Flash a K-Touch from your browser
This writes the HelixScreen firmware onto a BigTreeTech K-Touch over USB, with no Python or esptool to install. The panel then joins your WiFi and talks to your printer's Moonraker. Nothing is installed on the printer.
The ESP32 build is an alpha: expect rough edges and missing features. It replaces the K-Touch's stock firmware.
You need
- A BigTreeTech K-Touch
- A USB-C cable that carries data (some charge-only cables don't)
- Chrome or Edge on a desktop computer. Other browsers and phones can't open a serial port.
- On Windows, the CH340 USB driver from WCH if no new COM port appears when you plug the panel in. Linux and recent macOS have it built in.
Install
Plug the K-Touch in, switch it on, then press the button and pick its port (usually named USB Serial or CH340).
This browser can't talk to USB serial devices. Open this page in Chrome or Edge on a desktop computer, or follow the command-line install.
Flashing needs a secure (https) page. Openhelixscreen.org/flash.
The installer offers to erase the device first. A first install over the stock firmware should erase. To update a panel already running HelixScreen, leave "Erase device" unchecked: that keeps its WiFi network and settings.
After it restarts
- The panel broadcasts its own WiFi hotspot named HelixScreen-XXXX. Join it from your phone or computer; it has no password.
- Open the address shown on the panel (normally http://192.168.4.1) and enter your WiFi network, its password and your printer's Moonraker host.
- Tap Connect. The panel joins your network and connects to the printer.
There is no on-screen setup wizard on the K-Touch. Recovery, backing up the stock firmware and what doesn't work yet are in the full install guide.