Installing PlanetCNC TNG software on Raspberry Pi 3

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You will need:
– Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (or B+)
– Monitor with HDMI cable
– Mouse and Keyboard
– Power supply
– 8GB SD card (16GB and 32GB should also work, 64GB or more will not work)

We used NOOBS version 2.8.2 in this tutorial but it should also work with newer versions.

1. Download NOOBS from here:

NOOBS


You will get almost 2GB large file named “NOOBS_v2_8_2.zip”

2. You need to format SD card. We suggest that you use “SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0” which you can get here:
https://www.sdcard.org/

– Download “SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0”.
– Follow the instructions to install the software.
– Insert your SD card into the computer or laptop’s SD card reader and make a note of the drive letter allocated to it, e.g.
– In SD Memory Card Formatter, select the drive letter for your SD card and format it.

3. Extract files from NOOBS zip file to SD card.

Your SD card contents should look like this:

4. When this process has finished, safely remove the SD card and insert it into your Raspberry Pi. Connect monitor, mouse and keyborad and power up Raspberry Pi.
After few moments selection dialog will appear.

Select “Raspbian (full desktop version)” and click install. Confirm overwriting SD card and wait for Raspbian to be installed. It might take a while.

Another tutorial for Raspbian installation using NOOBS is here:
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/noobs-install

5. When installation is finished you will get nice welcome screen and Raspbian will ask you to set country, time zone and password.
You do not have to set password if you do not want it.

If connected to internet it will download and install updates. If not then skip this step.

When finished it will ask to reboot.

After reboot you are ready to install PlanetCNC TNG.

6. First we will modify “config.txt” file.
– Open terminal.

– Type “sudo nano /boot/config.txt”

– GNU nano will apear. Scroll to bottom of file and type:
gpu_mem=128
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d

– If you have black border on your monitor then locate line “disable_overscan=1” and uncomment it.

– When done exit GNU nano by clicking Ctrl+X and confirm saving modified buffer.

7. Reboot Raspberry Pi

7. After reboot we will install PlanetCNC TNG. Create subdirectory “PlanetCNC” in your HOME directory.

8. Download or copy ‘PlanetCNCPi-TNG_(version).tar.gz’ tarball to subdirectory.

9. Extract ‘PlanetCNCPi-TNG_(version).tar.gz’ tarball with “tar -xvf PlanetCNCPi-TNG_*.tar.gz”

10. Run installation script with “sh install.sh”

If you set password then you will be asked to enter it. After instalation completes PlanetNCC TNG will start automaticaly.

11. You can close all windows. There should be PlanetCNC icon on desktop. Double click will start PlanetCNC TNG.