The full writeup behind Hijacking the display header to embed a Pi Zero inside an Ender 3 V2 Neo. Internal specifics are scrubbed; this is generic enough to run on your own gear.

Internal Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, powered and serial-fed from the 4.2.2 board's display header. Klipper/Moonraker/Fluidd run over direct UART, USB stays unused, the stock DWIN display comes off. Reversible: the only board-side work is a JST pigtail into the display header.

  • Printer: Ender 3 V2 Neo (modified, DD extruder, dual Z, YOOPAI Spark hotend)
  • Board: Creality 4.2.2, stock STM32F103RET6, 28 KiB bootloader
  • Host: Pi Zero 2W (RP3A0-AU), Arch Linux ARM, linux-rpi, btrfs, iwd
  • MCU serial: USART3 PB11/PB10 (RX/TX) at 250000 baud
  • Power: 4.2.2 main 5 V rail via the display header

Architecture#

 24 V PSU -> 4.2.2 board
              |-- MP1584 buck -> 5 V rail --+-- MCU (AMS1117 -> 3.3 V)
              |                              +-- CH340  [idle]
              |                              +-- LCD header --------------+
              +-- STM32F103RET6                                            |
                   +-- USART3 (PB11 RX / PB10 TX) -------------------------+
                                                                           |
                                         5-wire cable -> JST pigtail -> Pi
                                                                           |
                                    +--------------------------------------v
                                    | Pi Zero 2W inside base
                                    | pin 2/4  <- 5 V
                                    | pin 6    <- GND
                                    | pin 8  (GPIO14 TX) -> MCU RX (PB11)
                                    | pin 10 (GPIO15 RX) <- MCU TX (PB10)

Klipper talks to the MCU on /dev/ttyAMA0 (the full PL011). USB is dead weight, the CH340 sits idle. The DWIN knob display is unplugged. Keeping it alive is parked as phase 2.

Pin Mapping#

4.2.2 Display Header#

SignalSTM32 pinWire (stock)Notes
+5 VRedDirect from MP1584 5 V rail
GNDBlack
MCU TX -> Pi RXPB10 (USART3_TX)Yellow3.3 V logic
MCU RX <- Pi TXPB11 (USART3_RX)White3.3 V logic, 5 V tolerant
BEEPBuzzer driveBlueClip and insulate

Klipper's menuconfig labels this as Serial (on USART3 PB11/PB10), RX first. PB10 is always MCU TX, PB11 is always MCU RX.

Source: the Ender3v2 board to RPI with screen connector thread confirms the assignment. The 4.2.2 and 4.2.7 share a pinout per TH3D.

Verify cable colours with a multimeter before soldering. Creality has shipped mirrored cables.

Pi Zero 2W Header#

FunctionPi pinBCM GPIO
+5 V in2 or 4
GND6
UART0 TX -> MCU RX (PB11)8GPIO14
UART0 RX <- MCU TX (PB10)10GPIO15

Use UART0 (ttyAMA0, the full PL011). The mini-UART (ttyS0) drifts with core clock and produces bytes_invalid under load, never use it for Klipper. Free PL011 from Bluetooth with dtoverlay=disable-bt and reference the device as /dev/ttyAMA0 everywhere, printer.cfg included.

STM32F103 USART3 is 3.3 V CMOS and 5 V-tolerant on inputs. Pi GPIO14/15 is 3.3 V and not 5 V tolerant. Both drive 3.3 V, so cross-connect directly. No level shifter.

Power Budget#

Load on 5 V railTypicalPeak
STM32F103 + AMS1117 + TMC VCC_IO200 mA300 mA
CH340 idle (no USB cable)5 mA5 mA
Pi Zero 2W (headless + WiFi + Klipper)350 mA1350 mA
Total555 mA1650 mA

The MP1584 is rated 3 A on paper, realistically 1.5 to 2 A continuous. Continuous load is fine. The real danger is the 1.3 A WiFi-TX spikes on the shared rail that also feeds the MCU's AMS1117. Any sag during a print equals an MCU reset mid-job.

