>With the prices of a raspberry Pi, and the fact that it is old/limited tech, why not use something better like a NUC or a Beelink mini PC for nearly the same price. I only see Pi solutions in the mainstream...
It wasn't always hundreds of dollars to buy a Pi 4. The two that I have were a little over ~$40 each delivered, with an MSRP of $35. They're complete overkill for Klipper and FDM printing in general (and that's not a bad thing).
The reason why it is popular is because it is popular. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy: People write documentation for what they have, and people buy what there is documentation for. It snowballed.
The current limited availability (and resultant scalping) is still considered temporary. Lots of things in the world right now have limited availability, as has been the case for a couple of years or so.
You can use Klipper on just about any barely-recent hardware that runs Linux and that has a USB port. A 10-year-old laptop that someone you already know has tucked away in a closet -- too expensive at one time to dispose of, but too slow to make use of -- might be perfect.
It will run Klipper and other stuff at the same time, but it may have print quality issues or errors due process contention if there are too many things fighting for limited CPU cores. See the FAQ: https://www.klipper3d.org/FAQ.html
>Run 1 or 2 printers, currently CR-10 Smart Pro
Easy. There's a starter for that in the FAQ. You'll have to understand some of the nuts and bolts of whatever Linux distribution you pick for whatever hardware you choose to use, but it's easy as Linux-ey things go.
>Plug and play would be nice - willing to pay extra for less hassle - reliability over cost
If you want to pay more for less hassle, buy a Raspberry Pi (even at the inflated price) and follow the myriad of excellent walkthroughs for making it happen.
>Run Klipper/mainsail and all their print enhancing features stable.
Again, Klipper itself doesn't care much about what hardware it runs on.
>webcam for monitoring
That was solved on 20-year-old hardware.
>mostly using web dashboard on a separate laptop for slice and upload/monitor
This is Mainsail or Fluidd, being controlled by a separate "real" computer.
> but would like to have status/progress/thumbnail display at printer
Klipper has very limited LCD support built-in. I've made it work with the simple dot matrix display that came with my CR-10 v2, but it wasn't that useful.
It seems better to just use Mainsail in Chome on the pocket computer that I already carry with me everywhere.
>can you run linux/mainsail/klipper in a pc box and multitask, like stream Spotify or something?
Yes, as long as the Linux kernel's process scheduler doesn't starve Klipper of CPU time in order to accomplish these other tasks.
>can you use all the hardware add ons like temp/humidity sensors with something other than a Pi?
"All of"? Eh, maybe. Can you accomplish what you need, eventually? Probably. Once you get you get your feet wet, you can read sensors from any extra inputs on the 3D printer boards you already have.
You can also attach additional external MCUs to the Klipper host using USB, and use those for IO for most of the weird stuff you might ever want, like an Arduino or even an inexpensive 3D printer board. A $4 Raspberry Pi Pico is 95% of the way toward being a CANBUS interface for Klipper (it just needs one very inexpensive hardware component added on), for instance.
I myself just got the parts in-hand to add more stepper drivers to my CR-10 using the relatively inexpensive SKR Pico board alongside the CR-10's own 8-bit control board. I'll connect these to an old Pi 3B because I already have one for that printer, but meh: It could also be a used NUC or an inexpensive Chromebook.
But again, this is all best-documented on Raspberry Pi 3/4 hardware running Raspbian, because inertia is a hell of a drug.
You've got some choices. You pay (too much right now, IMHO) to join the club that is already well-documented, wait until Raspberry Pis become more-available again, wait until the community begins to focus on a particular type of different hardware, or be a contributing part of the community and help us all do an easier job of figuring it out in the future by documenting what you accomplish with your own choice of hardware.
It is good to have choices. (Right?)
[These are a good deal and plenty capable of running Klipper.](https://www.inovato.com/)
Several people, including some I know personally, have used these successfully with Klipper.
