Elegoo Centauri Carbon 1 - Yocto Firmware Build

This repository contains a Yocto Project-based firmware build system for the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 1 3D printer. The mainboard of this printer is powered by an Allwinner r528 SoC.

Prerequisites

Before starting the build process, you need to install the required dependencies on your host system (Ubuntu/Debian is assumed):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gawk wget git diffstat unzip texinfo gcc build-essential \
     chrpath socat cpio python3 python3-pip python3-pexpect xz-utils debianutils \
     iputils-ping python3-git python3-jinja2 libegl1-mesa libsdl1.2-dev \
     pylint xterm python3-subunit mesa-common-dev zstd liblz4-tool file locales \
     bmap-tools sunxi-tools

How to Build

1. Initialize the build environment: Source the environment setup script provided by Poky to prepare your shell for BitBake.

   source poky/oe-init-build-env build

2. Run BitBake: Once the environment is set up, you can start the build process for the target image. The primary image recipe for this project is opencentauri-image.

   bitbake opencentauri-image

   Note: The first build will take a significant amount of time as it downloads and compiles all necessary packages from source.

Disk Space Requirements

Building a complete Yocto image requires a substantial amount of disk space. Based on current build sizes, you should expect the project directory (including downloaded sources, build artifacts, and caches) to use approximately 38GB to 40GB of disk space. Please ensure you have adequate free space before starting the build.

Running on the Centauri Carbon 1

Note that the current install requires having a serial UART connected to the CC1 motherboard, as well as a FEL USB cable attached. This will prevent the toolhead from being plugged in!

1. Install built firmware image to a USB drive. (Warning: This is a destructive operation! Replace sdX with your actual USB drive device like sdb, sdc, etc.)

   sudo bmaptool copy tmp/deploy/images/elegoo-centauri-carbon1/opencentauri-image-elegoo-centauri-carbon1.rootfs.wic.gz /dev/sdX

2. Boot into FEL Mode. Connect via serial UART. Power on the printer and boot into the Elegoo u-boot, pressing any key to abort the normal boot process. Issue the following command to boot to FEL mode:

   efex
   

3. Boot the new Yocto firmware image via USB from FEL mode. Run the following commands on your host machine to load the mainline u-boot:

   sunxi-fel uboot tmp/deploy/images/elegoo-centauri-carbon1/u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin

   The mainline u-boot followed by the mainline Linux kernel should now boot! This will start up Klipper, Moonraker, Mainsail daemons, and a dropbear SSH server.

   Important: You need to unplug the FEL USB as it will conflict with the mainboard's ability to talk to the toolhead.

4. Connect and Configure WiFi. Login as the root user via the serial UART console.

   Configure your WiFi SSID and password:

   wpa_passphrase "SSID" "password" > /user-resource/wpa_supplicant.conf

   Then restart the WiFi adapter:

   ifdown wlan0 && sleep 5 && ifup wlan0

5. Access the Printer Interface. Find the printer's IP address by running ip a. Access the Mainsail interface by visiting the printer's IP address via HTTP (port 80) in your web browser!

Configuration and Services

• Klipper Configuration: In the current build, the Klipper printer.cfg is located in /user-resource/printer_data/config/printer.cfg.
• Services: Everything is running as an init.d service. You can restart Klipper by running:

  service klipper restart