github as a means to update diy projects

I was thinking it would be useful to say, update a github with images/documentation for people's hacks/diy projects/experiments

It would be nice eventually to have a site which would link discussion as in this forum to github projects, making it easier to view/talk and develop open source further.

Interested to hear anyones thoughts/feedback.

I had a web project in mind that I'm starting to work on, and eventually when I have it working I will put a link here since it may be interesting to my fellow reprappers.

Yes, I would love it if everyone atleast had a wiki page or at least a blog about their projects. Github is a simple way to host such files and git is execlent for versioning. I use git everyday, love it, and wouldn't trade it for any other versioning system, but it does have a bit of a learning curve to get started and understand it and could be beyond the scope of some users.

<3 git,

and yes, that is definitly an obstacle to overcome for many (although the github software is quite good), it would be nice to have an easy way for people to upload models/pictures/text.

Maybe something will come eventually.

Just thought I'd try to see if there was similar interest for github and reprap.

Check out:

githubiverse

Cubehero

Homeprototypes: storage via git

I would love a simple introduction as a newbie to GitHub myself. I am interested in it, but don't know where to start. I've already registered and I have a lot of files and designs made that I am now hosting on Thingiverse, but I feel Thingiverse is not really working for me and I would like to have a dual storage of my projects and in the Thingiverse I would then have this 'Check my Github here for the latest version of this project'.

Also, I don't feel very safe considering the future for Thingiverse. Afraid it will turn into some kind of ugly.

Well, if you just want to use straight up GitHub it is not too hard to get started. The best thing to do first may be to clone as existing project.

Step 1. If you haven't already, go get git over here

Step 2. After installing git, open git bash and follow the simple setup instructions here

Step 3. Now just for fun, clone an existing project. How about a Prusa Mendel? At the Git Bash "command line" make a new directory, "cd" into it, and then git-clone from the online repository. Something like this should work:

user@blah-blah ~
$ mkdir MyTestDirectory
$ cd MyTestDirectory
$ git clone [github.com]

That should work, but there are many ways to do this and your mileage may vary. Note: the little code block above is obscuring the actual github link. It is: h t t p s : / / github.com/josefprusa/PrusaMendel.git

There are of course a million cool projects on github, but here are a few of note to RepRap folk:
Adrian
nophead
Prusa
Sublime
RichRap
garyhodgson
and many many more...

Part 2

Say you want to create a github repository for one of your own projects. Maybe it's one of your projects on Thingiverse. Here is the one I used for this example. Maybe you forgot where your original files are, so you just download everything from Thingiverse in a zip file .

Make a directory, and put your files in it. On my windows machine, I put my files in the directory "Kites_and_Darts". Now, run git bash again, cd to the directory that has the files you want to upload, and initialize it:

me@MY-PC ~/Kites_and_Darts
$ git init

you can run "git status" to see which files are tracked. "git add " will track that file. Here's what I did for this example:

me@MY-PC ~/Kites_and_Darts
$ git status
$ git add *.stl
$ git add *.scad
$ git commit -a

if all goes well, this should open the default editor so you can enter a message for this commit. (Crash course in vi/vim: As the default editor seems to be vi or vim, this might be a confusing step if you haven't used this type of editor before. In vi, hit "i" to 'insert', then type something like 'initial commit', then hit "Escape" and type ":wq" which is shorthand for 'write and quit'. The ":" is important.) After this step you should be returned to the git bash prompt. If you run a git status now, you should get something like:

me@MY-PC ~/Kites_and_Darts
$ git status
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

Now you have your files commited on your local repository. Next step is to push these files to your github repo. Go online and log in to your github account and follow the instructions to make a new repository. For this example, I named it "kitesAndDarts".

Back at the git bash prompt, add the remote repository and push the files to it:

me@MY-PC ~/Kites_and_Darts
$ git remote add origin h t t p s : / / github.com/mattmoses/kitesAndDarts.git
$ git push -u origin master

Where of course the url for your remote will match your own repo. At this point you will be prompted for your username and password for github. If all goes well your committed files will be uploaded.

You may also want to add a readme file. You can make a plain text file README.md with a text editor, put it in your project directory, and update the repo as follows:

me@MY-PC ~/Kites_and_Darts
$ git add README.md
$ git commit -a
$ git push -u origin master

There you go! Now your files are on github! Here is the link to the github repo that we just created for this example.

Note: I'm pretty newb at this so I am sure more experienced folk can offer better ways to do this.

Thanks for the write up Matt, I so seldom use Git that every time I need to I've forgotten most commands.

I'm a pretty experienced Ubuntu user and I understand nothing of the damn vi/vim editor. So instead of git commit -a I do the simpler

git commit -m "This is my commit"

You can only write a single line of text for the commit description but that's enough for me.

There is also a GUI ... can be invoked with "git gui" at the command line. If you have Windows right click in Windows Explorer to get various git commands.

doublepost, my bad. Can't seem to find a delete button on this forum, oh the frustration

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2013 06:36AM by dustynus.

Nice writeups !

I also think the gui for windows/mac seems quite good for those who don't have terminal access,,and makes things easier to 'not have to remember commands':
[windows.github.com]
[mac.github.com]

an easier/simpler github web frontend would be nice to simplify tasks for people starting off I think.

Ohmarinus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, I don't feel very safe considering the
> future for Thingiverse. Afraid it will turn into
> some kind of ugly.

I feel the same way it is an ugly UI too, and ever since they kicked out the founder from makerbot who was for openhardware

Not sure wether Github is a good choice for just distributing a bunch of files. Git is for version control, applying small changes, collaboration and such stuff, all of which rarely happens for typical Thingiverse projects.

What's wrong with the wiki? Excellent for documentation, pages can be "watched" to never miss a change and you can upload all sort of files, including STLs.

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Cubehero looks really promising, in fact it's the best I've seen in thingiverse-alternative attempts. If they add the social stuff like comments and likes and an easy way to upload, it could have potential.

However I also agree with Traumflug's comments that github's strongest point is the collaboration aspect, and the big hurdle is ease of use. I'm not suggesting that git is hard, I use it for all my projects and it's the best tool ever for developers.

But it's not easy for artists and designers. If github is used as the backend storage for such a site, it needs a wrapper that makes it as easy to upload files as it is to attach something to an email or post on a wiki.

I think github also seems to act as a good reference point for authors of a file that doesn't get collaborated on as well. Simply because something was made for 1 purpose, doesn't mean it could not be a great solution for other purposes as well.

Nothing yet though which tries to combine all these things into more of a complete platform, now there is also a growing number of proprietary 3d library's / services (shapeways, cubify...) and there is also makexyz (basically a phonebook for printers only at the moment though)

For main stream 'normal' people, Reprap, git and the like looks like the "non-existant" Linux compared to the giants.

Reprap, cubehero, github, githubiverse, these forums, everything is only in the scattered early stages I believe.

+1 the wrapper idea would be very nice to attract more people to a real open source solution rather than such things as thingiverse

github does have a GUI they developed too.

Quote
Traumflug
What's wrong with the wiki? Excellent for documentation, pages can be "watched" to never miss a change and you can upload all sort of files, including STLs.

I agree! Maybe people think editing a wiki page is too finicky, or they want more of the social aspect. But between the wiki and the Look what I made! forum, all the pieces are there... I suggested some ways to streamline wiki uploads in this post 9 months ago but it didn't seem to make much impression.

One problem with the wiki is that it can be hard to find stuff. But in that regard it is no worse than github.

Is the wiki compatible with the Thing Tracker Network Specification? If so, how would that work? Could you just add a file or some text to the wiki page?