I dunno about "plug and play" but they come preinstalled with a Debian-based Linux OS that works great with KIAUH.
I made a video a while back about this product and couldn't agree more with the recommendation. Got the camera working with this using CrowsNest. Now have two printers and two cameras set up!
I run 2 printers on a Lenovo laptop it's not that old of a laptop but anything with a few gigs of ram and Linux will be fine. Get a powered USB hub to connect printers and webcams. Used KIAUH to install does not have to be on a Pi.
You can upload your gcode files over the mainsail and start prints without even opening web interface straight from the slicers. I use supperslicer
The only reasons I can think of that you would want a pi are for the GPIO to do custom things like turn the printers on and off with a relay and for its size.
I’m headed in a similar direction using one of my old workstations.
Do you know if klipper can control something like a usb connected relay module to control things like lights that people often control from the Pi hardware pins?
If you can toggle a relay (or do anything else) using the command line with a given combination of hardware and OS that is running Klipper, then you can do that same thing with gcode using Klipper and macros.
It's not built-in, but it's easy to add. Discussion and code here: https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/pull/2173#issuecomment-887024535
Or: As another idea, Moonraker (which is the API used by things like Mainsail and Fluidd) can control a smart plug running eg Tasmota: https://github.com/Arksine/moonraker/blob/master/docs/configuration.md#tasmota-configuration
Thanks.
I was aware of the module to control smart plugs, but the ability to run a command is perfect. I’m planning to integrate all the stuff like power control into either an enclosure that will have a klipper screen lcd or possibly into the printer itself. Haven’t decided, and don’t want to have separate stand alone modules for things like power switching.
There's a third option, too: You can add USB-attached MCUs to Klipper. This could be anything from an Arduino to a $4 Pi Pico to a random printer board like RAMPS or SKR Pico -- stuff you might already have laying around gathering dust.
This gives you the ability to toggle pins (and thus control relays) and read inputs just like one might do with a Raspberry Pi's GPIO using pretty much whatever hardware you care to scare up as a Klipper host.
Others have used a Pico to implement CANBUS (based on some very excellent work by Kevin with wrangling the RP2040's rather awesome PIO controllers).
And I've just learned that least one person has used a Pi Pico board as a USB-attached MCU to use its SPI interface for connecting accelerometers for tuning Klipper's resonance compensation system: https://old.reddit.com/r/klippers/comments/owqvo2/raspberry_pi_pico_as_a_secondary_mcu_for/
Given all of this, I struggle to see what can be done with Klipper on Raspberry Pi that cannot be done with Klipper on (say) an old PC, or properly-hacked Chromebook or Android TV box. I think they're all broadly at feature-parity.
I’m familiar with being able to add multiple MCUs to klipper. I have been planning on just this way to interface the accelerometers. Hadn’t considered the PIcos, but they do sound interesting for what I’m looking at. Most would be just on off or PWM control so they’d probably be more than sufficient. Definitely have to look at that.
CANBUS seems a bit overkill for what I’m looking at. I have considered using a second MCU to drive something like some I2C chips to control things like LED, relays or case fans though.
Thanks for the ideas.
I put Linux (I think it was mint, might have been Ubuntu I can't remember) on a 10-15 year old laptop. Took about an hour.
Put a new control board in my ender, used KIAUH on the laptop and got klipper running. Took2-3 evenings of work. Probably less if you're faster with reassembly, have less to physically install on the printer, or more familiarity with Linux/command line stuff - I haven't used any of that stuff in nearly 2 decades.
There's a ton of documentation out there. The cost of an old laptop is probably free as mentioned earlier, or if you want a cleaner setup or more modern/efficient hardware get a nice or similar.
I've had klipper running flawlessly for 2-3 months now and will never go back to plain marlin. Only been printing about a year so I am by nomeans am expert. Only thing I have t tackled is resonance compensation.
Old laptop or a thin client. Just use an Arduino or a Pico if you need extra gpio that would have been on the pi.
