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Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

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Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#51
post #37
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

bait-and-switch? We, those who advocate for open source 3D printers, saw it coming from miles away. This has very very clearly been their plan all along, they themselves said as much (e.g. they are doing the "apple model"). They have been very transparent about this, yet people still fell for it.

Open source didn't compete on quality for price. I could pay 2k plus 40 hours of my time for a Voron or buy something that just works. I think Prusa only put out their CoreXY offering after they realized Bambu was eating their lunch. The Apple model works because people want to print rather than tinker.

Well Prusa was open and did compete.

But for 3D printers that worked out of the box under $1000, Prusa had no real competition itself.

The Mk3 came out in 2017 and I swear Prusa just sat on their laurels. I was a Mk3s+ owner (well, still am) and was pretty disappointed how little improved with the Mk4.

Bambu’s competition was Prusa and they clearly strived to improve over what Prusa had accomplished.

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#52
post #41

I personally think the outrage I've seen on this issue is generally not justified. In general people are just scared of change and on top of that are playing telephone on the details of the change, assuming the worst intentions from Bambu like they're trying to be the next HP. I have seen a lot of misinformation on this topic, and I think that in that sense it's a good idea to read the actual announcement details to…

I mean a reasonable ask would be why can't they push this off until all of that is taken care of?

I think to be fair to them that's literally what they're doing? They're just announcing it ahead of time while it's in beta so we all know about it.

"Starting January 17th, users will have access to the beta firmware"

"Launching first for X Series printers, with P and A Series updates planned for future release"

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#53
post #11
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The A1 mini was my first printer and it just works. Is there another brand that is idiot proof?

If you buy a Prusa in non-kit form, it's not any harder to unbox or operate, and more reliable, while generally achieving somewhat better results. Without phoning home and while maintaining the software Bambu forked theirs from. A recent review coming to a similar conclusion was Maker Muse' review of bedslingers. It's a channel I respect a lot, because he has over the years relentlessly disclosed emails of companies…

> it's not any harder to unbox or operate

I agree with this

> and more reliable

I emphatically disagree with this.

> while generally achieving somewhat better results

I agree with this.

I'd also like to add that my Prusa Mk3s+ is significantly slower than my P1S. Also, without the MMU it still cost more than my P1S with AMS. Choosing a Prusa is making a philosophical choice, because it's certainly not about convenience, speed, versatility (considering you need to buy a separate enclosure and pricey MMU), bed size, or price. It's a choice you make because you're okay with spending a lot more to support an open platform where you can flash your own firmware without voiding your warranty, not because you want a better experience.

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#54

Bambu should be working on scaling their consumables and customer service, it takes weeks to resolve any tickets, 8 days to a first response has been normal for them.

It’s kind of a joke they think they’re ready to roll out a print farm subscription when they can’t even keep basic filament in stock, or like you said even provide basic support. They’ve grown far too quickly.

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#55
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The A1 mini was my first printer and it just works. Is there another brand that is idiot proof?

Based on recommendations here a couple years ago I built a Prusa Mk3 from a kit (right before the mk4 came out). Building it took a while but I think was a worthwhile investment of my time and I think of it as a system I can understand rather than as a black box. I had a little bit of trouble with it maybe six months ago (repeatedly tripped offline during prints from a thermal issue) but Prusa's online support talked…

One thing to be said for Prusa is that their support is actually knowledgeable and experienced. You're not going to get a tier 1 support person who has never touched a printer and is just reading from a script.

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Security" on behalf of the user is a complete red herring. You can't print to my 2d printer or my 3d printer, but I can, with "any old device or application". Because they're on my network, not public on the internet.

I disagree. These devices can easily burn down people's homes if given bad G-code. Then they would be sued into the dirt for a security whole a mile wide. Looking at the changes this is about liability.

How is an electron app that just adds another step solving the problem? They should have just secured their api properly instead of using security as an excuse to cut out third party software that will get around an inevitable subscription.

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#57
post #37
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

bait-and-switch? We, those who advocate for open source 3D printers, saw it coming from miles away. This has very very clearly been their plan all along, they themselves said as much (e.g. they are doing the "apple model"). They have been very transparent about this, yet people still fell for it.

Open source didn't compete on quality for price. I could pay 2k plus 40 hours of my time for a Voron or buy something that just works. I think Prusa only put out their CoreXY offering after they realized Bambu was eating their lunch. The Apple model works because people want to print rather than tinker.

it just works until it doesn't

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1i548m9/this_is_p... Looks like it's not true?

I _think_ that's browsing the SD card from Bambu Studio when the printer's set to LAN Mode, not printing from SD on the printer itself.

Yeah this looks to be the case. All of this change was prompted by the fact that malicious software was triggering prints over the network. So now they have locked it down so the printer can verify prints came from the actual account owner.

Printing directly from SD cards via the little touch screen is unchanged since networked computers can’t do that.

Re: Reverse Engineering Bambu Connect

#60
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The A1 mini was my first printer and it just works. Is there another brand that is idiot proof?

I bought an A1 after years of fiddling with an Ender. It made 3D printing fun again. The whole situation reminds me of drones. DJI is (maybe) questionable but their products are without competition when you look at price and quality. Bambu products are also fantastic. On second thought TP-Link fits too. My TP-Link mesh network just works perfectly. So do their smart plugs.

I did the same- replaced an Ender with an A1. Unfortunately, I’ve had it 10 days and have yet to be able to print anything. Won’t calibrate and cannot update firmware. Seems like a commonly reported issue but tech support is still bumbling around with no useful suggestions. I foresee it going back.
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