PrintHive

Set up your first status display

In this lesson you pair a QuinLED Dig-Next-2 controller, assign Printer status to pixels, publish the default signal profile, and confirm live status on the strip. At the end, each mapped pixel renders the color program that the profile binds to its Printer's status.

Before you start

You need these components:

  • Print Hive hosted MQTT enabled by your service operator.
  • A farm network that permits MQTT over TLS to mqtt.printhiv3d.com:443.
  • A Dig-Next-2 controller that runs WLED and the current Print Hive Usermod.
  • An organization admin account in Print Hive.

Step 1: Install the firmware

  1. Open Settings. Under Connections, open Integrations.
  2. In MQTT status displays, expand Advanced: customer brokers & hosted endpoint and select Download Dig-Next-2 firmware.
  3. Save your current WLED configuration.
  4. Open http://<controller-address>/update from the controller's network and upload the binary. The controller restarts when the upload completes.
  5. If the controller has no working WLED install, flash it over USB: esptool.py --chip esp32 write_flash 0x0 printhive-wled-16.0.1-dig-next-2-*.bin

Dynamic signal profiles are a negotiated capability. A controller that runs an older Usermod keeps its built-in patterns and cannot accept a profile. The setup checklist shows the reported capabilities after pairing.

Step 2: Pair the display

  1. In MQTT status displays, select Pair controller. The Displays workspace opens on its pair sheet. Enter a display name and the physical pixel count. Keep PrintHive hosted MQTT selected as the broker.
  2. Select Add display. The display's Setup tab opens. Select Pairing, then Generate pairing token.
  3. Open /printhive-display on the controller from the same subnet and paste the token.
  4. Wait for the display's Health tab to show controller health and capabilities.

The token expires after ten minutes and works once. Pairing creates the Display Binding: the connection and binding epoch that scope the display's MQTT topics and credentials.

Step 3: Assign pixels to Printers

  1. Open Settings, then Displays, and select your display's strip on the rack elevation. The strip shows one puck per pixel above the Printer tiles.
  2. Drag each puck onto its Printer tile. Each drop saves the draft, and the tile shows a px badge for each bound pixel.
  3. To confirm a physical position, select a puck and use the identify badge on it to flash that pixel.
  4. Leave unused pixels unbound. Unbound pixels stay off.
  5. If the strip is not a single line, set its wiring under the display's Setup tab, Settings, Physical layout.

Step 4: Test and publish the mapping

  1. Open the display's Setup tab, select Test and publish, then Run full setup test. Wait for the color, walk, and off phases and the controller's test receipt.
  2. Select Record confirmation, then Publish draft.
  3. Open Setup → Settings and select Enable live feed.

Step 5: Publish the default signal profile

A signal profile binds the nine display statuses to Signal Patterns. The display renders the patterns locally; Print Hive sends one complete compiled profile in a single retained MQTT message.

  1. Open the Profile tab and create a profile. The new draft starts from the default palette: solid green for printing, off for idle, steady white with green attention for completion, and a pixel-1 white diagnostic for a stale feed.
  2. Select Publish. Publish creates an immutable Signal Profile Revision. It does not change any display by itself.
  3. Assign the revision to your display. This creates a Profile Activation with the next generation.
  4. Open the Sync tab. The activation shows sync_pending until the controller installs the profile and returns a receipt, then device_applied.

If the assignment reports signal_profile_capability_missing, the controller did not advertise signal profile support. Install the current firmware download and pair again.

Step 6: See live status

Print Hive publishes a complete snapshot every ten seconds. Each mapped pixel renders its Printer's status through the active profile: solid green while a Printer prints, off while it is idle, and the completion treatment for sixty seconds after a print completes.

To see the feed-stale output, stop Printer telemetry for a mapped Printer. When source evidence expires, the display applies the profile's stale mode. The default mode renders a white program on logical pixel 1 and turns the other pixels off.

What you learned

  • Pairing creates a Display Binding with its own broker ACLs.
  • Pixel mapping is a Display Configuration; it is independent of profiles.
  • A draft becomes an immutable revision on publish.
  • A Profile Activation is desired state. The controller's receipt makes it device_applied.

Next: configure a custom palette, change the stale-data behavior, or read the signal profile reference.