Installing MK404 simulator

Open Konsole or whatever terminal you find (hotkey: ctrl + alt + T) and start updating the system by running:

sudo apt-get update -y

sudo apt-get upgrade -y

This may take some time. Let the lines scroll until you get the command line again. There are probably more surgical ways of doing this, but for the sake of simplicity, this is how we roll. How we go crazy from bugs.

We will install:

• Git
• Cmake
• Python
• Dependencies (deps).

The command below should install everything you need to run the simulator.

sudo apt-get install git libglib2.0-dev libfdt-dev libpixman-1-dev zlib1g-dev cmake libsasl2-dev libsdl1.2-dev libseccomp-dev libsnappy-dev libssh2-1-dev libelf-dev gcc-avr libglew-dev freeglut3-dev libsdl-sound1.2-dev libpng-dev libsdl2-dev libgtk-3-dev libstdc++6 g++-7 python2-dev python3-dev libjpeg-dev libwebp-dev libtiff5-dev libsdl2-image-dev libsdl2-image-2.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev ninja-build -y

Compile the compiler (or something like that):

sudo apt-get install build-essential -y

Reboot the machine.

sudo reboot

Installing MK404

Back into the terminal we go. Just make yourself comfortable. This is mostly where we will stay from now on. We won’t go into what each command does that much, but it is mostly self-evident. 

Installing MINI404 is a little different/harder of the two, so we will start with MK404. MINI404 also does not have the built-in tool to create image files to use as a USB/SD card, while MK404 has a single command.

You should be in the home/bottom directory of the user. If in doubt you can always use cd to go to the bottom of the directory tree. cd ../ will bring you one folder back. cd ../../ two folders back, etc.. You can see folders and files in a location with ls. You are now a {linux} wizard, Harry..

git clone https://github.com/vintagepc/MK404.git

Enter the folder

cd MK404

Loading dependencies-ish things (submodules)

git submodule init

git submodule update

git submodule update --init

Configure then build the program using cmake. It will default to a debug build (cmake ./), but the release build is snappier.

cmake . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

make

Now the simulator is built and can be set up and launched!

Initial setup and start MK404

Make sure you are still within the MK404 directory. Terminal should say "~/MK404$" after you the name of the computer. First, we will create an image (Acts as the SD card. We are calling it "FAT32.img" and giving it 1 GB). You can use this file as a “USB stick” for the MINI404 sim also.

./MK404 --sdimage FAT32.img --image-size 1G

Download a G-code to put on the "SD card". I use wget [link] from a link in Prusaprinters, i.e:

wget https://media.prusaprinters.org/media/prints/3121/gcodes/339198_a6baf314-4fdf-4bb3-adf4-75ddae6baab3/batman_02mm_pla_mk3_23m.gcode

Put gcode (batman_02mm_pla_mk3_23m.gcode) in the image file (FAT32.img) image using "mtools".

mcopy -vsi FAT32.img batman_02mm_pla_mk3_23m.gcode ::

Now you can start the sim with the line below. It will not have the latest firmware so we will download and use that in a later step. Let's just see if it works for now. When launched, some new windows will pop up. It can take a moment for it to load. If you are now getting a message saying something like “..No such file or directory..”, you probably forgot to make it. Go back and do it again.

./MK404 -b -f MK3S.afx --sdimage FAT32.img --graphics fancy --terminal

Further configuration

wget https://www.prusa3d.com/downloads/firmware/prusa3d_fw_3_9_3_MK3S.zip

If you get a URL with more info, like what is in bold, you can delete everything after the filename. This is google tracking/metadata I think. https://cdn.prusa3d.com/downloads/firmware/prusa3d_fw_3_10_0_MK3S.zip#_ga=2.221837528.1573756582.1632118194-1308288749.1629274326

Unzip the archive with the firmware. Make sure you are still in the same directory as the file. Use ls to make sure it is there.

 

unzip prusa3d_fw_3_9_3_MK3S.zip

 

 

Below, "MK3S.afx" is replaced by the name of the extracted firmware file, in the launch command.

 

./MK404 -b -f prusa3d_fw_MK3S_3_9_3_3556.hex --sdimage FAT32.img --graphics fancy --terminal

 

Using MK404

Remember keyboard/mouse shortcuts. For instance, before XYZ calibrating you must remove the sheet (Y) for it to not fail. Many key controls are also present in the menu explained below.

https://github.com/vintagepc/MK404/wiki/Key-Controls-Prusa_MK3S

https://github.com/vintagepc/MK404/wiki/Mouse-Functions

The third mouse-button (mouse-wheel press) on the LCD display window will bring up a menu where you can toggle different scripts, like taking a snapshot, disconnecting/shorting connectors of components like thermistors and fans. You will also find other functions, among them, those covered by key controls.

Console within a terminal..

However, not every command is implemented into this menu, specifically those that require some input, like a variable. You must therefore use the embedded console (terminal) for certain commands/functions. Copy/Paste does not work here, but you can use the Tab key you autocomplete what you start typing. It will suggest how to complete it with slightly darker text.

https://github.com/vintagepc/MK404/wiki/Scripting will give you a list of all printers supported. You will find the scripting commands for MK3S at https://github.com/vintagepc/MK404/wiki/Scripting-Prusa_MK3S. As an example, GLHelper::Snapshot(filename.png), will make a screenshot like see below and save the file as "filename.png" in the MK404 directory.

MK404 screenshots

Display color scheme

Screenshot color scheme we use.

Making a screenshot

We recommend dragging/scaling the LCD window bigger, then using Windows print-screen to make a snippet (shift+win+S). This allows you a larger resolution than using the built-in MK404 capture function. You may want to change the DPI size using Photoshop or GIMP after saving the screenshot.

For installing the MINI404 simulator, please see Installing MINI404 simulator

Final notes

There is a lot more you can do with this simulator. We only installed the MK3S, but you can also run it with MMU2S, connect PrusaLink or Octoprint, even the CW1! You are now up and running so check out the Github Wiki for more options, features, and fun.

About the creator

VintagePC is a volunteer community contributor with great insight into hardware and firmware architecture. If you want to help make the OpenGL stack more modern and performant, port this to other systems (Win binaries exist but require Cygwin to run and mac has worked once someone claimed, but is not the creator's daily driver), or contribute to this project in any way, contact the man through his Github https://github.com/vintagepc/.

Prusa Research does not develop or provide support for this system! We can only address direct errors in this guide and improve clarity based on comments. Our technical/customer support can not provide help in regards to technical/installation difficulties, troubleshooting, and feature requests. For this, we recommend checking out the documentation of the project on Github.