Display Screen hardware setup: tablet, TV, or Raspberry Pi kiosk (Print Farm Screen)

This guide takes you from nothing to a running wall display, whichever device you want to use - a tablet, a PC or smart TV, or a dedicated Raspberry Pi kiosk. It covers the least hardware you actually need, the pros and cons of each approach, a full Raspberry Pi setup with Raspberry Pi Imager, when a touchscreen is worth it, and how to keep an action-enabled screen secure. For what display screens are and how to configure what they show, see the main Display Screens guide.

In this guide

• Three ways to run a display screen
• The least hardware you need
• Option 1: a tablet
• Option 2: a PC, mini PC, or TV
• Option 3: a Raspberry Pi kiosk with SimplyPrint Display OS
• Flashing the Pi with Raspberry Pi Imager
• Setup codes vs the display URL
• Touchscreen or not
• NFC: keycards and filament tag writing
• One screen for every few printers
• Embed a screen in your dashboard
• Keep action-enabled screens secure
• Where to buy the hardware

Three ways to run a display screen

A display screen is just a live, read-only web page, so almost anything with a modern browser can show one. That gives you three practical ways to put a screen on the wall, from "use what you already own" to "build a clean, dedicated panel".

None of these ever logs in to SimplyPrint. Each screen has its own private link that authenticates the wall, so there's no account or password sitting on a public device.

The least hardware you need

The only real requirement is a device with a modern web browser. A screen is a web page, so the minimum is something you may already have on hand:

• a phone or tablet in a stand,
• a spare laptop or mini PC plugged into a monitor, or
• a smart TV with a built-in browser.

Open the screen's link, switch to full-screen, and you have a working status wall. You do not need a Raspberry Pi, special hardware, or anything installed on your printers. A Raspberry Pi is simply the cleanest way to run a permanent, dedicated display - it is never required.

Option 1: a tablet

A cheap Android tablet is the simplest all-in-one display: it is a screen, a computer, and a touch surface in one, with nothing to wire up. Mount it on a wall or stand it on a bench, open the screen's display URL in the browser, and you are done.

Pros

• Cheapest and fastest path - often a device you already own.
• Touch is built in, so on-screen actions work without extra hardware.
• No cables beyond power; easy to move around.

Cons

• It cannot use setup codes, so you copy the screen's display URL into the browser by hand.
• Smaller tablets show fewer printers at a glance than a big TV.
• Consumer tablets vary in how well they stay awake and run a browser full-screen all day.

Option 2: a PC, mini PC, or TV

Any computer with a browser works - a spare laptop, a mini PC behind a monitor, or a smart TV's built-in browser. This is the way to put a display on a large wall TV, or to reuse hardware you already have.

Pros

• Reuses existing kit; a big TV gives you a large, very glanceable wall.
• A mini PC behind a monitor is reliable for always-on use.

Cons

• It cannot use setup codes, so you open the screen's display URL in the browser directly.
• Touch actions only work if the screen itself is a touch monitor; most TVs are not touch.
• A full PC is more to manage than a Raspberry Pi running a purpose-built image.

To use this option, open the screen's display link (copy it from Settings > Display Screens) in the browser and switch to full-screen or kiosk mode.

Option 3: a Raspberry Pi kiosk with SimplyPrint Display OS

For a clean, dedicated, always-on panel, a Raspberry Pi running SimplyPrint Display OS is the nicest setup. SimplyPrint Display OS is a ready-made Raspberry Pi image: flash it, boot the Pi, and it goes straight to a pairing screen - nothing to install or configure, and it is the only option that supports quick setup-code pairing.

Which Raspberry Pi?

Pair the Pi with the official Raspberry Pi Touch Display for a compact all-in-one panel, or plug it into any HDMI monitor or TV. A Pi 4 or 5 uses micro-HDMI, so you will need a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable for an external monitor. A touchscreen is optional - see Touchscreen or not for what touch adds.

Download the image

• arm64 (recommended, for any current Pi): SimplyPrint Display OS arm64
• armhf (for older 32-bit Pis): SimplyPrint Display OS armhf

Flashing the Pi with Raspberry Pi Imager

You write the image to a microSD card with Raspberry Pi Imager, the free flashing tool from Raspberry Pi.

1. Download the SimplyPrint Display OS image above (arm64 for a current Pi). You do not need to unzip the .img.xz file.
2. Install Raspberry Pi Imager from raspberrypi.com/software, then insert your microSD card (8GB or larger) using a card reader.
3. Open Imager. Optionally click Choose device and select your Pi model.
4. Click Choose OS, scroll to the bottom to Use custom, and select the SimplyPrint Display OS file you downloaded.
5. Click Choose storage and select your microSD card. Double-check you picked the card and not another drive.
6. Click Next, then Write. Imager flashes and verifies the card, which takes a few minutes.
7. When it finishes, put the card into the Pi, connect your screen (with a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable if you are using an external monitor on a Pi 4 or 5), then plug in power.
8. The Pi boots straight into SimplyPrint Display OS. Choose your Wi-Fi network when prompted - you can change it later from the device, so it is easy to move a screen between rooms. It lands on a pairing screen.
9. Pair it with a setup code (next section), and the screen goes live.