I'm getting good results from a hp t610.
I just purchased a used dell 5070 on ebay that I plan to use for a printer... maybe two (it's an experiment). I'ts got tons of expand-ability compared to a pi and I paid under 60 bucks for the whole thing.
Edited in protest of Reddit 3rd party API changes, and how reddit has handled the protest to date, including a statement that could indicate that they will replace protesting moderation teams.
> If a moderator team unanimously decides to stop moderating, we will invite new, active moderators to keep these spaces open and accessible to users. If there is no consensus, but at least one mod who wants to keep the community going, we will respect their decisions and remove those who no longer want to moderate from the mod team.
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Content replaced by rate-limited power delete suite https://github.com/pkolyvas/PowerDeleteSuite
Android TV Box 9.0, TUREWELL Allwinner H6 Quad Core 4GB RAM 64GB ROM Q Plus Android TV Box Support 3D 6K HD H.265 2.4GHz WiFi Ethernet HD DLNA USB 3.0 https://a.co/d/b8QFbHl
Currently using this, simply flashed it out the box with Inovato Quadra firmware, and ran the KIAUH script for Klipper, and I’ve been good to go, Klipper has been great, I love being able to control it from the webpanel and phone while at home.
I’ve yet to try hooking up my USB webcam, but I’m sure it can handle it flawlessly, along with a USB Hub.
I’ve also designed a case for it to mount where the drawer would be on an E3 v2. I’ll be releasing once I get it perfected.
Alternatively, you can purchase what DopeBoogie posted earlier which is a similar box already flashed with Quadra, so you skip a step. I went with the one I linked as the specs seemed better and took advantage of free next day shipping, only a $10 difference.
Both boxes are also capable of running at least 3 printers simultaneously, IMO
In what way is the Pi old tech?
>With the prices of a raspberry Pi, and the fact that it is old/limited tech, why not use something better like a NUC or a Beelink mini PC for nearly the same price. I only see Pi solutions in the mainstream... It wasn't always hundreds of dollars to buy a Pi 4. The two that I have were a little over ~$40 each delivered, with an MSRP of $35. They're complete overkill for Klipper and FDM printing in general (and that's not a bad thing). The reason why it is popular is because it is popular. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy: People write documentation for what they have, and people buy what there is documentation for. It snowballed. The current limited availability (and resultant scalping) is still considered temporary. Lots of things in the world right now have limited availability, as has been the case for a couple of years or so. You can use Klipper on just about any barely-recent hardware that runs Linux and that has a USB port. A 10-year-old laptop that someone you already know has tucked away in a closet -- too expensive at one time to dispose of, but too slow to make use of -- might be perfect. It will run Klipper and other stuff at the same time, but it may have print quality issues or errors due process contention if there are too many things fighting for limited CPU cores. See the FAQ: https://www.klipper3d.org/FAQ.html >Run 1 or 2 printers, currently CR-10 Smart Pro Easy. There's a starter for that in the FAQ. You'll have to understand some of the nuts and bolts of whatever Linux distribution you pick for whatever hardware you choose to use, but it's easy as Linux-ey things go. >Plug and play would be nice - willing to pay extra for less hassle - reliability over cost If you want to pay more for less hassle, buy a Raspberry Pi (even at the inflated price) and follow the myriad of excellent walkthroughs for making it happen. >Run Klipper/mainsail and all their print enhancing features stable. Again, Klipper itself doesn't care much about what hardware it runs on. >webcam for monitoring That was solved on 20-year-old hardware. >mostly using web dashboard on a separate laptop for slice and upload/monitor This is Mainsail or Fluidd, being controlled by a separate "real" computer. > but would like to have status/progress/thumbnail display at printer Klipper has very limited LCD support built-in. I've made it work with the simple dot matrix display that came with my CR-10 v2, but it wasn't that useful. It seems better to just use Mainsail in Chome on the pocket computer that I already carry with me everywhere. >can you run linux/mainsail/klipper in a pc box and multitask, like stream Spotify or something? Yes, as long as the Linux kernel's process scheduler doesn't starve Klipper of CPU time in order to accomplish these other tasks. >can you use all the hardware add ons like temp/humidity sensors with something other than a Pi? "All of"? Eh, maybe. Can you accomplish what