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Cartographer Flashing

This page covers flashing firmware for Cartographer USB probes for Simple AF for K1 Series printers (K1, K1C, K1SE, K1 Max, Ender 3 V3 KE and Ender 5 Max)

If you want the fully manual process instead, see the manual guides for V3 and V4.

For Simple AF for RPi, you should use the standard cartographer guide https://docs.cartographer3d.com/cartographer-probe/firmware/firmware-updating/via-katapult/usb-flash#usb-katapult-updating

Warn

This process has been tested on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04. Other debian based distributions might work, but they are untested!

Creating a Live USB Key

Warning

You might corrupt the katapult boot loader trying to use a Linux VM or WSL to flash the carto, I strongly recommend a live USB over a VM or WSL.

You should create a live USB with Ubuntu 26.04 Desktop, make sure the USB is at least 8GB in size!

https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/try-ubuntu-before-you-install#1-getting-started

Firmware targets

  • V3 probes will be flashed with CARTOGRAPHER K1 5.0.0
  • V4 probes will be flashed with CARTOGRAPHER V4 6.0.0 Lite

Warn

These cartographer firmware versions have been extensively tested with Simple AF K1 Series, newer versions may not work as reliably.

Downloading

wget https://pellcorp.github.io/creality-wiki/scripts/cartographer_flash.sh -O ~/cartographer_flash.sh

Flashing

Note

Maybe it should be obvious, but make sure your cartographer is plugged in to your computer before running this step!

bash ~/cartographer_flash.sh

The script auto-detects V4 when the serial id exposes stm32g431. Otherwise it defaults to V3. You can still force the model with --model.

Flashing via DFU Mode

You need to bridge the boot pins before you plug your carto in via USB to your Linux session, make sure lsusb reports it being in DFU mode, it should show

image

Source: https://docs.cartographer3d.com/cartographer-probe/firmware/updating-firmware#cartographer-v3-1

bash ~/cartographer_flash.sh --dfu --model v3

Note

The --model is required in DFU mode because the normal Cartographer serial id is not available, specify --model v3 if you have an older probe, --model v4 if you have a new probe.

Notes

  • The script uses sudo for apt, add-apt-repository, bootloader entry, dfu-util and flashing.
  • If python3.12 is already installed, the script reuses it and skips adding the deadsnakes PPA.
  • If apt is blocked by unattended-upgrades, the script retries automatically.
  • If ~/klipper or ~/cartographer_firmware already exists with the wrong origin remote or local uncommitted changes, the script aborts instead of updating it.