Your Panda Touch is in a drawer. Give it every printer you own.
A free, open-source firmware that turns the BIGTREETECH Panda Touch and K-Touch
into one live touchscreen for Bambu Lab, Creality, Elegoo, Anycubic, Snapmaker,
FlashForge, Prusa, and any Klipper or OctoPrint 3D printer. No soldering, no computer.
Why · Screens · Printers · Compare · Install · Questions · Build it yourself
BIGTREETECH sells one little 5" touchscreen under two names: the Panda Touch, made for Bambu Lab printers, and the K-Touch, made for Klipper printers. Same board, two firmwares, each tied to one family of machines. Change printer, and the screen goes into a drawer.
Tiger Touch is a new firmware for that same screen, written from scratch. It signs in to your free TigerTag account, finds every printer you declared there, and talks to each one directly, over its own protocol, at the same time. The Panda Touch becomes a Bambu Lab touchscreen and an Elegoo touchscreen and an Anycubic, Creality, Snapmaker, FlashForge and Prusa touchscreen, all at once. Your K-Touch keeps showing your Klipper printers, and the Bambu Lab next to them.
Nothing to solder, nothing to print, no Raspberry Pi, no computer left on, no server in between: you plug the screen into a USB port, press Install in your browser, and two minutes later it shows your printers.
Upcycling, not e-waste. If you own a Panda Touch or a K-Touch that no longer matches your printers, it is the hardware Tiger Touch was made for.
| 🖨️ Every brand on one screen | Bambu Lab, Creality, Elegoo, Anycubic, Snapmaker, FlashForge, Prusa, plus any Klipper (Moonraker) or OctoPrint machine. Tiger Studio's printer catalogue lists close to 400 models from about 60 makers. |
| ☁️ Cloud and LAN | Bambu Lab through the Bambu cloud or in LAN mode; Anycubic through the Anycubic cloud; the others on your local network. |
| 🔌 Plug and play | Printers come from your TigerTag account, with their addresses and access codes. Nothing to type on the screen but your Wi-Fi. |
| 📊 Live, all of them | State, progress, file, time left and end time, nozzles, bed, chamber, filament units (AMS, CFS, Station, ACE, MMU / AFC lanes), up to ten printers followed at once. |
| ✋ Safe controls | Pause, resume, stop (a 1.5 s hold, so a stray finger never ends a print) and the printer's light. Nothing else is ever sent: no heating, no moving. |
| 🔄 Updates itself | New versions arrive over Wi-Fi, verified before install, rolled back by themselves if they fail to start. |
| 🌍 Eleven languages | English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Polish, Russian, Dutch. |
| 💸 Free and open source | MIT licensed. No subscription, no account fee, no cloud of ours between you and your printers. |
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| Cards: one live card per printer, slide for more. | List: every printer at a glance. One touch switches view. |
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| Snapmaker U1: four tool heads, the active one ringed. | FlashForge AD5X: external spool and material station. |
Real printers, read live by Tiger Touch; for these pictures their progress, file names and times were filled in by a bench build, since they were idle.
Tiger Touch picks the connection from the brand, not the model: any printer of these families that Tiger Studio can add, Tiger Touch can show. Tiger Studio's catalogue counts about 380 models from about 60 makers.
