Please refer to the wiki for more detailed descriptions on the various steps mentioned below. octoprint_lxc creates a lxc(Linux Container) distribution for octoprint. LXC ships with ubuntu as a snap package.
As a 3D printer hobby enthusiast, I needed a more robust and reliable setup for my 3D printer. I though this will be a quick implementation and it ended being quite the challenge to get the setup working. Since I am proficient with Linux containers and found them to be extremely robust and reliable and simple to maintain, I decided to try it our for my 3D printing setup. The downside for the uninitiated is the Linux commandline environment and linux commands, but I did all the hard work and feel confident that it can be replicated fairly easily.
The remaining challenge was posting the image. I managed to overcome that by slicing it up in github acceptable size chunks.
- Octoprint runs a lot faster on PC hardware compared to a Raspberry Pi
- Running Octopring in a container allows for running multiple instances on the same hardware
- Pass only the required ressources through to the container, i.e. one port for the printer and one port for a webcam.
- A USB hub can extend the available ports easily.
- Automated or manual snapshots can be set up to roll back on failed updates and plugin install that breaks the system.
- Cloned setup can be used for experimentation without breaking a working setup.
- Some plugins fails to run on the latest versions of Python due to dependant library updates and is not easiliy fixed.
- The current container has Python 3.9 implemented to git all the basics working and runs Octoprint 1.8.7
The container was created through trials and errors using the instructions on the Octopring forum as a guide.
Components Installed:
- Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
- Miniforge Python distribution
- Python 3.9 Virtual Environment through Miniforge
- Octoprint 1.8.7 through pip install
- avahi-daemon - making connections to .local possible
- haproxy - for hosting octoprint on port 80 and redirecting the webcam if enabled and set up
- libv4l-dev - needed by mjpg-streamer
- mjpg-streamer - compiled on seperate instance and copied over to the container instance
- Create a running instance of Linux with LXC installed
- Create a bridged network setup for use by LXC
- Initialise LXD
- Create a Linux user account with sudo permissions
- Clone this git repo to get the archived and shell scripts
- Combine the split archives in the archive folder to one file using the included script,
archives_combine.sh - Run the lxc restore command on the combined archive, see script
lxc_import_archive.sh - Identify and amend the printer and webcam ports passed to the container (if needed) and amend with included shell scrip
- Start the container, using command
lxc start octo - Initialse and use octoprint from the browser interface, http://octo.local
Please leave comments of your experience in the discussion section, I would love to hear what you think and what can be improved.