Other Printers Experimental

Other printers (experimental, untested)

NebulaOS is made for the Creality Ender-3 V3 KE. Underneath it runs ordinary upstream Klipper, so on paper other Creality printers driven by a Nebula Pad could use it too, with a mainboard firmware you build yourself. This page collects what is known about that, for people who want to try.

Experimental, untested, unsupported. We do not have these printers and have not tested any of them with NebulaOS. Nothing on this page is a promise that it works. If you try it, you do it at your own risk, and you need a way back (your printer's stock firmware and its own recovery method). If you get one working, please share how - see Tell us.

Before you start: what has to be true

Four separate things all have to work. A firmware that builds and flashes is only the first:

1. NebulaOS has to run on your Nebula Pad. NebulaOS installs on the touchscreen computer built into the KE. Whether it installs and runs on a separately sold (retail) Nebula Pad is not known - nobody has tried it yet.
2. Your mainboard needs a Klipper firmware built for it - the rest of this page.
3. Klipper needs a configuration for your printer. NebulaOS's own configuration describes the KE: its pins, motors, bed size and load-cell probe. You have to replace that with your printer's (see The printer configuration).
4. NebulaOS's own features assume a KE. The print start, the calibration menu, Auto Calibration and the Z offset use the KE's load-cell probe. On another printer, expect parts of them not to work until they are adapted.

Never use the KE's firmware tools on another board

• Settings → Printer → MCU firmware and Reinstall NebulaOS firmware are for the KE only. They check for the KE's special image format and must not be used for any other board.
• Build the firmware on a PC and flash it the way your board is normally flashed: almost always an SD card in the mainboard, or another method the board's maker supports.
• At every start NebulaOS checks which mainboard firmware is running. On another board it does not recognise it: normally it reports a warning and lets Klipper start. It never writes firmware to a board it does not recognise as a KE. If it ever stops Klipper with an unsupported mainboard message instead, please report it - see Tell us.

Mainboard overview

Look at the chip printed on the processor of your mainboard, not only the board's label: a board marked C14 can carry either an STM32F401 or a GD32F303.

Printer / board	Chip on the board	Processor in make menuconfig	Bootloader offset	Serial to the Nebula Pad	Baud	How sure
Ender-3 V3 SE, C13	GD32F303	STM32F103	28 KiB	USART2 (PA3/PA2)	230400	Community-reproduced (with a Sonic Pad) [S5]
Ender-3 V3 SE, C14	STM32F401	STM32F401	64 KiB	USART2 (PA3/PA2)	230400	Candidate only - the serial setting is not confirmed [S8][S9]
Ender-3 V3 SE, marked C14	GD32F303	STM32F103	28 KiB	USART2 (PA3/PA2)	230400	Candidate only [S11][S12][S13]
Creality 4.2.2	STM32F103	STM32F103	28 KiB	USART3 (PB11/PB10)	230400	Upstream Klipper settings; baud from SimpleAF's Nebula Pad setup [S6][S4]
Creality 4.2.2	GD32F103	STM32F103, Disable SWD at startup on	28 KiB	USART3 (PB11/PB10)	230400	Upstream Klipper settings [S6][S4]
Creality 4.2.2	GD32F303	STM32F103	28 KiB	USART3 (PB11/PB10)	230400	Community starting point; not every board may boot [S3][S6]
Creality 4.2.7	STM32F103	STM32F103	28 KiB	USART3 (PB11/PB10)	230400	Upstream Klipper settings; SimpleAF marks these Nebula Pad setups untested [S7][S3]
Creality 4.2.7	GD32	STM32F103	28 KiB	USART3 (PB11/PB10)	230400	Candidate only [S3][S7]

None of these has been tested with NebulaOS. The Ender-3 V3 and V3 Plus are left out: they are a different design.

Why "serial to the Nebula Pad" matters: most Klipper guides for these boards are written for a Raspberry Pi on USB and use USART1 (PA10/PA9). That firmware flashes fine but cannot talk to a Nebula Pad over the display cable. You choose the serial port in make menuconfig, by the name in the table - you never need to rewire anything.

For comparison, the KE itself: GD32F303, 12 KiB bootloader, USART2 at 230400, plus a Creality header that only the KE needs. Do not copy the KE's settings to another board (how the KE firmware is built).

Build the firmware

On a Linux PC (or WSL), with Klipper's build tools installed (Klipper's install guide):

git clone https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper.git
cd klipper
git checkout 58bd67db3ce1be1951c3e4a6d1156a79903d4edc   # the Klipper NebulaOS 1.0.2 runs
make menuconfig
make

The firmware is out/klipper.bin. Build from the same Klipper version as the printer runs (the commit above is NebulaOS 1.0.2's); a firmware from a very different Klipper version may refuse to connect. Before building for a different board, run make clean and check every setting again.

Example: Ender-3 V3 SE with a C13 board (GD32F303)

The most complete known recipe, reproduced by a community member with a Sonic Pad [S5]:

Enable extra low-level configuration options: on
Micro-controller architecture: STMicroelectronics STM32
Processor model: STM32F103
Disable SWD at startup: on
Bootloader offset: 28KiB bootloader
Clock reference: 8 MHz crystal
Communication interface: Serial (on USART2 PA3/PA2)
Baud rate for serial port: 230400

If your Klipper version offers Optimize stepper code for 'step on both edges', turn it on. Leave everything else at its default.

