Not sure if this is the right part of the forum to ask this,
Just got a little K40+ laser, and i need a new computer to run lightburn on and run the laser cutter.
I will be doing the designing on my main computer, but as that is about 30 meters away from where the laser cutter lives, i need something local to the laser to use to control the laser cutter when i am there,
i’ll just be sending the files to it over the network, then i want to use a lightburn camera to line things up and then engrave / cut from that computer (i don’t think lightburn bridge will do what i want, i will not be controlling the laser from my main computer as it’s just too far away if something bad happens.
The only thing that will run on this new computer will be lightburn, and a usb lightburn camera, i already have a monitor mounted on the wall next to where the laser is going, that’s got a CCTV nvr connected to it, but it has a second hdmi input, and i have a trackball and keyboard there i can use too simply by swapping over the wireless dongle.
Most people say just get a cheap second hand thin client / nuc, but then i read that others say they did that and it struggles with anything too complex… as in multi layers, lots of vector points etc,
So i’m looking for a half decent new thin client, NUC or mini pc that will run windows 11, and be able to handle lightburn and the camera but not be too over the top performance wise and thus cost a fortune.
Something i can get in the UK, and say upto £250?? is that possible, and if so, what is the reccomendation.
Don’t know about the UK and prices have gone nuts due to the DRAM situation, but I set up a dedicated Beelink Mini-PC on the laser to run LightBurn:
Accessed full-screen through RDP from my Linux desktop box, LightBurn looks like a native program and the Beelink has enough grunt for everything I’ve done so far:
So I do all the design work upstairs sitting in my Comfy Chair, then trot to the basement to Fire The Laser:
i keep seeing those beelink models mentioned, but i get a little worried when i read amazons reviews of them and see quite a few one star reviews saying ‘after x months it started randomly shutting down, support said i need to update it, but it shuts down before that completes’
i think if i didn’t want to use a camera with lightburn i could use any 15 or so year old mini pc / thin client, but it seems adding the lightburn camera add’s a fair bit to the load on the pc,
I mainly used a Thinkpad from 2010 two control up to 4 lasers in parallel. It still worked fine (Intel Core2 Duo or something like that). So you can grab any PC that was manufactured after 2010 and in will run LB just fine There are many mini desktops available, second hand hardware from bigger companies as thin clients.
There are many mini desktops available, second hand hardware from bigger companies as thin clients.
