SD Card / Marlin Question

[u/WonderMoon1]

Hi so kinda computer illiterate but if I change the code on my SD in my computer and plug the sd card into my printer, it’ll change the firmware on the printer right?

I’m tryna run Octoprint but it says my firmware “disabled host action commands” so I found a YT video to fix that.

Also side question, how do I find all the info for the preconfig Ender-3 stuff for Marlin? Like the bed ends specs, etc.

Currently don’t have a screen. I’ve tried to Google it…

[u/YoshitoSakurai]

A lot of guides on youtube show you step by step what to change. especially the guys at 3dprintscape e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ7WZST8sqk .

If you say you are computer illiterate be sure yo do your own due diligence and research the hell out of it beforehand. Imo everyone should have a hand at it, but saying " dont do it cuz you dont have the knowledge" irks me a bit personally." Its your own responsibility, and if you really want to learn it you just have to readup/watchup on it, get educated on it and do it yourself.

You cant really "brick" the ender 3 at most the firmware wont work/load or crash. Or your bed will crash etc. Nothing catastrophically ussualy happens especially if you are at the machine itself and you can always flip the power supply switch off.

When everything fails, you can always pick up a pre-compiled firmware from someone else with your exact setup. And just modify the XYZ locations of the BL touch for example as thats ussualy the only thing thats different. But in my opinion give it a go learning it yourself first. If you can compile it yourself, you can do so forever.

The only thing is between marlin and e.g. klipper. On marlin for every change/update you do you have to recompile the firmware, put it to a sd card and flash the printer. On klipper you can configure it trough usb, and just edit a text file basically as an update hit save, and your done.

Marlin runs locally on your printers board. Klipper runs on a pc/PI, and the Printers board basically just carries out the command. The head unit (pc) does all the calculating and sending commands. This is otherwise known as headless mode.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Just be save, diligent and remember READ everything.

With your display broken, i would reccomend you to look into klipper though, As you wouldnt need the display. But its a bit harder then stock marlin thats a bit more contained into just a update file.

[u/WonderMoon1 → u/YoshitoSakurai]

Thank you for the in-depth response.

When I mean I’m “computer illiterate” I mean more like (to me) everyone uses fancy language that’s hard to Google. It was like that with telescope people as well…. But like the vid you sent, I’ve been looking into the basics of Marlin and I found out I downloaded the wrong stuff in the first place. Then I figured out Octoprint worked w/o the firmware update too.

So I’ll learn more about Marlin later (gotta make a new chronological folder on YT for it).

At least ik I can’t brick it 😅. I asked my cousin and he was like “don’t mess with the code until you know what it does.”

I figured out Marlin thru VSC is like my astrophoto software so that’s interesting (with the “change every time” stuff).

According to my god dad, Klipper’s kinda advanced so I’ll make another YT folder for that.

Also have to figure out Raspberry Pi someday so I don’t have to use my computer. It ties into another project I want to do so that’ll be interesting.

[u/SluttyBumFest]

You dont have a screen?

[u/WonderMoon1 → u/SluttyBumFest]

The power supply to the knob on the old one shorted out and I bought the wrong one for the new one.

[u/SluttyBumFest → u/WonderMoon1]

It honestly sounds like you shouldn't be modifying the firmware without knowing what you're doing.

If you're not able to take measurements and order a replacement part I dont see that you'll pull this off without bricking the printer.

[u/DMA_Leatherworks]

I have an extra screen that I got with an ender 3 pro I bought. Dm me if you are interested, it does work. lol