NexGen3D: Portable Universal Klipper Control Panel

I purchased this very much useless 2-in-1 Laptop, for a whole $59.95 AUD delivered, and after trying every Linux distro and Windows OS on this thing, I came to the conclusion that this thing would have been hot garbage the day it was crapped out of HP into the world, and the Atom CPU's are like Danny DeVito in the movie Twins, all the crap left over after creating the real thing…

So, me, being me, I still found a use for it, as its performance is better than a Pi 3, probably somewhere closer to a Pi 4…maybe, but it does have a nice solid touch screen, a huge battery, it boots and runs Ubuntu server, and fully supports Klipper screen, so much better value than buying all the gear to do the same thing with a Raspberry Pi, and you get to help the world reduce E-Waste.

This project will give you a solid, 10” Portable Klipper control panel that can control all of your Klipper based 3D Printers from one single touchscreen, that you can take around your house or workshop with you, very handy indeed and will be like a giant DIY K-Touch from Bigtreetech.

Below is the required parts for the project, I designed the project to support 100x100mm VESA mounts, I’m using these HP quick release monitor mounts I picked up from a PC recycler for $14 each, but you can use any VESA mount you like with it, also if you so desire you can also run a 3D printer directly from this tablet as it has a standard USB A port on it as well, along with a micro SDcard port.

BOM:

• HP Pavillion X2 2-in-1 Craptop
• 10x M4 x 8mm SHS
• 14 x M4 x 5.6x6.3x7.1 Heat Inserts
• 1 x Magnetic USB-C connector (Go with the one called “Newest Elbow Adaptor”)

Software Required:

• Ubuntu Server 22.04.5 LTS use this version not 24
• RUFUS Required for Flashing th OS to a USB stick in Windows
• MobaXterm Not required, but better to use over the Windows command prompt
• 1 x USB Flash Drive, this either needs to be a USB-C type, or you will need a USB A to C adaptor, as the X2 will not boot from the USB-A port, and will only boot from the USB-C port, so you must make sure its charged before you begin, battery life on these things are like 10+ hrs, as they have total garbage performance.

I wont cover installing Ubuntu, its pretty easy, just flash the image to your USB stick using Rufus on a Windows PC, insert it into the X2, press and release the power button and straight away press and hold the down volume button for a couple of seconds then release, you will now be in the bios meny, recommend you have the keyboard attached, anmd if you dont have the Keyuboard, then yopu will be needing to connect one to the USB-A port, anyway, press F9 and select the USB Flash drive as a boot device and you should be off and running, follow the prompts and install Ubuntu Server, dont forget to connect to your Wifi router during setup as this will make things easier later on

Once this is done, you can either setup Klipperscreen using the device itself, or you can do it through another machine over SSH.

Ont the X2, login via the terminal prompt and run this command:

ip addr show

This will give you the assigned IP address from your wifi router, I recommend if you know how, to lock this in via your router so it never changes in the future.

Using this address, you can now connect via Windows command prompt or MobaXterm

Once connected, then you will need to become a master wizard at Linux and enter the following gobbledygook:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install git -y

Then enter:

cd ~ && git clone https://github.com/dw-0/kiauh.git

And finally, enter this:

./kiauh/kiauh.sh

After all this amazing text like stuff, you will be into the Kiauh interface, this allows you to install all the required software:

Select 1 and hit enter, then you get this screen:

Then select 1 again, now you want to install the following:

1: Klipper

2: Moonraker (No not the popular James Bond Movie featuring Roger Moore)

3: Mainsail

7: KlipperScreen

Once this has been completed, reboot the X2 and you will be greated by Klipperscreen, now open a web browser on any PC connected to your network, type in  the IP address of your printer and you will be presented with the Mainsail web GUI, just ignore the message about Klipper not working, as this is of no importance to the use of the device.

In the side bar, click on the MACHINE tab, here we will create a config for Klipperscreen:

Click on the “Create File” button, call it “KlipperScreen.conf” then click “Create”

Now copy the following and paste it into this file, then edit to suit your needs, so you need to change the IP address to match your machines address and change the name to what ever you like, in the example below, I have called these machines Printer-1, Printer-2 and Printer-3:

[printer Printer-1]

moonraker_host: 192.168.0.10
moonraker_port: 7125

[printer Printer-2]

moonraker_host: 192.168.0.11
moonraker_port: 7125

[printer Printer-3]

moonraker_host: 192.168.0.12
moonraker_port: 7125

Once this is done, click “SAVE & RESTART” and you should now be presented with your printers, select the one you want to connect to and Roberts ya Fathers Brother, there is a button to the left that looks like the random/shuffle button on a music player, this will allow you to return to the selection screen so you can connect to a different printer.

In the settings, I disable the screen power off, this thing uses like 2 to 3 watt to run, so less than RPI, and its an LCD, so no real chance of burn in either,  hitting the hardware power button will shut it off pretty quickly anyway.

As usual, any questions, please feel free to engage with me in the comments section.

Also, please print the the parts as pictured below for max strength:

I printed mine from the following material:

• Front and rear body were done in ABS-CF for stiffness
• Side bumber parts were done in PETG-CF for impact durability

I recommend PLA+ or better, standard PLA might be a little fragile.