This project is a guide and files to convert an old eeePC to an OctoPrint station in order to manage my 3D printer in my workshop.
English is not my native language, and I did not spend a lot of time writing beautiful sentences for this guide.
The important thing for me when writing this guide was to record all the steps that I made to achieve my goal of using this old EeePC as an OctoPrint server and "local station".
I'm very familiar with Linux OS, and I will use command line tools because I'm more efficient using a keyboard than a mouse. So most instructions will be terminal commands.
I have an old Asus EeePC T101MT, with a touchscreen. The battery is dead, but everything else is working fine (touchscreen, keyboard, touchpad, network...). As I'm not using it anymore, it would be great to give it a second life, by making it a control station for my 3D Printer (ANET A8).
(Also confirmed to work with the EeePC 1005-HA (no touchscreen) and the Monoprice Select Mini v2.)
This will let me control the printer when I'm close to it, with the EeePC touchscreen, and also when I'm away, via network.
And to be perfect, adding a webcam will be great to check regularly if printing is not going wrong.
The EeePC is old and not a powerful computer, so I will use a lightweight Linux distribution, like Lubuntu.
Later I'll maybe try Ubuntu Server, add an X server with no window manager, and start only the tool to control the printer (via Chromium in kiosk mode for example) if Lubuntu performs unsatisfactory.
I'll use OctoPrint because I can use it locally (displaying it in a web browser on the EeePC) and remotely (on my desktop computer, or smartphone, even when I'm not at home).
So, I decided to try Lubuntu Linux. Doing this I could use the EeePC as a little computer in my workshop when need to search things on the Internet. But by default, it will always display the OctoPrint tool.
Go to the Lunbuntu website, download Lubuntu, and install it following official docs.
Once this is done, you have a functional Linux system, and a user, with a graphical interface. Connect with your user credentials (created during installation), open a terminal and update your OS:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
This section will describe all steps to install OctoPrint and make it always open on the screen.
This solution is based on the OctoPrint Raspbian installation guide
In short, we will perform these tasks: 0. Make the Lunbuntu accessible via SSH for remote administration
- Create a sytem user that will run the OctoPrint service
- Install all Python packages needed to perform the OctoPrint installation
- Install OctoPrint
- Configure a service to run OctoPrint as a daemon
- Add a proxy to make OctoPrint accessible via simple URLs (without the port 5000 info)
- Configure
mjpg-streamerto add a webcam to OctoPrint - Make OctoPrint open automatically at EeePC startup (and always be open, even if closed accidentally).
- Give OctoPrint the rights to restart the system
- Add a touchUI plugin, to make OctoPrint more usable on the little screen of the EeePC
OK, now time for action!
Simply install the OpenSSH Server package in Lubuntu.
In a terminal:
sudo apt install openssh-server
This allows the remainder of this guide to be followed remotely, should you choose to.
Then, we need to create a system user that will be used to run OctoPrint as a daemon or system service.
In a terminal:
sudo groupadd -r octoprint
sudo useradd -r -g octoprint -d "/var/octoprint" -s "/bin/bash" octoprint
sudo mkdir -p /var/octoprint
sudo usermod -a -G tty octoprint
sudo usermod -a -G dialout octoprint
sudo usermod -a -G video octoprint
sudo chown octoprint:octoprint -R /var/octoprint
TODO: add a detailed description of each command, what it does and what is it for
This step is to install all Python packages needed to perform the OctoPrint installation.
In a terminal:
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-dev python3-setuptools python3-venv python3-virtualenv git libyaml-dev build-essential libffi-dev libssl-dev
A simple but important step, this is the OctoPrint installation:
sudo su octoprint
cd /var/octoprint
mkdir octoprint-venv
virtualenv octoprint-venv
source octoprint-venv/bin/activate
pip install pip --upgrade
pip install octoprint
deactivate
Verify that OctoPrint is correctly installed and can run:
./octoprint-venv/bin/octoprint serve
Running the above command should result in a lot of output. Wait until the output stops displaying new lines, and open a web browser to visit http://localhost:5000 (if performing these steps over SSH, substitute localhost with the EeePCs IP). The OctoPrint configuration screen should be displayed.
TODO : add a screenshot
If everything is as expected, stop the OctoPrint server using Ctrl-C and return to your user from the octoprint user:
exit
cd ~
In this section we will install and configure a service to run OctoPrint as a system daemon. This ensures it will always be running, even after a system restart.