Mitigations#

  1. Bulk cap across Pi 5V: 1000 uF / 10 V low-ESR aluminium electrolytic (Panasonic FR/FM or Nichicon PW) plus a 100 nF X7R ceramic. Soldered directly across pin 2 and pin 6 on the Pi underside, short leads.
  2. Throttle peak current in /boot/config.txt: arm_freq=900 caps the 1 GHz turbo and cuts ~25 % off peak draw. Tune back up to 1000 once the bulk cap and harness are proven.
  3. Fat short power leads: 20 AWG silicone red/black, max 10 cm. No 28 AWG Dupont on the power rails.
  4. No HDMI, no camera, no USB-OTG attached while printing.

If the 5 V rail already sags below 4.9 V at idle under stock load, the buck is dying. Replace it first.

BOM#

ItemNotes
Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
microSD 16 GB+ A1 classSandisk Extreme or Samsung Evo
1000 uF / 10 V low-ESR electrolyticPanasonic EEU-FR1A102 or equivalent
100 nF X7R ceramicHF decoupling
20 AWG silicone red/black~10 cm each
28 AWG silicone yellow/white~10 cm each
JST-XH crimp contacts + housingMatch the display header
2x20 low-profile header or direct-solder padsPi GPIO
Kapton + heat shrink
3D-printed internal Pi mountPrintables "Ender 3 V2 Pi Zero 2 internal", PETG

Phase 1 - Build Procedure#

1. Preflight#

  1. Power off, unplug mains, wait for the PSU caps to discharge.
  2. Remove the base plate and photograph the wiring.
  3. Continuity-test the display cable against the pin map with a multimeter.
  4. Measure the 5 V rail at the header under stock idle (fans on). Should read 4.95 to 5.10 V. Below 4.9 V, replace the buck.

2. Harness#

Build in air, not on the printer:

JST (display header) ---+-- Red    (5V)   -- 20AWG --+
                        +-- Black  (GND)  -- 20AWG --+--> Pi pins 2 & 6
                        +-- Yellow (TX)   -- 28AWG ----> Pi pin 10 (GPIO15 RX)
                        +-- White  (RX)   -- 28AWG ----> Pi pin 8  (GPIO14 TX)
                        +-- Blue   (BEEP) -- CLIPPED + insulated
                                                          |
                              1000 uF || 100 nF  ---------+  across Pi 5V/GND

Solder the bulk cap to the Pi underside across pin 2 and pin 6, shortest possible leads. Heat shrink every joint. Continuity-test the full harness before plugging in.

3. Klipper Firmware Rebuild#

Do this from the existing Klipper host while the printer is still on USB. You end up with two firmware images: the current USART1/USB build (rollback) and the new USART3 build.

3.1 Match the Klipper version#

Host and MCU must run matching Klipper versions or the first connect dies with Protocol error connecting to MCU.

pacman -Q klipper
# klipper 0.13.0-x

Note the version. The MCU build must come from the same tag.

3.2 Build tree#

The pacman package installs source read-only at /usr/share/klipper. Clone a matching checkout for building:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper.git klipper-build
cd klipper-build
git checkout v0.13.0

If you still have the last USB firmware on disk, back it up and write it to a spare SD as firmware-usb.bin. This becomes the rollback image. Any known-good USB firmware.bin works.

3.3 Build the UART firmware#

cd ~/klipper-build
make clean
make menuconfig
[*] Enable extra low-level configuration options     <-- MUST be checked FIRST
    Micro-controller Architecture  --->   STMicroelectronics STM32
    Processor model                --->   STM32F103
    Bootloader offset              --->   28KiB bootloader
    Clock Reference                --->   8 MHz crystal
    Communication interface        --->   Serial (on USART3 PB11/PB10)
    Baud rate for serial port            250000
    ( ) GPIO pins to set at micro-controller startup   <-- leave empty

If "low-level options" isn't enabled first, the USART3 choice stays hidden and the build silently falls back to USART1. That's the #1 silent failure mode.

