Agreed. I tried to avoid it as much as possible, but programming in Visual Studio on Windows is pretty simple. We should start an open source CNC program that doesn’t require Windows-only. And by “we”, I mean someone else 
There is a toolchain and tutorial using freecad, bcnc and grbl. There was a lot of effort put into the instructions by Alex. There just hasn’t been much interest.
I wonder if you could run playonlinux in a docker container on a mac?
Yeah, I’m sure playonlinux would work fine in a docker container. My company runs all of our cloud hosting services on AWS (linux) so we set up linux containers all the time. If you got it working on a full Linux machine, a docker container (edited for clarity) would have no issues on a mac.
Do docker containers work without a vm on mac?
I could definitely getting working in an ubuntu vm, like virtualbox, but that also seems heavy handed and not as good as windows 7
Yeah, Docker containers work without a VM. With a VM, you’re isolating a machine. With Docker, you’re isolating software.
Hi Rob, I’ve been using Fusion 360 on the mac for design & learning the cam process using Guffy’s post processor. … the v1pi makes it all pretty sweet to drop gcode on the print window ( thanks Jeffeb3 ) … the CNC does make the house noisy. Docker is the cat’s meow when paired with Rancher to containerize projects. 
Thanks Ryan. I’ve messed with Fusion 360, but it’s a LOT to learn. Seems like overkill for getting started with making simple things like wooden signs, to get started. My Windows 7 VM is surprisingly fast, so I’m just going to stick with that for now. I’m sure there are endless combinations of software setups that could do what I want, but since I have a working system (I milled my first sign last night), I’m good for now. But, I have a hard time leaving well enough alone, so I’m pretty sure “good enough” won’t last for long
I have a new version in “prerelease” on github. I have one confirmation that no-hotspot works. I would like to get another 1-3 confirmations, especially with the hotspot version, if either of you’d like to try it and report back. Then I can change it to released, and make a post about it.
v0.17.0
Thanks. I’ll give it a shot tonight or sometime this weekend.
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Hey @jeffeb3. I installed the new release (no hotspot) and it works fine for what I’ve tested. Is there anything specifically you’d like me to test? All I’ve tried is installing Octoprint and moving the gantry around with the controls.
Great!
I don’t know where the errors are gonna be, so I don’t know what to test. Just hoping other people will try things I haven’t. Or on hardware I haven’t. What type of pi is it?
@jeffeb3 I’m running a job now and everything is working great. No errors that I’ve found. I messed around with cncjs a bit, too… looks good to me.
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Running Pi 3B
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I got Estlcam to boot up using Wine on a Mac. It even loaded a DXF, but you couldn’t do anything without the model disappearing. It was all a big ball of anticipointment and I had to walk away from it, but there is a good chance it will work with some more effort.
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downloading a copy now, I’ll try checking it out tonight (also on Pi 3B 1GB)
I just updated my MacBook to 10.15 OS last week. Right now wine is only available as a 32 bit download that will not run in the 64 but environment. I will look at other cam software as well as other ways to get Estlcam to run on my Mac.
I ended up using VirtualBox to spin up a Windows VM on my Macbook Air so I can use Estlcam. It seems to be working okay. I actually like Estlcam now that I’ve gone through all the tutorials and learned how to use it.
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