Mac OS X

I can't seem to find info on the site or in the forum topics, apologies if this is a duplicate question but can/will the Handibot be able to be controlled from app on a Mac OS X computer/tablet ? I have a Macbook and iPad and it's a bit of a deal breaker if I would have to purchase another computer to run it. It would also seem to be limiting the pool of potential users if there are not plans to run this great device on platforms other than windows.

Short answer: No can do. I am running Windows 7 on a MacBook Pro under bootcamp. The HandiBot software works very well. I tried Parallels but the performance hit was a deal-breaker. A lot of CAM software is exclusively Windows.

ShopBot claims the HandiBot will be controllable by a smartphone or tablet, which implies iOS support (or else they would specify Android). And one of the new $300 intel tablets will run all of the ShopBot software right now. Mac OS executables aren't available and may never be but many learn to adopt. Or adapt.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2013 10:21PM by Thayer Gignoux.

As of today, Thayer has it right. Both the Shopbot control software, and CAD/CAM used to generate toolpaths require a windows environment. Several people have had success running Handibot on Mac hardware.

We are working on a new controller that will allow for cross-platform development. We hope to see something in this regard be springtime.

David

I run Parallels on a MacBook Pro with fine performance. Used to run it on a much older MacBook Pro and also had fine performance (circa early 2009 MacBook Pro).

The key is to bump up the RAM as far as you can. MacOS X likes to have some elbow room. So does Windows. If you're trying to squeeze both operating systems into the default 4GB of memory, you'll spend forever watching VM flog itself to death.

More RAM is usually much cheaper than a new machine.

I run a Desktop ShopBot with my current MacBook Pro…16GB of memory and I can't recall ever really thrashing due to memory issues.

I tried BootCamp when it first came out. Too much hassle to move files back and forth between MacOS and Windows. With Parallels, I just drag and drop files between the Mac's Finder and Window's Explorer (not Internet Explorer, Explorer that's the counterpart to the Mac's Finder).

The device (handibot) isn't the issue. The problem comes from nobody offering drawing and toolpathing software that runs native on the Mac. V-Carve doesn't come from ShopBot…it's a separate company and they only offer it on Windows.

Seems like one of the entries in the App Ideas page should be "Native Mac Support for drawing and toolpathing"!

There may be hope yet, Tim. We had a visitor a couple of weeks ago from Sketch it Make it. See here:

[blankslatesystems.com]

They are working toward a simple drawing app for ipads and other mac hardware. They are investigating how to get their drawings to easily toolpath to Shopbots, including Handibot. It won't be an overnight effort, but there is work being done on this front for the Mac folks!

David

David,

That's the best news I've heard in a long time! Thank you!

Tim S.

That is really cool! How great would that be if it could output some sort of Shopbot code...

Has anyone had any success using VMWare Fusion? I cant get the ShopBot software to recognize the Handibot.

I'm running Windows 8 x64 Pro on an Intel based Macbook w/ OSX 9.4 and 8GB of RAM.
VMWare Fusion sees the USB connection from the Handibot, and claims to have assigned ownership to the Windows VM not the Mac.
I've loaded the ShopBot_HandiBot.sbd settings file.
The Handibot is on and showing green lights.
I've tried various combinations of reboots.
The Shopbot software still complains that it can't find the control box and kicks me into preview mode.

I don't know if this is a VM issue, a Windows issue, or a Handibot issue. I don't have a dedicated Windows box on which to test, and this is the first chance I've had to get the Handibot out and run it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I had some limited success with VMWare Fusion. Initially it wouldn't recognise that the bot was plugged into the USB. I can't remember the exact steps unfortunately but from memory I dug around in the files provided by ShopBot and performed a manual install of the USB drivers to get it working.

While it now recognises the bot is plugged in, movement and control is very jerky and not useable. I may try allocating more RAM to the VM as suggested in this thread and see if that helps.

On the upside all the CAD/CAM software from Vectric works fine out of the box under fusion.

I'm running a Mac Book Pro:
Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Latest version of Fusion with Win 8.1

Mitch

Thanks Mitch!

I'll give the USB driver reinstall idea a try this weekend and post how it goes. I'll also let you know if I have similar issues with jerkiness and whether I find any solutions. I'm hoping to avoid having to switch virtualization tool or switching to dual boot.

As with you, I'm having no trouble running the CAD/CAM software on VMWare, and excited to get going with the Handibot. .

Had a chance to try reinstalling again. 3rd time is apparently the charm.

I'm not certain, but I think VMWare locks down installation of drivers by default. I'm not clear whether this setting refers to automatically looking for drivers when new USB devices are detected or to installation of new drivers via software installers (which seems like a daft thing to lockdown), but I released this in the Windows installation prior to doing the reinstall.

The Shopbot software now recognizes the Handibot and appears to control it. I'll test cutting when I get the chance (probably Saturday) and post results.

In the interest of ensuring this thread has as much info as possible about installing a Handibot on OSX, I also attempted to install the Shopbot software in a WinXP bottle using Crossover. It failed to register several components and the software would die with an ActiveX error. I stopped pursuing that thread when I got the driver on VMWare to work, so I did not do any significant debugging with the WinXP bottle. I will update further if I attempt to install via crossover again.

Continued updates on Handibot w/ VMWare Fusion:

Exciting progress, but less than stellar results on the test cuts so far. Seems inaccurate and unpredictable. Some cuts were great. Others were very off. The worst was a "square" where one side was half the length of the other, resulting in a cut right through the middle of the square.

There was no correlation between the complexity of the cut and the accuracy problems. I also ran the same cut multiple times with different results. Sometime perfect. Other times with major errors. And the errors could not be attributed to an improperly secured Handibot. Registration was perfect. I was able to trace the same cut on top of itself, and except where the random glitches occurred, the cut would so perfectly track the previous cut that no new wood would be touched.

Given the symptoms, my guess is that VM would lose priority on the USB bus periodically, and commands were either missed or delayed.

But that's just a guess.

Next test will be installing windows in a Bootcamp partition. (Sadness.)

I have found a new application in the MAC App Store by Autodesk called Fusion360. This new program allows users to have CAD & CAM software on the MAC without ever needing to use VMWare or partition your disk with a copy of windows. Seems to be the answer to all of your questions here.

VMware fusion worked out of the box for me on a windows 7 VM. just had to install all the handibot software, and tell VMware to attach the USB to windows when i plugged in.

It can get slow and clunky at times, but if im just running a single program in the VM, it chugs along.

Has anybody tried fusion 360?