugoos has been around for quite some time. I recently did a review of the Beelink GT-King with the same S922X processor and I will do some comparisons with that. I have to say with everything except the UI, I like this box much better (You can read my rant in the Beelink article about Android on the TV). The AM6 is built well. It is solid with a metal enclosure and just feels good when you pick it up. I know weight doesn’t really matter but it feels substantial. Like I stated I don’t really like UI but Ugoos ticks quite a few boxes that appeal to my nerdiness. I will go more into that later. Below are the specs per Ugoos Website. I highlighted the interesting ones. Hardware Specs: Operation System – Android 9.0 Language – […]

September 25, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 6 Comments

Sovol SV01 Review – A 3D Printer that Prints like a Boss

Howdy, Karl here. Let’s do this backward today and give final thoughts first …I like the SV01 3D printer. With a print volume of 280x240x300mm, it’s a good size printer. I think I could get several more centimeters in height if I relocated the filament sensor. I have had it for several months and have printed with it quite a bit and had a really good experience. It is a keeper. By that I mean I have reviewed quite a few printers and I don’t have enough space to keep them all. I find the less desirable ones good homes with friends and family. BTW I plan on doing a follow up soon for all the past articles. Just a few highlights per past article. I think it would be interesting. It is hard to truly review some products in a short amount of time. Back to the SV01…IMO, likes […]