Exit with Q, save with Y. Then:

make -j$(nproc)

Verify the artefact:

grep -E 'CONFIG_STM32_SERIAL|CONFIG_LOW_LEVEL_OPTIONS' .config
# Must show:
#   CONFIG_LOW_LEVEL_OPTIONS=y
#   CONFIG_STM32_SERIAL_USART3=y
ls -la out/klipper.bin    # ~40-60 KB
cp out/klipper.bin ~/klipper-usart3-uart.bin

3.4 Flash via SD card#

  1. Use a freshly formatted FAT32 SD, MBR partition table, single partition, 4-32 GB. Old gcode cards often fail to flash.
  2. Copy the image to the SD root, rename to firmware.bin. The bootloader only accepts each filename once, so later reflashes use firmware-v2.bin, firmware-v3.bin, etc.
  3. Eject cleanly. Insert into the printer's microSD slot.
  4. Power-cycle the printer from the 24 V PSU (not USB). Wait 15 to 30 seconds. The screen stays blank during flash.
  5. Power off, remove the SD, inspect on your PC. On success the bootloader renamed the file to FIRMWARE.CUR. If it's still firmware.bin, the flash did not happen.

3.5 Verify the MCU speaks UART#

Before unplugging USB or touching the display header:

  • The DWIN display shows nothing or garbage after the flash. That's expected, the MCU no longer speaks DWIN protocol on the header.
  • With USB still connected to the old host, klipper.service will fail to start because the firmware now speaks on USART3. That failure is the positive signal that the new firmware loaded.
  • Optional: hook a 3.3 V USB-TTL dongle to PB10/PB11 + GND at 250000 baud. hexdump -C /dev/ttyUSB0 should show a steady byte stream every 100 ms.

If USART3 is silent, reflash the rollback image and figure out what went wrong before wiring the Pi.

4. Pi Zero 2W Host#

The Pi runs Arch Linux ARM with Klipper, Moonraker, nginx, and Fluidd. The sub-sections below document the build for reproducibility. Skip to 4.5 on a working Pi.

4.1 As-built summary#

AreaOn the Pi
DistroArch Linux ARM, linux-rpi kernel
Filesystembtrfs root, swapfile on btrfs (NOCOW)
Networkingiwd + systemd-networkd + systemd-resolved
Webservernginx (serves Fluidd, proxies Moonraker)
Klipperklipper (official extra repo)
Moonrakermoonraker (AUR via yay)
FluiddStatic release at /srv/fluidd
Service userklipper
printer_data/var/lib/klipper/printer_data/

NetworkManager was tried first and hit a brcmfmac driver bug on this batch of Pi Zero 2W modules. iwd works.

4.2 Arch Linux ARM install#

Based on the Arch Linux ARM RPi Zero 2W guide, adjusted for btrfs and a swapfile.

  1. Partition: MBR, 200 MB FAT32 boot, btrfs root with subvolumes @, @home, @swap.
  2. Extract:
    wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-rpi-aarch64-latest.tar.gz
    sudo bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-rpi-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C /mnt/root
    sudo mv /mnt/root/boot/* /mnt/boot/
  3. Swapfile (btrfs requires NOCOW before any data is written):
    sudo btrfs subvolume create /mnt/root/swap
    sudo truncate -s 0 /mnt/root/swap/swapfile
    sudo chattr +C /mnt/root/swap/swapfile
    sudo fallocate -l 1G /mnt/root/swap/swapfile
    sudo chmod 600 /mnt/root/swap/swapfile
    sudo mkswap /mnt/root/swap/swapfile
  4. fstab:
    UUID=<boot>   /boot   vfat   defaults                       0 2
    UUID=<root>   /       btrfs  subvol=@,compress=zstd:3       0 0
    UUID=<root>   /home   btrfs  subvol=@home,compress=zstd:3   0 0
    /swap/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0
  5. First boot: login alarm/alarm, root root, then:
    pacman-key --init
    pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm
    pacman -Syu

4.3 iwd + systemd-networkd#

pacman -S iwd
systemctl enable --now iwd

/etc/iwd/main.conf:

[General]
EnableNetworkConfiguration=true

[Network]
NameResolvingService=systemd

Join once with iwctl:

iwctl
> station wlan0 scan
> station wlan0 connect <SSID>
> exit

The PSK is saved to /var/lib/iwd/<SSID>.psk and reconnects on every boot. DNS via systemd-resolved:

pacman -S systemd-resolvconf
systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved
ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

