Continuing the discussion from Tarkin bed dimensions:
Splitting off another thread since something Danny mentioned reminded me to come back around to the topic of Lightburn licensing and how it relates to our common device configurations…
So this raises a topic related to minor confusion that I went through, so highlighting it here for others’ benefit: Lightburn has two editions, G-Code and DSP. Notably, Danny’s example here assumes you have the DSP edition. The G-Code edition workflow is very similar, but there are potentially-meaningful differences.
TL;DR
Ultimately, I’ve personally got a DSP license and I intend to regularly refresh my LVDEV file(s) to match ASMBLY settings. So I believe I’m set. I’m generally in favor of clearly choosing and documenting a standard workflow, though, so unless anyone knows a reason against, I propose we document that on the wiki as the recommendation, along with brief HOW-TOs for making sure your device and material data files are up-to-date.
Details for those interested…
For many intents and purposes, the two editions are functionally identical, but the difference has to do with what types of devices they support. Tarkin is a DSP-class device, as the Ruida controller falls into that category. G-Code devices have different options for both device-wide configuration and layer-specific cut settings.
So my personal experience here is that I initially purchased the cheaper G-Code edition license (G-Code is $60 and DSP is $120). I was able to import/edit vectors just fine and do basic layer configuration, but at the time I had created just a purely fake placeholder device entry that didn’t know anything about how Tarkin is actually configured and basically just had bed dimensions set. It worked, and I could even save a file there and open it on the actual Tarkin computer – I just had to double-check my layer settings because they don’t exactly map 1:1 between different device types.
After that initial test run, I ultimately decided that it was worth it for me personally to just buy the DSP license upgrade and make sure my personal environment was consistent with ASMBLY’s setup. Since the stated plan is for more or our shop lasers to use Ruida or similar controllers, that seemed like a reasonable investment for me.
Here’s where things get a bit ambiguous… Maybe someone else has researched a bit more to clarify… @dannym? …So I originally purchased just a G-Code license, but I happened to purchase the DSP edition upgrade over the holiday break, which also coincided with the time I decided to lift my own copy of the LVDEV file from the Tarkin computer. The funny thing is that the Lightburn company hadn’t yet fully confirmed my upgrade (they say it is a manual process and staff was on holiday), but my home G-Code edition happily imported the Ruida-based LVDEV file. And suddenly I had a DSP-class device in my environment called “Tarkin”, with all the layer config options that implies, etc. So… That suggests that one might be able to get away with purchasing the G-Code edition but load the Ruida device profile and still get a good solid workflow. What I don’t know is whether this is an “officially supported” workflow – I presume not, since Lightburn wants to be paid based on output device. (And to be clear, I think they deserve to be paid – they put real engineering work into seamlessly integrating options and models for complex devices.)