Service scripts are available at OctoPrint github page.
wget https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/raw/master/scripts/octoprint.init
sudo mv octoprint.init /etc/init.d/octoprint
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/octoprint
wget https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/raw/master/scripts/octoprint.default
sudo mv octoprint.default /etc/default/octoprint
Then we need to configure the service. Open /etc/default/octoprint with your prefered text editor, and change configuration to match this:
# Configuration for /etc/init.d/octoprint
# The init.d script will only run if this variable non-empty.
OCTOPRINT_USER=octoprint
# base directory to use
BASEDIR=/var/octoprint/.octoprint
# configuration file to use
CONFIGFILE=/var/octoprint/.octoprint/config.yaml
# On what port to run daemon, default is 5000
PORT=5000
# Path to the OctoPrint executable, you need to set this to match your installation!
DAEMON=/var/octoprint/octoprint-venv/bin/octoprint
# What arguments to pass to octoprint, usually no need to touch this
DAEMON_ARGS="--port=$PORT"
# Umask of files octoprint generates, Change this to 000 if running octoprint as its own, separate user
UMASK=022
# Process priority, 0 here will result in a priority 20 process.
# -2 ensures Octoprint has a slight priority over user processes.
NICELEVEL=-2
# Should we run at startup?
START=yes
Changes are made to: OCTOPRINT_USER, BASEDIR, CONFIGFILE, and DAEMON.
Then add the script to default runlevel with:
sudo update-rc.d octoprint defaults
In your home directory, fetch the systemd service file:
wget https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/raw/master/scripts/octoprint.service
Edit the file to match:
[Unit]
Description=The snappy web interface for your 3D printer
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=octoprint
ExecStart=/var/octoprint/octoprint-vdev/bin/octoprint
Nice=-2
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
ExecStart was changed, and Nice was added.
Next, run the following:
sudo mv octoprint.service /etc/systemd/system/octoprint.service
sudo chmod +x /etc/systemd/system/octoprint.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
And finally, you can start/stop/restart the OctoPrint daemon using command:
sudo service octoprint {start|stop|restart}
For now, start the octoprint service with: sudo service octoprint start and check that it is running by opening http://localhost:5000 in a web browser (again, substituting localhost with the EeePC's IP if performing these steps remotely).
As the octoprint user is not at root level, it cannot make the OctoPrint server to listen on port 80.
So, to make OctoPrint accessible via the normal HTTP port (80), we need to install a reverse proxy. We will use HAProxy as it is simple to configure.
In a terminal:
sudo apt install haproxy
Then we need to configure HAproxy. Open /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg and add three sections at the end (after general and defaults): frontend public, backend octoprint, backend webcam. (this last section is needed if you add a a webcam to OctoPrint, as described later in this guide)
frontend pfrontend
bind :::80 v4v6
use_backend webcam if { path_beg /webcam/ }
default_backend octoprint
backend octoprint
reqrep ^([^\ :]*)\ /(.*) \1\ /\2
option forwardfor
server octoprint1 127.0.0.1:5000
backend webcam
reqrep ^([^\ :]*)\ /webcam/(.*) \1\ /\2
server webcam1 127.0.0.1:8080
Then restart the HAProxy service:
sudo service haproxy restart
And check if OctoPrint is accessible by visiting http://localhost in a web browser.
One last thing to do is to restrict OctoPrint to bind only to the loopback interface, for security reasons. Open the file /var/octoprint/.octoprint/config.yaml and add this line in the server section:
host: 127.0.0.1
Then restart octoprint service sudo service octoprint restart.
It is time to connect the 3D printer to the EeePC and add a webcam. I plugged them using USB. I checked the webcam is workging with Cheese, a small tool to test webcams.
To be able to stream images from printing process, we need to install the mjpg_streamer tool.
This is done with those commands:
sudo apt install cmake libjpeg9-dev libjpeg-turbo8-dev ffmpeg
sudo su octoprint
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/jacksonliam/mjpg-streamer.git
cd mjpg-streamer/mjpg-streamer-experimental
make
To test if mjpg-streamer works with your webcam, run this command:
./mjpg_streamer -i "./input_uvc.so -y -d /dev/video2" -o "./output_http.so -w ./www"
Note: change /dev/video2 to the one corresponding to your webcam.
Then open a browser localy and go to url http://localhost:8080; you should see a web page with a lot of information about mjpg_streamer, and a tab named "Stream" in wich you should see the output of your webcam.
Stop the stream using Ctrl-C.
Now, we will add scripts to be able to start and stop webcam from OctoPrint.
Create script directory:
mkdir ~/scripts
then create the file ~/scripts/webcam and insert its content:
#!/bin/bash
# Start / stop streamer daemon
case "$1" in
start)
/var/octoprint/scripts/webcamDaemon >/dev/null 2>&1 &
echo "$0: started"
;;
stop)
pkill -x webcamDaemon
pkill -x mjpg_streamer
echo "$0: stopped"
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}" >&2
;;
esac
Create another file: ~/scripts/webcamDaemon and add its content:
#!/bin/bash
MJPGSTREAMER_HOME=/var/octoprint/mjpg-streamer/mjpg-streamer-experimental
MJPGSTREAMER_INPUT_USB="input_uvc.so"
MJPGSTREAMER_INPUT_RASPICAM="input_raspicam.so"
# init configuration
camera="usb" #auto, usb, raspi
camera_device="/dev/video2" #/dev/video0, /dev/video1, ...