4.4 Klipper + Moonraker + Fluidd#

Klipper is in extra. Moonraker comes from AUR via yay. Fluidd is a static release unpacked under /srv/fluidd. Build AUR packages as a non-root user (alarm works).

pacman -S --needed base-devel git python python-virtualenv nginx

# yay (once)
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay && makepkg -si

pacman -S klipper
yay -S moonraker

sudo mkdir -p /srv/fluidd
cd /tmp
curl -LO https://github.com/fluidd-core/fluidd/releases/latest/download/fluidd.zip
sudo bsdtar -xpf fluidd.zip -C /srv/fluidd

The pacman klipper package ships tagged releases, so the host version is pinned by pacman. Rebuild and reflash the MCU whenever the package updates (see Ongoing Maintenance).

nginx config at /etc/nginx/conf.d/fluidd.conf:

upstream moonraker {
    ip_hash;
    server 127.0.0.1:7125;
}

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    server_name _;
    root /srv/fluidd;
    index index.html;

    client_max_body_size 500M;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
    }

    location /websocket {
        proxy_pass http://moonraker/websocket;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_read_timeout 86400;
    }

    location ~ ^/(printer|api|access|machine|server)/ {
        proxy_pass http://moonraker$request_uri;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}
systemctl enable --now nginx klipper moonraker

4.5 Free the hardware UART#

Append to /boot/config.txt (Arch ARM puts the boot files at /boot/, not /boot/firmware/):

enable_uart=1
dtoverlay=disable-bt

arm_freq=900
over_voltage=0
dtparam=audio=off
gpu_mem=16
disable_splash=1
hdmi_blanking=2

Edit /boot/cmdline.txt and remove console=serial0,115200 if present. A serial console on ttyAMA0 corrupts Klipper traffic. The final line looks like:

root=LABEL=root rw rootwait console=tty1

Disable anything that might hold the UART:

systemctl disable --now serial-getty@ttyAMA0.service 2>/dev/null
systemctl disable --now hciuart 2>/dev/null
systemctl disable --now bluetooth 2>/dev/null

Reboot. Verify:

ls -l /dev/ttyAMA0                        # char device, crw-rw----
dmesg | grep -iE 'uart|ttyAMA'            # uart-pl011 ... is a PL011
dmesg | grep 'console \[ttyAMA'           # must return nothing
gpioinfo gpiochip0 | grep -E 'line +(14|15)'   # not "used" by anything

If only ttyS0 appears and ttyAMA0 is missing, the disable-bt overlay didn't apply. Recheck /boot/config.txt and reboot.

4.6 Pre-stage printer.cfg#

Drop the existing printer.cfg into /var/lib/klipper/printer_data/config/ and patch the [mcu] block:

[mcu]
serial: /dev/ttyAMA0
baud: 250000
restart_method: command

Drop any serial: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-* lines. The steppers, extruder, probe, mesh, macros all stay, only the transport changed.

systemctl stop klipper

5. Integrate and Smoke Test#

  1. Printer off, USB cable removed, Pi powered off.
  2. Unplug the stock DWIN from the 4.2.2.
  3. Plug the harness into the display header.
  4. Place the Pi in its printed mount. First power-on: let it sit in open air with no metal contact against 24 V rails or screw terminals.
  5. Power on the printer from the 24 V PSU. The Pi draws through the new harness, no micro-USB attached.
  6. Watch the Pi ACT LED. Boot pattern within ~25 s, then settles.
  7. SSH in over WiFi.

5.1 Raw UART check#

Klipper must be stopped or it holds the port exclusively and hexdump sees nothing.

systemctl status klipper                    # inactive (dead)
stty -F /dev/ttyAMA0 250000 raw -echo
timeout 2 hexdump -C /dev/ttyAMA0 | head -20

Expect several lines of non-zero bytes roughly every 100 ms. Klipper MCUs send a heartbeat on idle. Empty = jump to Troubleshooting.

