Installing RepRap on your computer

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Mendel Build Documentation



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Prerequisites

The RepRap software currently runs under 32-bit Linux or Microsoft Windows. We are working on adding Mac and 64-bit versions.

You will need Java on your computer. If you don't have it already, get it here:

You will also need to download and install the Arduino development environment to build the firmware for your RepRap machine. That is available here:

You will need to download and install the Sanguino add-ons for Arduino. Get them here:

Finally in this section, you may care to take a look at software that is useful for RepRap, but not required to run it. There's a list here:

RepRap Download

Download the RepRap distribution from Sourceforge:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/reprap/

There are a number of files and packages from the project available there, but the main download (which is about 65 MB) will have a name like reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd.zip. This is the one file you want. It is the main Sourceforge download for RepRap; nnnnnn is the name of the current RepRap machine and yyyymmdd is the date of the release.

Linux Installation

You can install and use RepRap in your own file-space under Linux.

In your own space

Unzip the downloaded file:

$ unzip reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd.zip

This will create a directory called reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd (with the name of the current RepRap machine and the distribution date substituted, clearly). To run the RepRap software simply move to that directory and run the file named reprap:

$ cd reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd
$ ./reprap

Installing for all users

If you want RepRap to be available system-wide to all users, you will need to log in as the superuser to install it.

Assume you downloaded reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd.zip into the directory /xxx/yyy. Move to the directory /usr/local, then unpack it:

# cd /usr/local
# unzip /xxx/yyy/reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd.zip

Then move to the /usr/local/bin directory and create a short shell script called reprap using your favourite text editor (gedit in the example).

# cd /usr/local/bin
# gedit reprap

Copy and paste these three lines into the script, then save it:

#!/bin/sh
cd /usr/local/reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd
./reprap

(Don't forget to replace the nnnnnn and the yyyymmdd with the right strings for your distribution file.)

Finally, set execute permission on the file:

# chmod 755 reprap

Any user will now be able to run the software just by typing the command "reprap".

There is a RepRap teardrop symbol in the file /usr/local/reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd/reprap-icon.png which people can use if they add the program to their desktop or task-bar as a clickable executable. The program is /usr/local/bin/reprap .

If you want to save space, you can now delete the distribution .zip file:

# rm /xxx/yyy/reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd.zip

Windows Installation

You will need administrator privileges to do this.

Create a new folder:

C:\Program Files\Reprap

Unpack the ZIP file anywhere you like on your system. It will create a folder called reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd where nnnnnn is the name of the current RepRap machine and yyyymmdd is the date of the release. Move all the files in that folder into C:\Program Files\Reprap.

You can then delete the reprap-nnnnnn-yyyymmdd if you like, and the ZIP file.

In C:\Program Files\Reprap there is a .BAT file called reprap.bat. Running that will launch the RepRap host software. You can copy that .BAT file to your desktop or elsewhere to give you a clickable executable.

The files in the distribution

Go to the RepRap Distribution Files page to see the structure of what you have downloaded and installed.

Getting the latest sources

All the files for RepRap are kept in a Subversion repository on Sourceforge.

If you want to get the latest versions of files you can check them out of the repository. But take care - these files will be development versions that may have bugs.

The simplest way to obtain the files is probably to use the Eclipse software development environment, which is used by all the RepRap hardware and software developers.

Do the following:

  1. Download and install Eclipse from this link,
  2. Download and install Subclipse (that is, Subversion for Eclipse) from this link, and
  3. Run Eclipse.

In Eclipse go to the menu: Window -> Open Perspective -> Other... and you will get a menu containing (among other things) SVN Repository Exploring. Select that and click on OK. It should open a window called SVN Repository. Right mouse click in that window and select New -> Repository location.

Cut and paste the RepRap repository URL: https://reprap.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/reprap/

Open the repository (the little arrow at its left) and go down to trunk. Right-mouse-click on mendel, and select Checkout.... This will give you all the mechanical and electronic design files, and the microcontroller firmware sources.

Next go down to reprap and check out host (this is the Java software for the host computer).

Note that you are downloading a lot of information (about 60M), so these will take quite a while on a slow connection.

Now go back to the Java view in Eclipse (two little arrows: >> top right) and you should have all the project's files.

You can update them from the repository at any time by right-clicking on them and going to team -> update...


Back to How to make RepRap Version II Mendel.