J1s in Duplicate Mode; Remote access to Touchscreen?

Snapmaker J1/J1s
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With the holidays approaching, I am printing several items as gifts. I would like to use my J1 in Duplicate Mode to print 2 at once. Which I find I can do, but ONLY if I use the touchscreen. Which, is terrible.

My printer is in a detached garage, and my usual workflow is to slice my model with Cura, then upload the gcode to my Raspberry Pi, running Octoprint, which I can access/control using its web interface. The Pi connects to the J1 thru the USB-B port on the back.

I have already uncovered, and solved, issues with using dual extruders in this way. The gcode files print differently when they come in over the USB-B port, versus being started from the touchscreen. However, I have NOT been able to get ā€œDuplicate Modeā€ to work over the USB port. The same gcode, sent to the printer from Luban over wifi, and started from the touchscreen, correctly prints two copies at once.

So, the firmware clearly has ā€œDUAL_X_CARRIAGEā€ enabled, and the gcode includes ā€œM605 S2 X162 R0ā€ in the starting custom gcode, but, when sent over the rear USB port, only T0 prints.

SO, if I MUST use the touchscreen to start the prints, is there any way that I can access/control the touchscreen remotely? It seems as though there should be a web interface to do that, but I have not been able to find one. It is really unacceptable to have to walk out to the garage, in the rain, to press a button on the touchscreen to start the print.

Is there something Iā€™m missing, or is Snapmaker really THAT bad at user interface design?

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UPDATE: Today, for whatever reason, using Duplicate Mode thru Octoprint IS working. I didnā€™t change anything. Perhaps the position of the stars was wrong yesterday?

Anyway, sending ā€œM605 S2 R0 X162ā€, followed by ā€œG28ā€ causes the right extruder to move to the middle of the rail, and the left extruder to move to its parked position to the far left, over its wipe pad. I have just started a double print. Iā€™ll let you know how it goes.

I STILL think that SM should provide access to the touchscreen over a LAN, but itā€™s a little less urgent now.

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UPDATE: It seems that using Duplicate Mode thru the USB-B interface does work. I believe the ā€œtrickā€ is to start a duplicate mode print thru the touchscreen interface. After that, you can run additional duplicate mode print jobs thru the Octoprint, and have them work. I have not really tested this rigorously, but that is my suspicion.
In other news, user @jbot has started a thread about sideloading a VNC server on the touchscreen, and using it to control the J1 remotely: Printer malfunction and exploring touch screen android
I have not played with it yet, but it looks like just what I was asking for!

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Normal work flow would be to load the gcode over wifi with Luban to the device and start it remotely (Start gcode from Luban and after starting you could exit wifi connection).
One problem in this case is that the gcode is not in the memory of the printer for future prints.

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ā€œNormal work flowā€ be damned! Since reading @wombley and @jbotā€™s threads about accessing the touchscreen thru a keyboard, I am excited to explore this new found capability. Last night, I found a USB keyboard in my ā€œjunk drawerā€, plugged it in, and confirmed that I can, indeed, access the Android OS running on the touchscreen. Once I get home from work today, I plan to start playing around with it some more.

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good luck and keep us updated