| Brand | Connection | Seen on a real machine |
|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab (X1, P1, P2S, A1, H2...) | Bambu cloud, or LAN (MQTT over TLS) | Yes: printing through the cloud (P2S), idle in LAN mode (X1C, A1) |
| Creality (K2, K1, Hi, Ender-3 V4...) | WebSocket on the LAN | Yes: printing (K2), idle with its CFS (Ender-3 V4) |
| Snapmaker U1 | Moonraker WebSocket | Yes: idle, four tool heads |
| FlashForge (AD5X, Adventurer 5M, Creator 5) | HTTP on the LAN | Yes: idle (AD5X) |
| Anycubic (Kobra 3, Kobra X, Kobra S1...) | Anycubic cloud, or LAN (MQTT over TLS) | Yes: idle through the cloud (Kobra X), with its ACE |
| Elegoo Centauri Carbon 1 and 2 | MQTT (CC2), SDCP (CC1) | Not yet |
| Prusa (MK4, Core One, XL, MINI) | PrusaLink | Not yet |
| Klipper: Voron, Qidi, Sovol, RatRig... | Moonraker HTTP | Against Tiger Studio's test printer only |
| OctoPrint: any Marlin printer behind it | OctoPrint REST API | Against Tiger Studio's test printer only |
"Not yet" means written from the maker's protocol and compiled, never run on that machine: a report from your printer is the most useful thing you can send. Pause, resume and stop work wherever the connection takes commands (not through the Bambu or Anycubic cloud); the light works everywhere except Prusa, OctoPrint and the Centauri Carbon 1. Every field and every test: docs/PRINTER-COMPATIBILITY.md.
A printer shows "offline"? Check its LAN mode first: it is off by default on Creality, FlashForge and Bambu Lab.
Tiger Touch speaks each maker's own protocol - Bambu Lab, Creality, Elegoo, Anycubic, Snapmaker, FlashForge, Prusa - plus Klipper and OctoPrint, all on the same screen, live, at the same time. The firmwares the screen ships with each know one family of printers.
| Tiger Touch | Panda Touch firmware | K-Touch firmware | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Printer families on one screen | 9 | 1 (Bambu Lab) | 1 (Klipper) |
| Printers live at once | up to 10, all updating together | several Bambu Lab, slows down from about 3 in our use | 1 at a time (50 saved, switch between them) |
| Bambu Lab: LAN and Bambu cloud | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Anycubic: Anycubic cloud and LAN | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Creality K1 / K2 / Hi / Ender-3 V4 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Elegoo Centauri Carbon 1 and 2 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Snapmaker U1 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| FlashForge AD5X / Adventurer 5M / Creator 5 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Prusa (PrusaLink) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Klipper (Moonraker) | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| OctoPrint | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Printers set up without typing on the screen | ✅ from your TigerTag account | ❌ IP, serial, access code | ❌ IP and port, or a scan |
| Filament units shown (AMS, CFS, Station, ACE, MMU / AFC) | ✅ every brand | ✅ AMS | - |
| Over-the-air updates: the screen finds new versions and installs them itself, verified, with automatic roll-back | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Eleven languages, time zone from your country | ✅ | - | - |
| Free and open source (MIT) | ✅ | - | - |
What each one sends to a printer: Tiger Touch pauses, resumes, stops (with a 1.5 s hold) and switches the light, and nothing else, on purpose: a stray touch on a shared screen never heats, moves or starts anything. BIGTREETECH's firmwares give full control of their one family (starting prints, temperatures, moves), and you can go back to them at any time (docs/INSTALL.md).
| Protocols | Tiger Touch | Panda Touch firmware | K-Touch firmware |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab | MQTT over TLS on the LAN (access code), or the Bambu cloud broker | LAN (access code), or Bambu cloud with two-factor sign-in off | - |
| Anycubic | Anycubic cloud (MQTT, mutual TLS), or MQTT over TLS on the LAN | - | - |
| Creality | WebSocket | - | - |
| Elegoo | MQTT (CC2), SDCP (CC1) | - | - |
| Snapmaker | Moonraker WebSocket | - | - |
| FlashForge | HTTP | - | - |
| Prusa | PrusaLink HTTP | - | - |
| Klipper | Moonraker HTTP | - | Klipper over Wi-Fi (port 7125) |
| OctoPrint | OctoPrint REST API | - | - |
Panda Touch and K-Touch: features from BIGTREETECH's wiki (Panda Touch, K-Touch, read 2026-10-16), which publishes no limit on how many Bambu Lab printers the Panda Touch follows; "slows down from about 3" is the TigerTag team's own experience with it, not a BIGTREETECH figure. A dash means the wiki does not say. A ✅ for Tiger Touch means supported; which brands have already run on a real machine is in Printers. Tiger Touch's figures are measured on the board: docs/CONNECTION-BUDGET.md, docs/HARDWARE.md.
