BTT Octopus Pro

[beelsebob]

Hi, Is like to mess about in a way that’s going to involve more motors. I wondered what your thoughts are on the BTT octopus pro boards? The contents of them seem to be pretty similar to the SKR boards, but I’m looking at this very naïvely. Do you think the changes needed for PrusaAIO to support the octopus pro boards would be significant?

Alternatively, do you think there’s easy ways to add more motor drivers to the SKR boards (eg via the can bus?)

[thisiskeithb]

Hi, Is like to mess about in a way that’s going to involve more motors. I wondered what your thoughts are on the BTT octopus pro boards? The contents of them seem to be pretty similar to the SKR boards, but I’m looking at this very naïvely.

In general, I like them. The STM32H7 versions are quite future-proof and have fast processors on them.

Do you think the changes needed for PrusaAIO to support the octopus pro boards would be significant?

Yes, it'd require adding support for each one, updating the wiring guide, and finding a case, which I don't have plans to do at this time.

Alternatively, do you think there’s easy ways to add more motor drivers to the SKR boards

BTT sells the EXP-MOT V1.0 Module that does exactly that. It adds three drivers by connecting to the EXP1 and EXP2 connectors, so you can't use your LCD.

(eg via the can bus?)

Marlin does not currently support CAN bus.

[beelsebob]

Thanks for responding. Am I right in understanding your reply to mean that it would be significant work to officially support it, but that assuming I plug in to sensible pins, and stick those selections in the appropriate header, that things ought to work with that board? There’s no reason necessarily why it’s a non starter, right?

[thisiskeithb]

There’s no reason necessarily why it’s a non starter, right?

Everything here is open source, so you're free to modify files to your needs 🙂 I've just simplified everything down to a single configuration file (Prusa_AIO_Configuration.h).

Since this fork is dedicated to a subset of hardware & settings for the Prusa Bear, it may be easier for you to start with the upstream/main version of Marlin instead.