Help for getting started in 3D printing Elegoo Neptune 3

[Christophe]

The error message does not indicate version incompatibility, it says "Error accessing UPI repository in the 64-bits registry" and I searched for this msg via google without success.

My 2 daily pc are one with XP SP2, fast, the other with W7, slower, greedy in memory. I tried the 8, even worse, and the 10 even more.

Er, it's 2022, not 2012...you might have to think about updating your computer equipment...at the hardware level...especially if you're getting into 3D printing...

A new laptop that runs Meshmixer under Win10 will cost you between 450 and 500€...

Is he the Elegoo slicer? Otherwise I can advise you the best free one available (in my opinion)...

[SENIOR ELECTRONICIAN]

This is to make some prototypes of a small portable ECG (electrocardiogram) which would be more precise than an oximeter or a wrist blood pressure monitor in the case of atrial fibrillation (for me tachycardia and arrhythmia for months, finally settled by an ablation of the AV node!!!).

Then if the market is in demand, I will probably call on an SLA service provider, I already have contacts.

But for the moment I have just taken another pc, also with W7 SP1, it has 4 GB of ram and an up-to-date NVidia video, according to Autodesk recommendations, and I have the same error. What to do ?

[Forhorse]

Windows 7 is no longer supported and therefore no longer updated. At present it must be a real sieve...
What's the point of always being at least 10 years behind... apart from getting full of viruses and getting hacked on every corner of the web?

[SENIOR ELECTRONICIAN]

For most of my electronic CAD software, these are portable PCs that I do not connect to the web, no risk.

And if I put 3 side by side, an xp, a w7 and a w8, I start them simultaneously, sacred difference, and the same when switching off.

At least 10 years ago I thought that Linux was protected, I used Ubuntu 14 for a long time but I gave up.

[Christophe]

That doesn't really answer the question...after that you do what you want...you can also continue to use Netscape Navigator and yahoo... but don't complain that you can't launch recent apps, huh!!

If you are afraid to switch to Windows 10 because of your old software, either you keep one under these old versions (obviously you have lots of machines), or you use the retro active compatibility mode of win10 before launching these software (right button, property, compatibility...and you can simulate old versions of windows...). It's a great little known tool!

I told you: a very decent laptop is 500€ and a win10 license is 15€ if it's not with the laptop...even a 350€ pc will run Meshmixer I guess but that's always better to have a little spare...

In addition, if your old PCs are desktops, you will save a lot of kWh all year round!

But you decide...

[Christophe]

Windows 7 is no longer supported and therefore no longer updated. At present it must be a real sieve...
What's the point of always being at least 10 years behind... apart from getting full of viruses and getting hacked on every corner of the web?

It's not even so much hacking as having an unusable pc for things a little more recent...the proof!!!

In addition, the latest version of Meshmixer dates from 2018 and 4 years old, it is still a bit much in software and hardware development...even if it has slowed down considerably since the 2000s...

[Forhorse]

If you like old things, everyone has their own delirium...
At the moment even windows 10 is outdated (end of support announced for in 3 years), a recent machine must be under windows 11
And for recalcitrant old software that wouldn't work under Win10/11, a virtual machine (VMware player for example) does the job much better than lugging around a collection of old PCs*
I too have been doing electronics for more than 20 years (as an amateur, however, with a very low level) and working on a recent PC is still much more pleasant.
I saw for example for simulations on Proteus... when your old PC rows 10mn to simulate 10ms and that the new one is almost real time that has nothing to do anymore.

As for XP which would start faster than Win10... how to say... LOL it's true that XP was famous for its boot speed, it's well known.

* I have drawing software that I loved that dates back to the Windows 98 era, with a VM under windows2000 it runs very well, and if I need it it is available in 40s (real, chrono in hand) on my usual pc, and to transfer the files a simple drag and drop is enough.

[Forhorse]

you can also continue to use Netscape Navigator and yahoo...

No you can't even!
The only site you can consult is the google site, which must be the last site to have a non-SSL version.
All the other sites (apart from a few small personal sites) have switched to HTTPS with an encryption level that was not supported by older browsers.
You can try (with a VM for example) I tried, and with the original IE version of winXP I didn't even manage to download a newer browser.

[Forhorse]

a win10 license is 15€

Not even, if you have a win7 installation key, you can use it to install win10 and activate it without problem (I did it not that long ago)
the longest is just to download the iso of win10

[SENIOR ELECTRONICIAN]

I have a few desktops, in particular one for developing FPGAs with QUARTUS II, good with xp, and one for my sky accounting!!!

Obsolescence bothers me a bit, and some sites have made CONSIDERABLE efforts to block XP (doctolib, le bon coin, viamichelin, mappy...)

But urssaf, public treasury, and even the post office work with xp, respect!

There for 2D I will do with Mentor PADS 2005, yes 2005!!!! and it allows to generate Gerber files and order PCBs in China.

For 3D I just found BRL-CAD, it installs directly !!! I'm progressing in the tutorial, I just want to generate .stl