Tiger Touch reads your printers from your TigerTag account, so it never asks for an address or an access code on a 5" screen. Create the account and add your printers in Tiger Studio Manager, the free desktop app of the ecosystem (Windows, macOS, Linux): it finds them on your network.
- Open https://tigertag-project.github.io/Tiger-Touch/ in Chrome or Edge on a computer (WebSerial: not Safari, not Firefox, not a phone).
- Plug the Panda Touch or K-Touch in with a USB-C cable, press Install and pick its serial port.
- Replacing the BIGTREETECH firmware: tick Erase device. Updating a Tiger Touch over USB: leave it unticked, your Wi-Fi and account are kept.
First time? docs/INSTALL.md covers the USB driver (required on macOS), keeping a copy of the BIGTREETECH firmware so you can go back, and the one box to tick.
Language, Wi-Fi, then your TigerTag account: e-mail and password, or Continue with Google with a QR code scanned by your phone (docs/ONBOARDING.md). Switch on the printers you want to follow, and that is it. Later is always an answer: the device starts at once and connects in the background.
Nothing to do. The device checks once a day and shows a new version in Settings > Update; two touches install it, verified first, with your Wi-Fi and account kept (docs/OTA.md).
Is Tiger Touch an alternative firmware for the BIGTREETECH Panda Touch? Yes. It replaces the stock Panda Touch firmware with a new one that works with every brand listed above, not only Bambu Lab. You can go back to the BIGTREETECH firmware at any time (docs/INSTALL.md).
Does it run on the BIGTREETECH K-Touch? The K-Touch is the same board as the Panda Touch with a Klipper firmware, so the same Tiger Touch image is meant for it. Tiger Touch has been run on a Panda Touch only so far: a report from a K-Touch is welcome.
Can a Panda Touch show an Elegoo, Anycubic, Creality, Snapmaker, FlashForge or Prusa printer? With Tiger Touch, yes, side by side with your Bambu Lab printers, and with any Klipper or OctoPrint machine.
Does it work with the Bambu Lab cloud? With the Anycubic cloud? Yes, both. Bambu Lab printers can be followed through the Bambu cloud or in LAN mode, Anycubic printers through the Anycubic cloud or on the LAN, using the sessions your TigerTag account already holds.
Is it free? Yes, MIT licensed, with no subscription. The TigerTag account and Tiger Studio Manager are free too.
Do I need a computer or a Raspberry Pi running next to it? No. A computer is only needed once, to flash the screen from the browser.
Do I need to open, solder or wire anything? No. The screen stays exactly as BIGTREETECH made it.
Can it start a print or heat my printer? No, on purpose. It pauses, resumes, stops (with a hold) and switches the light, nothing else.
Tiger Touch is part of TigerSystem, the open ecosystem built around TigerTag, the open-source RFID (NFC) standard for 3D-printing filament: a small chip on every spool, one free account, and tools that all read the same inventory and the same printers, whatever their brand. That is why one screen can follow a Bambu Lab, an Elegoo and a Klipper printer at once: the account already knows them all.
