Mainsail Update 02-2025

It’s been quite a while since the last Patreon news update (December 2024). Unfortunately, I had to skip the January update because I had too much going on that month—both personally and with Mainsail. Nevertheless, a lot has happened in the meantime, and I’d like to share what has taken place over the past few weeks (or even months).

First of all, version v2.13.2 was released - a small milestone that fixed several bugs. Shortly after the release, support for the SHT3X sensors was merged. There were also some improvements in the console, such as enhancements to the key up/down functionality for multiline inputs/commands, which makes working much more pleasant. In the Gcode-viewer, a bug with the G2/G3 commands was fixed - a big thank you to Sindarius, the maintainer of the Gcode-viewer, for that!

The update manager also received a new small feature. It can now manage also Python packages. This functionality had already been implemented in Moonraker some time ago, and Jomik integrated it into Mainsail. Link to the PR: https://github.com/mainsail-crew/mainsail/pull/2092 .

Additionally, several bugs were fixed, including issues with the “count per page” functionality in table lists and a bug in the editor sidebar with empty config files was fixed. Now even the last state (whether the sidebar is open or closed) is saved. A reactive bug in the history list that affected the filter function is now a thing of the past.

Some Creality users also reported bugs after the last updates, certain features were missing or not working anymore. These printers are still using an outdated Klipper version, and Creality overrides the Klipper version number internally. This breaks some internal workarounds in Mainsail and Mainsail cannot display Klipper version warnings. With a few targeted bug fixes, I was able to resolve this issue, so that the affected printers will work reliably again (as soon as the next release is published). (Please all Creality users, contact the Creality support in case of bugs. I still have the hope that Creality will release a usable CrealityOS one day!)

The endstop panel in the Machine page has been completely refactored, now integrating support for `dockable_probe` (a feature from Kalico). In the temperature panel, I implemented a new dialog on right-click that offers the options "Turn off heater" and "Settings" (with this option, it opens the same dialog as you click on the name). I plan to add PID tuning and other features here in the future, so if you have any ideas for additional functions in this menu, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

In addition to these software improvements, I’ve been working on some hardware projects on my printers. My BoxTurtle is now completed and up and running. I’ve already done my first multi-color prints, although some improvements for multi-color/filament support in Mainsail were discovered and will need to be implemented. That’s one of the reasons I built it. However, with my small V2 (250mm) I encountered an unexpected problem: during test prints with a Beacon probe, I forgot to remove the endstop pin, and the USB pins of the Beacon hit it. Since then, there have been strange errors while printing and it constantly aborted. I also replaced the toolhead board, Raspberry, and Beacon, the printer still exhibits the same issues. I’m currently working on a solution here.

Here is one of my multi color print (banana for scale).

MainsailOS has also faced some challenges. We’ve been waiting for the final implementation of the NetworkManager module in CustomPiOS (the framework we use to build MainsailOS) for quite some time now. This module, which was mostly contributed by Kwadfan, has unfortunately been stalled for a while. Additionally, Kevin recently discovered that Linux kernels below 6.5 may have issues with the CANBUS implementation in Klipper. You can read more about this here: https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/pull/6810 . Since Raspberry doesn’t offer a newer kernel for Debian Bullseye (the current base for MainsailOS) an upgrade to Debian Bookworm would be necessary, but we need the NetworkManager module to release it.

Due to these and other challenges, I dove back into the MainsailOS project, spending a week updating our CustomPiOS setup and submitting several pull requests (https://github.com/guysoft/CustomPiOS/pulls?q=is:pr+author:meteyou ) to address various issues. This process eventually led me to search for a smaller and more suitable framework for our needs. Since we’re essentially just installing additional packages and copying configurations on a Raspberry Pi OS and not building our own kernels or undertaking massive rebuilds, a smaller framework made sense. That’s why I took a closer look at CustoPiZer from foosel, the maintainer of OctoPrint. She also only needs a simple framework to install and update OctoPrint on a base OS image. I’ve already spent a week transitioning our workflow from CustomPiOS to CustoPiZer and submitted some pull requests (https://github.com/OctoPrint/CustoPiZer/pulls?q=is:pr+author:meteyou  ) and had some very positive discussions with foosel. I’m confident that this collaboration will bring many long-term benefits to both projects.

Finally, here’s an overlook on my current goals: I plan to have MainsailOS fully transitioned to CustoPiZer soon. If any of you are interested in testing it, please let me know, ideally starting from mid-next week. You can follow my work here: https://github.com/mainsail-crew/MainsailOS/pull/314 . In addition, I’m working on implementing and supporting the new Analysis Module from Moonraker in Mainsail, for which you can find more information in the documentation (https://moonraker.readthedocs.io/en/latest/configuration/#analysis ). This module adds an option to automatically run tools like the klipper_estimator when Gcodes are uploaded or trigger them via a push command in the webinterface. I’m curious, who is using the klipper_estimator or similar tools to get better estimated print times? And, of course, I’m also working on releasing the next version of Mainsail, although some pull requests are still pending review.

I thank you for your support and feedback, and I look forward to your comments, especially if you have any ideas for additional features in the temperature panel, further suggestions for the Moonraker Analysis Module or be able to test the next MainsailOS release. Stay tuned, and until the next update and happy printing!

Best regards,
Stefan Dej