5.2 Start Klipper#

systemctl start klipper
journalctl -u klipper -f

Look for Loaded MCU 'mcu' N commands followed by Init finished successfully. Then open Fluidd at http://<pi-ip>/. The printer card should say READY, and the mcu panel:

  • mcu_awake > 0.4
  • bytes_retransmit = 0, staying there
  • bytes_invalid = 0

Any non-zero bytes_invalid means wiring, levels, or wrong UART overlay.

5.3 Functional test#

STATUS
QUERY_ENDSTOPS
G28
M104 S50
M140 S50
M106 S128
M107
M104 S0
M140 S0

Then a small test print. Watch bytes_retransmit during the first print. Any growth points to UART noise.

Only after a clean test print should the Pi get mounted permanently and the base closed.

Verification Checklist#

  • mcu_awake > 0.4, no bytes_invalid growth over 5 min
  • No bytes_retransmit growth over 5 min
  • 5 V at Pi pin 2 stays >= 4.90 V under iperf3 -c <host> WiFi stress
  • vcgencmd get_throttled returns 0x0 under load (if you have vcgencmd; Arch ARM may not)
  • Homing, thermistors, steppers, fans, endstops all respond
  • M112 halts the MCU
  • Cold power-up connects within 30 s, no manual restart
  • Pi SoC temp < 70 C after 1 h idle inside the sealed base

Troubleshooting First Connection#

Nothing on hexdump -C /dev/ttyAMA0#

CauseCheckFix
MCU flash didn't applySD file is still firmware.bin, not FIRMWARE.CURReformat SD as fresh FAT32 MBR, recopy, retry
Build is actually USART1.config shows CONFIG_STM32_SERIAL_USART1=yEnable "low-level options" first, rebuild with USART3, reflash under a new filename
Wrong header pins/dev/ttyAMA0 exists but no bytesMost common: wires on encoder pins (2, 9) instead of 4, 7. Continuity-test from PB10/PB11 on the STM32 to the header pin
TX/RX swapped at the headerContinuity MCU PB10 -> Pi pin 10, PB11 -> Pi pin 8Swap yellow/white at the JST
ttyAMA0 missing, only ttyS0ls /dev/tty{AMA,S}0dtoverlay=disable-bt missing or kernel DTBO not loaded
Kernel console on UARTdmesg | grep "console \[ttyAMA" hitsRemove console=serial0,115200 from /boot/cmdline.txt, reboot
Wrong baudstty shows other than 250000stty -F /dev/ttyAMA0 250000 raw -echo
Pi unpoweredNo ACT LEDCheck 5 V at Pi pin 2
MCU unpoweredMCU green LED dark24 V PSU not switched on

Unable to open serial port: ... Device or resource busy#

fuser -v /dev/ttyAMA0
systemctl status serial-getty@ttyAMA0.service
systemctl disable --now serial-getty@ttyAMA0.service
systemctl disable --now hciuart 2>/dev/null

Arch uses the uucp group for serial devices, not dialout. The klipper user must be in uucp:

id klipper
usermod -aG uucp klipper
systemctl restart klipper

Protocol error connecting to MCU#

Host and MCU Klipper versions don't match. Check the MCU version string from the Klipper log, git checkout <tag> in the Pi's build tree, rebuild and reflash, restart the service.

bytes_invalid grows, bytes_retransmit = 0#

Klipper is on the mini-UART (ttyS0). Verify:

ls /dev/ttyAMA0 /dev/ttyS0

ttyAMA0 must exist. If only ttyS0 is there, the disable-bt overlay didn't apply.

bytes_retransmit grows under WiFi load#

5 V sag during WiFi transmit. Mitigations:

  • Measure 5 V at Pi pin 2 during iperf3 -c <host>. Dips below 4.8 V = undersized bulk cap or thin power wires.
  • Add a second 1000 uF in parallel.
  • Replace power leads with 20 AWG silicone.
  • Escape hatch: stop piggybacking the 5 V rail, run a dedicated MP2307/MP1584 from the 24 V side. Out of scope here.

Timeout with MCU on first connect#

The Pi booted while the MCU was already idle-chattering. Klipper recovers on the next FIRMWARE_RESTART.