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Tiger Studio Manager - mission control for your filament and your printers. Start here: the account is created there, and the printers Tiger Touch shows are added with the desktop app (Windows, macOS, Linux), which finds them on your network; the web version cannot add printers. TigerTag RFID Connect - the iOS and Android app: tap a spool with your phone (NFC) to read it, write a chip, carry your inventory. App Store · Google Play |
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TigerPOD Mini - a spool scanner for your desk that you print yourself: put a spool down and it opens in Tiger Studio; put a blank chip down and it is written. Compact, quick to print, cables routed inside, and it reads and writes TigerTag and OpenSpool chips. Free on MakerWorld. |
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TigerScale V3 - how much filament is left? Put the spool on this open-source ESP32 scale: the chip says what it is, the load cell says how many grams, and your inventory knows. |
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TigerSpool - a small box beside the printer: pick a slot, hold a spool against it, and the filament is written into that slot, on any brand of printer. |
- TigerTag-RFID-Guide - the open RFID standard: the chip format and the public registry
- TigerSystem-Docs - the whole ecosystem, explained
The BIGTREETECH Panda Touch and K-Touch are designed and made by BIGTREETECH (BIQU): a 5" 800x480 IPS touchscreen around an ESP32-S3 with 8 MB of PSRAM and 16 MB of flash, Wi-Fi, USB-C and a battery. Tiger Touch runs on it unmodified, and builds on the board support BIGTREETECH published for it under the MIT license. Thank you to them for making open hardware support possible. Pins, timings and the details that bite: docs/HARDWARE.md.
Tiger Touch is an independent project, not made or endorsed by BIGTREETECH, BIQU, or any printer maker named here.
ESP-IDF 5.5 and the screen's USB cable:
. $IDF_PATH/export.sh
bash scripts/build.sh
bash scripts/flash.sh /dev/ttyUSB0 # COM10 on Windows; keeps Wi-Fi and accountOr with no local toolchain, in Espressif's container:
docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/project -w /project/firmware espressif/idf:release-v5.5 idf.py buildflash.sh writes each part at its own offset at 115200 baud (the CH340K loses
bytes faster, on some hosts). Never write a merged image at 0x0: it covers the
settings area and wipes the saved Wi-Fi and account.
| docs/PRINTER-COMPATIBILITY.md | Every driver, every field, what has been seen on a real machine |
| docs/INSTALL.md | Replacing the BIGTREETECH firmware, the macOS driver, building and flashing yourself, going back |
| docs/ONBOARDING.md | The first start, screen by screen, and the reminders |
| docs/ACCOUNT-PAIRING.md | E-mail and password, the Google sign-in by QR, and what the device writes to the account |
| docs/OTA.md | The flash layout, the update path, what is checked and what is not |
| docs/ARCHITECTURE.md | The tasks, the drivers, and why no screen knows which brand is behind it |
| docs/CONNECTION-BUDGET.md | How many printers at once, and the measured price of each connection |
| docs/HARDWARE.md | The board as this firmware uses it, and how fast it draws |
| docs/ROADMAP.md | What is deliberately not done yet, and why |
| CHANGELOG.md | Every version |
| CLAUDE.md · AGENTS.md · CODEMAP.md · llms.txt | For people and tools working on the code |
TigerSystem is a personal, community open-source project, built and maintained in free time. Everything stays free; if it saves you a trip to the printer room, you can support it:
- ☕ Buy Me a Coffee
- ❤️ Ko-fi
- 💙 PayPal
Issues and pull requests are welcome - reports from printers that are "not yet"
in the table above most of all. CONTRIBUTING.md has the
conventions; the short version is that bash scripts/verify.sh passes before
anything is reported done, and everything committed is in English.
Security reports: SECURITY.md. Credits: AUTHORS.md.
MIT - build it, sell it, fork it.
Third-party components keep their own licenses: THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md. Brand names and logos belong to their owners and are used only to say which printers and which screen Tiger Touch works with; "TigerTag" and "Tiger Touch" are project names, not an endorsement: TRADEMARK.md.
Keywords: Panda Touch firmware, BTT Panda Touch alternative firmware, K-Touch firmware, BIGTREETECH touchscreen, Bambu Lab touchscreen, Bambu cloud, Anycubic cloud, Elegoo Centauri Carbon screen, Creality K2 monitor, Snapmaker U1, FlashForge AD5X, Klipper touchscreen, OctoPrint touchscreen, multi-printer 3D printer dashboard, ESP32-S3, open source, upcycling.