Hi all. Can you help? I am trying to connect my computer (Mac) to a Thunder Laser, Mini 60. I am doing this through Lightburn, but I am not sure what controller I have when asked during the set-up process. In the spec sheet, it says a Hybrid Servo Drive but I thought I had read that this machine uses a Ruida controller. Are they the same thing or are they talking about two different things? Thank you guys for any help you can offer!
Thunder Laser Machines typically run on Ruida controllers. The Hybrid Servo Drive is referring to the motors in the machine, not the brain 
Ok, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you Ray!
If you’re connecting a Mac, you’ll be fighting a driver conflict between MacOS and the driver that the Ruida controller uses, so we recommend using an Ethernet cable and going that route if it’s an option for you. That doesn’t require a driver, and it’s about twice as fast, but it’s a little more trouble to set up the first time.
We have instructions for that here: How do I connect a Ruida controller with Ethernet?
Thanks for this information, Oz! I will check out this article.
Hi Oz,
Thanks for this great information. I think I was able to connect my Mac to the laser cutter. I really appreciate your help!
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Hi again, I thought I connected my Mac to the laser cutter using Ethernet. I tried sending a job to the cutter but I am getting several error messages depending on how I send the file. First error message: “File transfer failed”. Other error message: “There was a problem sending data to the laser. The machine may be busy or paused”. I have a mac laptop and I have disconnected the mac from the laser, but when I am ready to work with the laser. I reconnect it to the laser via Ethernet. Do I have to reset up the connection every time I reconnect the mac to the laser? Is there any way I can test the connection? Thanks!
Hi all, just an update on this situation. Ordered a crossover cable and then called my brother. He walked me through another way to get my laser to talk to my Mac. Went to my Mac, Systems Preferences, then to Network, selected Ethernet that is listed in the side panel. At the top of that dialogue box, it should say Location: Automatic. Now, set up this box as Configure IPv4: Manually. IP Address: Put in the IP Address of your computer. Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 and then put the IP address of your laser in the space that is asking for your Router number. You can then close that dialogue box and your computer should see your laser. When you do this, make sure your computer is connected to the laser via Ethernet cable. My brother is so smart! And thank you guys for all jumping in! It’s nice to know there are people like you that are ready to help!
Thank you for sharing 
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