Moonraker shows disconnected in Fluidd#

The Arch moonraker package defaults don't work out of the box. Two required tweaks in moonraker.conf:

[server]
klippy_uds_address: /run/klipper/ud_sock

[authorization]
trusted_clients:
 127.0.0.1/32
 ::1/128
 10.0.0.0/8
 192.168.0.0/16

The klippy_uds_address has to match where the Arch klipper.service unit creates the socket (-a /run/klipper/ud_sock). The Moonraker default of ~/printer_data/comms/klippy.sock doesn't exist. 127.0.0.1/32 needs to be in trusted_clients or every loopback request (including nginx-proxied Fluidd) gets 401 Unauthorized. The two private ranges trust the whole LAN; tighten to your own subnet if you want.

Rollback#

About 5 minutes:

  1. Power off.
  2. Swap the MCU SD to the firmware-usb.bin backup.
  3. Plug the stock DWIN display back in.
  4. Plug USB back into the 4.2.2.
  5. Power on.

The harness is a JST pigtail with no board-side soldering. The 4.2.2 returns to stock with zero permanent damage.

Risks#

#RiskMitigation
15 V brown-out, mid-print MCU resetBulk cap, arm_freq cap, short fat power leads
2BEEP pin shorts to Pi GPIOClip and insulate. Never ground, never GPIO
3Mini-UART used instead of PL011dtoverlay=disable-bt, clean cmdline.txt
4SD-card flash filename already usedIncrement filename suffix on each reflash
5Pi thermal throttle in the sealed basePassive heatsink on the SoC, ventilation slots
6Klipper plugin claims PB10/PB11make menuconfig errors at build if there's a conflict
7ESD damage during assemblyTouch chassis ground before handling Pi GPIO

Phase 2 - Keep DWIN Display Alive (Optional)#

Parked. The Double UART on RPi0 2W for Klipper & DWIN LCD thread documents a man-in-the-middle approach:

  • MCU USART3 <-> Pi ttyAMA0 (GPIO14/15), Klipper protocol
  • DWIN <-> Pi ttyS0 (mini-UART, remapped via dtoverlay), DWIN T5UIC1 protocol
  • A Python daemon translates Klipper state into DWIN updates

Config addition:

dtoverlay=uart1,txd1_pin=32,rxd1_pin=33

Driver references: jpcurti/E3V3SE_display_klipper and GalvanicGlaze/DWIN_T5UIC1_LCD.

Not worth doing before phase 1 is stable. Mini-UART baud drift under CPU load makes the DWIN flaky, and knob input has to bounce through Moonraker macros. Finish headless first.

Mechanical Mounting#

The V2 Neo base has ~35 mm clearance between the 4.2.2 PCB tray and the floor, between the PSU housing and the outer wall. A flat Pi Zero 2W fits sideways with its GPIO header facing the 4.2.2.

  • PETG only. PLA creeps at 40-45 C, which the base interior reaches on hot days.
  • Mount to existing M3 holes on the PSU bracket. No new drilling.
  • Route the harness through the existing display-cable grommet. No new holes.
  • Passive heatsink on the RP3A0-AU SoC (10x10x3 mm aluminium with thermal pad).
  • Ventilation slots or a small 30 mm fan if the room runs above 28 C.

Ongoing Maintenance#

Every pacman upgrade of klipper requires an MCU reflash from the matching tag, or Klipper refuses to connect with Protocol error.

pacman -Q klipper
cd ~/klipper-build
git fetch --tags
git checkout v<new-version>
make clean
make menuconfig        # settings are saved; exit with Y
make -j$(nproc)

Reflash via SD as in 3.4, new filename each time (firmware-v3.bin, etc.). Then:

systemctl restart klipper

Pin klipper in /etc/pacman.conf to control when it upgrades:

IgnorePkg = klipper

Moonraker's update_manager doesn't manage a pacman-installed Klipper. Leave the [update_manager klipper] block out of moonraker.conf or the Fluidd update panel throws errors.

Pi Host Reference#

Hardware and OS notes for the Pi Zero 2W acting as the Klipper host.