camera_usb_options="-y -r 640x480 -f 10 -d $camera_device"
camera_raspi_options="-fps 10"
if [ -e "/boot/octopi.txt" ]; then
source "/boot/octopi.txt"
fi
# runs MJPG Streamer, using the provided input plugin + configuration
function runMjpgStreamer {
input=$1
pushd $MJPGSTREAMER_HOME
echo Running ./mjpg_streamer -o "output_http.so -l 127.0.0.1 -w ./www" -i "$input"
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./mjpg_streamer -o "output_http.so -w ./www" -i "$input"
popd
}
# starts up the RasPiCam
function startRaspi {
logger "Starting Raspberry Pi camera"
runMjpgStreamer "$MJPGSTREAMER_INPUT_RASPICAM $camera_raspi_options"
}
# starts up the USB webcam
function startUsb {
logger "Starting USB webcam"
runMjpgStreamer "$MJPGSTREAMER_INPUT_USB $camera_usb_options"
}
# we need this to prevent the later calls to vcgencmd from blocking
# I have no idea why, but that's how it is...
vcgencmd version
# echo configuration
echo camera: $camera
echo usb options: $camera_usb_options
echo raspi options: $camera_raspi_options
# keep mjpg streamer running if some camera is attached
while true; do
if [ -e "$camera_device" ] && { [ "$camera" = "auto" ] || [ "$camera" = "usb" ] ; }; then
startUsb
elif [ "`vcgencmd get_camera`" = "supported=1 detected=1" ] && { [ "$camera" = "auto" ] || [ "$camera" = "raspi" ] ; }; then
startRaspi
fi
sleep 120
done
Important: in this script, you must adapt configuration for your needs: camera, camera_raspi_options, camera_usb_options.
Make both files executable by only user octoprint:
chmod u+x ~/scripts/*
Then, to be able to start and stop the streaming from OctoPrint, we need to add actions to ~/.octoprint/config.yaml:
system:
actions:
- action: streamon
command: /var/octoprint/scripts/webcam start
confirm: false
name: Start video stream
- action: streamoff
command: /var/octoprint/scripts/webcam stop
confirm: false
name: Stop video stream
- action: printeron
command: curl "http://<yourJeedomURL>/core/api/jeeApi.php?apikey=<yourAPIKey>&type=cmd&id=<yourCmdID>"
confirm: false
name: Turn on Anet A8
- action: printeroff
command: curl "http://<yourJeedomURL>/core/api/jeeApi.php?apikey=<yourAPIKey>&type=cmd&id=<yourCmdID>"
confirm: "ATTENTION ! Vous allez éteindre l'imprimante 3D !"
name: Turn off Anet A8
Finally, logout from the octoprint user (exit).
Now, it is time to configure OctoPrint by following the Setup Wizard displayed when you go to OctoPrint URL.
I decided to do this remotely from my desktop computer.
For more information how to setup OctoPrint, please refer to the official documentation.
Some settings to setup in the wizard:
- Server commands section
- Restart OctoPrint:
sudo service octoprint restart - Restart system:
sudo shutdown -r now - Shutdown system:
sudo shutdown -h now
- Restart OctoPrint:
- Webcam & Timelapse section
- Stream URL:
/webcam/?action=stream - Snapshot URL:
http://127.0.0.1:8080/?action=snapshot - Path to FFMPEG:
/usr/bin/ffmpeg
- Stream URL:
I created a new user (impression3D) using Lubuntu system tools, I made the taskbar "retractable", and disabled desktop icons.
Then create this little script (named /home/impression3D/.bin/start_firefox.sh) that will launch Firefox and put it in fullscreen mode:
#!/bin/bash
firefox -url http://localhost/ &
xdotool search --sync --onlyvisible --class "Firefox" windowactivate key F11
You need to install xdotool for the script to run, and make the script executable:
sudo apt install xdotool
chmod u+x ~/.bin/start_firefox.sh
Finally, add this script in the autostart configuration of Lubuntu (using system config tools).
By default, the octoprint system user does not have permission to use the sudo command. And even if it could, it does not have a password, so it would not be able to perform credential validation.
The solution is to give the octoprint user permission to run only the needed commands using sudo without entering a password.
This is done by adding a configuration file for sudoers: /etc/sudoers.d/octoprint-shutdown.
So create that file and add this content:
octoprint ALL=NOPASSWD: /bin/shutdown, /usr/sbin/service
To do so, simply install the TouchUI plugin from the OctoPrint system plugin menu.
- add SSL to HAProxy configuration in order to secure network communication from clients to OctoPrint.
- redo installation without window manager (Ubuntu Server + X and TouchUI autostart: https://github.com/BillyBlaze/OctoPrint-TouchUI-autostart)