Setup codes vs the display URL

Setup codes are a shortcut that only works with SimplyPrint Display OS. The Pi image boots into a pairing screen built for it, so you just type a short code like ABCD-EF23 and confirm - no long link to type on a touchscreen.

1. In Settings > Display Screens, create your screen and keep Put in setup mode after creating ticked, or pick Set up device on an existing screen.
2. You get a short code, valid for about an hour.
3. Type the code on the Pi and confirm. It shows the screen's name and printers, then switches to the live wall.

Any other device - a tablet, a PC, a smart TV, or even a Raspberry Pi running a different operating system - cannot use setup codes. Instead, you open the screen's full display link in the browser:

1. In Settings > Display Screens, find the screen in the list.
2. Copy its display URL, or open the live preview, from the URL column.
3. Paste it into the browser on your device and switch to full-screen or kiosk mode.

The link authenticates the screen on its own, so there is still no login either way.

Touchscreen or not

A touchscreen is never required. Plenty of farms run pure status walls on a regular TV or monitor, and that is a perfectly good setup. Touch matters when you want people to act on printers straight from the wall, with no login. With a touchscreen (and the matching actions enabled per screen), an operator can:

• Clear bed - mark a printer's bed as cleared.
• Restart / reprint last job - re-run the last job, optionally clearing the bed first.
• Refresh / sync spools - resync a printer's loaded spools.
• One-click print - start the next queued job on this screen's printers, or, with extra safeguards, across the whole account.
• Long-press a printer to open its popup, with print history and order tabs.

Every action is off by default and has to be turned on deliberately per screen. If you only want to look at status, skip touch entirely - a cheap non-touch monitor or TV is perfect, and there is nothing to secure.

NFC: keycards and filament tag writing

If you will use the screen's device for anything NFC - scanning a keycard to identify a user, or writing tags on the filament NFC writing screen - the device needs the right NFC support. There are three cases:

• Reading a tag's ID only (for example, identifying a user by a keycard) works with a simple USB scanner that uses keyboard emulation. It types the tag's ID like a keyboard, so it works on any device with nothing to install. It can only read the ID though - it cannot read tag data or write.
• Reading tag data and writing tags (for example, the filament NFC writing screen) needs more. The device's browser must support WebNFC (Chrome on Android), or you run the NFC Agent app.
• The NFC Agent is a small app for Linux, Windows, and Mac that connects USB NFC readers like the ACS ACR series for full read and write. See Desktop NFC: full read and write support via the NFC Agent app, or the NFC Agent on GitHub.

Here is what each device needs for full NFC read and write:

One screen for every few printers

A display screen does not have to show your whole farm. A common, very practical setup is one screen for every cluster of machines - roughly one screen per 4 to 8 printers - placed right next to them. An operator working that bench can see at a glance what is printing and its order number, clear a bed the second a print finishes, and start the next job, all from the wall without walking back to a computer.

Point each screen at a printer group, and it stays current automatically as printers move in and out of that group, so you never have to re-edit the wall when your layout changes.

Embed a screen in your dashboard

Display screens are the one part of SimplyPrint you can drop into an iframe. Because a screen is a self-authenticating web page, you can embed it in your own dashboard, intranet page, or digital-signage system and do whatever you like with it - sit it next to other panels, put it on a company TV channel, or build a fully custom wall. Use the screen's display URL as the iframe source.

Keep action-enabled screens secure

How much care a screen needs depends entirely on whether you have turned on actions.

• Read-only screens (status only) are low-risk. The worst case if the URL leaks is that someone can watch your printers. You do not have to guard these closely.
• Action-enabled screens are different. The moment you enable clear bed, restart, or one-click print, there is a real risk of someone else doing it - whether they got the link or just reached the screen.

If you enable any actions, lock the screen down:

• Add an IP allowlist so the screen only loads on your own network, for example your shop floor's public IP. There is a helper that fills in your current IP. The highest-risk action, one-click print across all printers, cannot even be turned on without an allowlist.
• Keep the display URL private. Do not share it, and do not embed an action-enabled screen on a public page or signage that anyone can reach.
• Secure the physical screen. Put it where only your team can touch it.
• Rotate the screen's key if a link ever gets out. The old URL stops working immediately, and any active setup code is cancelled.

If you do not need any of that, leave actions off and run a pure status wall - simple, and nothing to protect.

Where to buy the hardware

SimplyPrint has a built-in hardware picker, so you do not have to research parts. In Settings > Display Screens, open the getting-started guide and click Browse recommended hardware. It lists our picks - a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, compact touchscreens, budget Android tablets, the official power supply, a microSD card, and a micro-HDMI cable - each with a direct buy link. There is also a one-click complete kit: a single Amazon list with everything for one display, ready to add to your cart.

Quick links:

• Get a Raspberry Pi
• The complete display screen kit (Amazon list)

Related articles

• Display Screens (the Print Farm Screen): live printer status walls
• The Hub: a shared printer screen for makerspaces, schools and farms
• AutoPrint: put your 3D printer on autopilot
• Group, move, sort and arrange printers in the "Printers" panel (Printer Groups feature)

Updated on: 26/06/2026