You do this by downloading the latest firmware.
Now that you have your board, a very good idea before starting is to update your firmware to the latest version. You can find all the information you need about using the network interface here : Network interface.
It also allows you to connect some software that supports it like Pronterface and Visicut to your Smoothieboard via the network. It allows you to access a web interface the board serves, and control the machine via your browser. This is the same kind of technology you would find on a network-connected 2D printer for example. Network Hope you have less cables than this.
If not, we explain it all later in this guide. If you are already familiar with it, you can try connecting right now and get an answer from the board.
The CDC Serial interface is the interface host programs like Pronterface use to allow you to interact with your machine. USB Mass Storage is not the only thing you get when you connect the board. It can also be used to store and play G-Code files, see Player.
The SD card can also be used to flash a more recent version of the firmware to your board, while the pre-flashed firmware should work this is not always the case, see where to get the binary file and how to flash it via the SD card.
You can read more about configuring your Smoothieboard at Configuring Smoothie. You edit the configuration simply by editing this file in a Text Editorsaving it and resetting the board. This file contains all of the configuration options for your board and is read when you start or reset your board. This allows you to add, copy, edit or delete any file you'd like. A good first step is to connect your board to your computer to familiarize yourself with it. With a basic configuration file installed on the SD card, no preparation is needed before you can connect Smoothieboard to your computer and start interacting with it. Your Smoothieboard comes with a micro sd-card in the microSD slot. Use it to help you understand in general, but any specific information should be taken from the original version, especially before asking the community for help. Note that this translated version is by definition never going to be up-to-date. Some users have hand-translated this page.
This guide will walk through everything you need to accomplish to successfully perform these steps. On a typical 3D printer setup, installing a Smoothieboard will mean you do the following things. Please don't hesitate to edit it to fix mistakes and add information, any help is very welcome. This guide is a community effort, and this page is a Wiki. This is a step-by-step guide to connecting your board to the various components of the 3D printer, configuring everything, from the beginning to actual printing.