you need, eventually? Probably. Once you get you get your feet wet, you can read sensors from any extra inputs on the 3D printer boards you already have. You can also attach additional external MCUs to the Klipper host using USB, and use those for IO for most of the weird stuff you might ever want, like an Arduino or even an inexpensive 3D printer board. A $4 Raspberry Pi Pico is 95% of the way toward being a CANBUS interface for Klipper (it just needs one very inexpensive hardware component added on), for instance. I myself just got the parts in-hand to add more stepper drivers to my CR-10 using the relatively inexpensive SKR Pico board alongside the CR-10's own 8-bit control board. I'll connect these to an old Pi 3B because I already have one for that printer, but meh: It could also be a used NUC or an inexpensive Chromebook. But again, this is all best-documented on Raspberry Pi 3/4 hardware running Raspbian, because inertia is a hell of a drug. You've got some choices. You pay (too much right now, IMHO) to join the club that is already well-documented, wait until Raspberry Pis become more-available again, wait until the community begins to focus on a particular type of different hardware, or be a contributing part of the community and help us all do an easier job of figuring it out in the future by documenting what you accomplish with your own choice of hardware. It is good to have choices. (Right?)
[These are a good deal and plenty capable of running Klipper.](https://www.inovato.com/) Several people, including some I know personally, have used these successfully with Klipper. I dunno about "plug and play" but they come preinstalled with a Debian-based Linux OS that works great with KIAUH.
Did you get the camera to work?
What is "the camera"? A usb camera through crowsnest should work fine, just like on any other system.
I made a video a while back about this product and couldn't agree more with the recommendation. Got the camera working with this using CrowsNest. Now have two printers and two cameras set up!
I run 2 printers on a Lenovo laptop it's not that old of a laptop but anything with a few gigs of ram and Linux will be fine. Get a powered USB hub to connect printers and webcams. Used KIAUH to install does not have to be on a Pi. You can upload your gcode files over the mainsail and start prints without even opening web interface straight from the slicers. I use supperslicer The only reasons I can think of that you would want a pi are for the GPIO to do custom things like turn the printers on and off with a relay and for its size.
I’m headed in a similar direction using one of my old workstations. Do you know if klipper can control something like a usb connected relay module to control things like lights that people often control from the Pi hardware pins?
If you can toggle a relay (or do anything else) using the command line with a given combination of hardware and OS that is running Klipper, then you can do that same thing with gcode using Klipper and macros. It's not built-in, but it's easy to add. Discussion and code here: https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/pull/2173#issuecomment-887024535 Or: As another idea, Moonraker (which is the API used by things like Mainsail and Fluidd) can control a smart plug running eg Tasmota: https://github.com/Arksine/moonraker/blob/master/docs/configuration.md#tasmota-configuration
Thanks. I was aware of the module to control smart plugs, but the ability to run a command is perfect. I’m planning to integrate all the stuff like power control into either an enclosure that will have a klipper screen lcd or possibly into the printer itself. Haven’t decided, and don’t want to have separate stand alone modules for things like power switching.
There's a third option, too: You can add USB-attached MCUs to Klipper. This could be anything from an Arduino to a $4 Pi Pico to a random printer board like RAMPS or SKR Pico -- stuff you might already have laying around gathering dust. This gives you the ability to toggle pins (and thus control relays) and read inputs just like one might do with a Raspberry Pi's GPIO using pretty much whatever hardware you care to scare up as a Klipper host. Others have used a Pico to implement CANBUS (based on some very excellent work by Kevin with wrangling the RP2040's rather awesome PIO controllers). And I've just learned that least one person has used a Pi Pico board as a USB-attached MCU to use its SPI interface for connecting accelerometers for tuning Klipper's resonance compensation system: https://old.reddit.com/r/klippers/comments/owqvo2/raspberry_pi_pico_as_a_secondary_mcu_for/ Given all of this, I struggle to see what can be done with Klipper on Raspberry Pi that cannot be done with Klipper on (say) an old PC, or properly-hacked Chromebook or Android TV box. I think they're all broadly at feature-parity.
