I’m new to all of this stuff. I’m not a tech guy also. But I have been doing a lot of reading of other builds. I’m doing this because I can build the hard parts and after looking at systems out their and their price. I think I can do most but not all of it. Its the PC to drivers and motors.
I have read that the Odrive system if very hard to get working. And me not being a tech guy i start to get cold feet. If I can’t make the tech side work I’m going to have a lot of stuff but not w working system.
I am asking for input . Is this the system I should use ?
As long as you go with an open mind, it’s not hard to get working at all.
I’d recommend that you use a raspberry pi to communicate with the ODrive - for two reasons:
It is easier to embed into the application than a PC
The ODrive tools are easier to work with on Linux than on Windows. This is because Windows cannot handle USB devices with more than one type of driver (ODrive needs this for firmware upgrading etc), so on Windows you need a third party tool to switch drivers when upgrading firmware.
Whereas in Linux it ‘just works’. Also they are in Python, and again Python is better supported on Linux.
ODrive uses a command-line tool called odrivetool. Don’t be afraid of typing commands - it’s quite intuitive once you’re used to it: If you can’t remember the command you want, hit ‘tab’ twice to see the available options. Use the arrow keys to go back and edit previous commands, etc.
And if you get stuck, there’s a huge community here who will help you.