Flash it

Board	How
V3 SE C13 (GD32F303)	The .bin in the root of the SD card [S16]
V3 SE C14 (STM32F401)	STM32F4_UPDATE/firmware.bin on the SD card [S9][S10]
V3 SE marked C14 with a GD32F303	Some owners succeeded with the root of the SD card, like the C13; not all [S12][S13]
Creality 4.2.2 / 4.2.7	The .bin in the root of the SD card [S6][S7]

Use a small FAT32 card, give the file a new, short name each time (many Creality bootloaders skip a name they have seen before), and insert the card with the printer switched off.

The printer configuration

The Nebula Pad talks to the mainboard on this serial port:

[mcu]
serial: /dev/ttyS1
baud: 230400
restart_method: command

NebulaOS's printer.cfg includes the KE's hardware files (machine.cfg, prtouch.cfg, z_offset_probe.cfg from /etc/nebulaos/klipper/). For another printer, replace those includes with a configuration for your printer. Good starting points:

• SimpleAF's Nebula Pad configs for the V3 SE, 4.2.2 and 4.2.7 [S4]
• A community V3 SE Klipper config [S15]
• Upstream Klipper's Creality 4.2.2 and 4.2.7 examples

These are references, not drop-in files: pins, motor directions, thermistors, endstops, the probe and the bed size must match your printer. SimpleAF's files also use SimpleAF-only parts. On the V3 SE, the stock load-cell automatic Z offset does not work with plain Klipper [S15].

Stepper drivers: a different driver chip (TMC2208, TMC2209, A4988 ...) does not need a different firmware. It is part of the printer configuration. Many Creality boards run TMC drivers without a UART connection; then leave out any [tmc...] section. Never copy motor currents from another printer [S18][S19].

First start: check in this order

1. Klipper connects to the mainboard.
2. Temperatures read sensible room values.
3. Endstops and the probe change state when triggered (QUERY_ENDSTOPS, QUERY_PROBE).
4. Fans run.
5. Each motor moves the right way, a small step at a time.
6. Heaters heat and the safety limits are right.
7. Only then home, and only then calibrate.

Tell us what worked

If you get a printer working, please open an issue on NebulaOS titled Community build: <printer>, so the next person can use it:

Printer model:
Mainboard label / revision:
Chip printed on the processor:
Nebula Pad (retail or other) and NebulaOS version:
Klipper commit used for the firmware:
make menuconfig: processor / bootloader / clock / serial / baud / other options:
How you flashed it (SD folder, file name):
[mcu] serial and baud:
Stepper drivers (chip, UART or standalone):
Printer config source and what you changed:
klippy.log (remove IP addresses, user names and serial numbers):
What works (connect, temperatures, endstops, movement, probe, heating, homing, a print):
How you would get back to stock:

Sources

These are other people's findings, not NebulaOS tests.

Ref	Source	What it shows
S1	NebulaOS: building your own KE firmware	The KE's settings and why its tools are KE-only
S2	NebulaOS MCU architecture	Upstream Klipper on the printer, the KE patch set
S3	SimpleAF: retail Nebula Pad guide	Printers SimpleAF runs on a retail Nebula Pad, untested ones, SD flashing
S4	SimpleAF Nebula Pad configs	[mcu] serial /dev/ttyS1 at 230400, pin maps
S5	Klipper Discourse: C13 GD32F303 build	The C13 make menuconfig settings that worked (Sonic Pad)
S6	Klipper: Creality 4.2.2 config	4.2.2 build settings, GD32F103 note, USART3, SD file names
S7	Klipper: Creality 4.2.7 config	4.2.7 build settings, USART3, SD flashing
S8	Community V3 SE Klipper build guide	C13 vs C14 targets for a USB host
S9	Creality: C14 + Nebula Pad firmware guide	Creality's own C14 procedure
S10	Nebula Pad C14 community guide	STM32F4_UPDATE SD method
S11	C14-marked board with a GD32F303	That this variant exists; a USB-host build
S12	Reddit: C14 label, GD32 chip	Flashing trouble and how one owner solved it
S13	Reddit: C14/GD32 with a Nebula Pad	One owner using the C13-style SD path
S14	Klipper: building the firmware	make menuconfig, make
S15	Community V3 SE config	Pins and probe; the stock auto Z offset does not work in plain Klipper
S16	Creality: V3 SE firmware update	C13 SD root, new short file names
S18	TH3D: Creality 4.2.x driver codes	Stepper driver letters on 4.2.x boards
S19	Klipper: TMC drivers	UART vs standalone drivers
S20	Reddit: C14 STM32F401 with a retail Nebula Pad	Creality's own C14 firmware working with a retail Pad
S21	Reddit: C14 flashing trouble	SD folder and file-name pitfalls

Research collected 2026-11-06. NebulaOS facts from NebulaOS-klipper-mcu/docs/BUILDING_YOUR_OWN_FIRMWARE.md, etc/nebulaos/klipper/machine.cfg and etc/init.d/S50nebulaos-mcu-guard (mcu_lifecycle.py), firmware 3bdf3ff.