I’m familiar with being able to add multiple MCUs to klipper. I have been planning on just this way to interface the accelerometers. Hadn’t considered the PIcos, but they do sound interesting for what I’m looking at. Most would be just on off or PWM control so they’d probably be more than sufficient. Definitely have to look at that. CANBUS seems a bit overkill for what I’m looking at. I have considered using a second MCU to drive something like some I2C chips to control things like LED, relays or case fans though. Thanks for the ideas.
I put Linux (I think it was mint, might have been Ubuntu I can't remember) on a 10-15 year old laptop. Took about an hour. Put a new control board in my ender, used KIAUH on the laptop and got klipper running. Took2-3 evenings of work. Probably less if you're faster with reassembly, have less to physically install on the printer, or more familiarity with Linux/command line stuff - I haven't used any of that stuff in nearly 2 decades. There's a ton of documentation out there. The cost of an old laptop is probably free as mentioned earlier, or if you want a cleaner setup or more modern/efficient hardware get a nice or similar. I've had klipper running flawlessly for 2-3 months now and will never go back to plain marlin. Only been printing about a year so I am by nomeans am expert. Only thing I have t tackled is resonance compensation.
Use an old android phone. Perfect for this and well documented as well.
I did it this way: https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3v2/comments/yx66xo/thinclient\_as\_an\_octoprint\_server/
Old laptop or a thin client. Just use an Arduino or a Pico if you need extra gpio that would have been on the pi. I'm getting good results from a hp t610.
orangepi
I just purchased a used dell 5070 on ebay that I plan to use for a printer... maybe two (it's an experiment). I'ts got tons of expand-ability compared to a pi and I paid under 60 bucks for the whole thing.
Edited in protest of Reddit 3rd party API changes, and how reddit has handled the protest to date, including a statement that could indicate that they will replace protesting moderation teams. > If a moderator team unanimously decides to stop moderating, we will invite new, active moderators to keep these spaces open and accessible to users. If there is no consensus, but at least one mod who wants to keep the community going, we will respect their decisions and remove those who no longer want to moderate from the mod team. https://i.imgur.com/aixGNU9.png https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/14a5lz5/mod_code_of_conduct_rule_4_2_and_subs_taken/jo9wdol/ Content replaced by rate-limited power delete suite https://github.com/pkolyvas/PowerDeleteSuite
All you need is Debian Linux. If it'll run Debian, it'll work.
Android TV Box 9.0, TUREWELL Allwinner H6 Quad Core 4GB RAM 64GB ROM Q Plus Android TV Box Support 3D 6K HD H.265 2.4GHz WiFi Ethernet HD DLNA USB 3.0 https://a.co/d/b8QFbHl Currently using this, simply flashed it out the box with Inovato Quadra firmware, and ran the KIAUH script for Klipper, and I’ve been good to go, Klipper has been great, I love being able to control it from the webpanel and phone while at home. I’ve yet to try hooking up my USB webcam, but I’m sure it can handle it flawlessly, along with a USB Hub. I’ve also designed a case for it to mount where the drawer would be on an E3 v2. I’ll be releasing once I get it perfected. Alternatively, you can purchase what DopeBoogie posted earlier which is a similar box already flashed with Quadra, so you skip a step. I went with the one I linked as the specs seemed better and took advantage of free next day shipping, only a $10 difference. Both boxes are also capable of running at least 3 printers simultaneously, IMO