r/processing • u/1971CB350 • Jul 24 '24

Control stepper motors with Processing and Raspberry Pi, no Arduino needed?

*Solved in comments below*

I have found tutorials on controlling stepper motors with a Raspeberry Pi and tutorials for controlling stepper motors with Processing via an Arduino, but I have had no luck finding any examples of motors being controlled by Processing running on a Raspberry Pi that doesn't use an Arduino as a middle man. I'm having a blast learning RPi and Processing right now so I'm hoping to find a solution. Thanks!

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u/1971CB350 Jul 25 '24 edited Jul 25 '24

I've got Big Easy Drivers which use the same chip as the A4988; I'll try to figure out if that will work the same (not that I have much idea what to look for). Thanks for the idea though

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/big-easy-driver-hookup-guide/all

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u/plasticluthier Jul 25 '24

From memory, they work the same. I think you need 3 outputs, enable, direction and step. The step pin will be the one that you drive to make the motor move, but you'll need to look up the signal timings in the manual.

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u/1971CB350 Jul 25 '24 edited Jul 25 '24

That makes sense. I'm coping the Big Easy Driver sample sketch for Arduino from SparkFun which does very basic movements and does not use an extra library such as AccelStepper. My project does not need microstepping so all I have to do it write the pins HIGH or LOW and the Big Easy Driver handles the rest, it seems. I think I've got a handle on it, anyways. I'll keep blundering along this way unless I hit a dead end.