Onshape and Raspberry Pi 4?

patrick_dwan

I am thinking of purchasing a Raspberry Pi 4 to use as an inexpensive computer for tinkering, web browsing, etc.

Can you access Onshape from a Pi 4? (web or app)
Does it work well enough for basic Part Studio design work?

I would appreciate any advice or setup/configuration tips.

Thanks in advance.

Pat.

Bogdan

Hi Patrick.

Onshape can be used on Raspberry Pi 4 through the chromium web browser, as I tried that last year, when I purchased the 4GB RAM variant. It needs an operating system with hardware acceleration enabled, at that time Raspbian OS did not have that, but there are other distributions available. Performance wise, I was getting about 5/2.2 million triangles/lines, but the new version, with 8GB RAM memory, will not improve it, since it would need a more capable graphics chip.

Bogdan

Hi Patrick.

Onshape can be used on Raspberry Pi 4 through the chromium web browser, as I tried that last year, when I purchased the 4GB RAM variant. It needs an operating system with hardware acceleration enabled, at that time Raspbian OS did not have that, but there are other distributions available. Performance wise, I was getting about 5/2.2 million triangles/lines, but the new version, with 8GB RAM memory, will not improve it, since it would need a more capable graphics chip.

patrick_dwan

Bogdan, thank you for your detailed reply.  This is very helpful.  I appreciate your quick response too.  Kind regards, Pat.

janos_horvath

Bogdan said:

Hi Patrick.

Onshape can be used on Raspberry Pi 4 through the chromium web browser, as I tried that last year, when I purchased the 4GB RAM variant. It needs an operating system with hardware acceleration enabled, at that time Raspbian OS did not have that, but there are other distributions available. Performance wise, I was getting about 5/2.2 million triangles/lines, but the new version, with 8GB RAM memory, will not improve it, since it would need a more capable graphics chip.

Hello @Bogdan,

thank you for your comment! However I can not really grasp the "5/2.2 million triangles/lines". How would you describe the user experience on a Pi 4? Is it something that barely works, or is it useable too? Would you recommend it to someone as a primary device for Onshape? Does it work with medium size assemblies too, or is it only for simple parts? Does it lag a lot?

I'm to replace my old PC and would like to purchase a Pi in case it works fine for my hobby CAD projects.

Thank you in advance!
Regards,
János

billy2

Graphic performance is coming in at 6.1 million triangles/second. There's 2.6 million triangles in the model shown. So what does that mean? It spins the model on the screen smoothly. 

For a computer less than $100 bucks, go for it.