SoC and memory#

SoCBroadcom BCM2710A1 (PCB marking RP3A0-AU)
Cores4× ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1 GHz
ArchitectureAArch64 / ARMv8
RAM512 MB LPDDR2 on-package
GPUVideoCore IV (disabled in this setup)
Cache32 KB L1 I + 32 KB L1 D per core, 512 KB L2 shared

Effective usable RAM: ~413 MiB (GPU cut reduces 512 MiB to ~430 MiB, linux-rpi kernel + systemd + services eats the rest, idle working set leaves ~196 MiB free). Check with free -h after boot.

UARTs: ttyAMA0 vs ttyS0#

The BCM2710 has two UARTs accessible on the 40-pin header:

DeviceHardwareClock sourceBaud stability
/dev/ttyAMA0PL011 full UARTPeripheral clock, independent of CPURock solid
/dev/ttyS0mini-UART (bcm283x aux)VPU clock, scales with CPU frequencyDrifts under load

Always use /dev/ttyAMA0 for Klipper. The mini-UART's baud drifts whenever CPU scales, producing bytes_invalid growth on the Klipper stats panel.

By default the PL011 is wired to the on-board Bluetooth chip and the mini-UART is routed to GPIO14/15. dtoverlay=disable-bt in /boot/config.txt swaps them: PL011 goes to GPIO14/15, mini-UART goes to Bluetooth. Verify with ls -l /dev/ttyAMA0 after reboot; the device must exist.

Arch Linux ARM does not ship the 99-com.rules udev file that creates /dev/serial0 on Raspberry Pi OS. Reference the device as /dev/ttyAMA0 directly in printer.cfg and everywhere else.

Wireless#

WiFi2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n, Cypress CYW43438 (same chip as Pi 3B+)
BluetoothBT 4.2 BLE / Classic (disabled in this setup)
AntennaOn-board PCB antenna, single spatial stream

No 5 GHz support. dtoverlay=disable-bt shuts off the Bluetooth portion of the chip; WiFi stays up.

WiFi power save is disabled at runtime (iw dev wlan0 set power_save off) because the Cypress driver's default PSM adds ping latency spikes of ~200 ms. Disabling it drops them into the noise floor.

Storage#

microSD Class 10 / A1 or better. The SD holds the bootloader (FAT32 /boot), rootfs (btrfs), and the user home. Journal is capped at 200 MB, swapfile of 2 GB on btrfs (NOCOW), zram swap at 256 MB priority 100.

Flash writes happen from journald (capped 200 MB), the Klipper log (/var/lib/klipper/printer_data/logs/klippy.log), the Moonraker database, and pacman installs. All infrequent on a settled system. Expected SD lifetime is measured in years.

Peripherals matrix#

PeripheralStateReason
HDMIdisabledNo display needed
DSI displaydisabledNo display needed
Camera (CSI)disabledNo camera
AudiodisabledNo use
3D GPU (vc4-kms-v3d)disabledHeadless, saves 76 MB RAM
I2CdisabledNot wired
SPIenabledReserved for future ADXL345 use
UARTenabled (PL011)Klipper MCU link
BluetoothdisabledFrees the PL011 for UART use
WiFienabledKlipper host network
USB OTG (dwc2)defaultNot used

Process priority#

The klipper service runs with Nice=-10, IOSchedulingClass=best-effort, IOSchedulingPriority=0, LimitMEMLOCK=infinity so the realtime stepper-compression path is not starved under load.

Thermals#

Inside a closed printer base, ambient around the Pi can reach 40-45 C in summer. The RP3A0-AU throttles at 80 C core temperature. Expected operating range: 55-65 C under light load, up to 70 C under sustained CPU.

  • Passive aluminium heatsink (10×10×3 mm) on the SoC with a thermal pad.
  • Ventilation slots or a 30 mm fan in the printed Pi mount if the room runs hot.
  • Check with cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp (millidegrees C).

vcgencmd get_throttled is the official throttle check on Raspberry Pi OS but Arch Linux ARM does not ship vcgencmd. Read /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq and compare against scaling_max_freq instead.

Watchdog and reset behaviour#

The BCM2710 has no hardware watchdog exposed cleanly on this kernel. If the Pi hangs, the only recovery is a power cycle. Since the Pi is powered from the printer's 24 V PSU through the 5 V rail, cycling the printer cycles the Pi too. There is no standalone Pi power switch.

Sources#