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'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

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Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#31

Post by the_af »

_zoltan_ wrote: post #20
sen wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve owned half a dozen printers (Prusa, Bambu, and Creality) and help manage a hackerspace with a print farm of mixed brands, and I won’t personally touch any brand other than Prusa now for actually getting prints done. There’s plenty of other printers that can do the same or better and/or cheaper if you want “building and managing the printer” to be half the hobby, which is a totally fair thing and can be lots of f…

building and managing a printer is far from a hobby. it's like the Linux desktop people who just fight with their system instead of enjoying MacOS.

We Linux desktop people aren't fighting our desktop anymore. Everything just works and it has for some years now. Linux with Steam + Proton is a better gaming platform than MacOS, by the way.

The Year of the Linux Desktop arrived a while ago and nobody noticed :)

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#32

Post by DoctorOetker »

tdeck wrote: post #11

It's sort of ironic that all the money going to "teach Bambu a lesson" is ultimately defending a guy who is building free tooling that specifically adds value to the Bambu platform. In a sense they win either way.

I think more desirable would be to develop a FOSS server-side stack so people can self-host or use Western cloud alternatives.

It's nice to have pinky promise that BambuLabs cloud service doesn't keep copies of your model files, potentially keeps track of print frequencies (is this a prototype or a finished design?), ... it's easy to assume they wouldn't know what that jig you designed for work is for, but if they collect or buy sufficient data with public databases (where was the printer shipped? what business is registered in this location?); its probably very easy to follow and steal jigs / tooling designs / ... and to organize identification of its use by sector.

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#33

Post by microtonal »

syntaxing wrote: post #3

Serious question, I have a Bambulab printer now. What is a good next printer option? Prusa is way too expensive without a decent AMS alternative. Flashforge is doing some sketchy stuff with their maker site + AI. Is Creality or QIDI the best next options?

I think the answer is still Prusa. It's mostly Chinese companies undercutting Prusa's price and they probably care as little about free software licenses and users as Bambu.

I saw this mess coming from miles ahead (and it will repeat itself), so when it was time to replace our Ender 3v2, I got a Prusa printer. Yes, it was much more expensive than Bambu, but at some point we have to put our money where our mouth is. We cannot talk all the time about open source, consumer friendliness, the right to repair, etc. and then reward companies that don't give a shit about it. So our money went to Prusa.

It's a great printer too!

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#34

Post by the_af »

justinclift wrote: post #13
tdeck wrote: post #11

It's sort of ironic that all the money going to "teach Bambu a lesson" is ultimately defending a guy who is building free tooling that specifically adds value to the Bambu platform. In a sense they win either way.

On one hand, sure. On the other hand, it seems Bambu Lab's intentions are to lock down their ecosystem and extract rent (ala HP and printer ink). So, if the Vizio case works out for OSS licenses, then Bambu Lab's likely won't be able to lock things down in the way they're intending (unless they expend significant effort to rewrite code). That'd "stop" them from winning in the way they'd like, to the benefit of the wi…

Extract rent how? Mandatory paid subscription?

I cannot see the future but I believe this fear is unsubstantiated.

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#35

Post by victor_z »

_zoltan_ wrote: post #20
sen wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve owned half a dozen printers (Prusa, Bambu, and Creality) and help manage a hackerspace with a print farm of mixed brands, and I won’t personally touch any brand other than Prusa now for actually getting prints done. There’s plenty of other printers that can do the same or better and/or cheaper if you want “building and managing the printer” to be half the hobby, which is a totally fair thing and can be lots of f…

building and managing a printer is far from a hobby. it's like the Linux desktop people who just fight with their system instead of enjoying MacOS.

If this isn't trigger bait, I don't know what is.

I don't know the last time you used Linux, but I've used it as my main OS for almost 20 years and have never really felt like I was "fighting" it. My system has always done exactly what I told it to do.

I also used Mac OS and macOS on and off for probably 20 years as well, and it freaking sucks in many ways. _That's_ where I feel like I'm fighting the system. And I grew up with it.

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#36

Post by Asmod4n »

silisili wrote: post #25

I'm not in the community, so I'm taking this article at face value. If I read correctly, he made software that possibly exploited a security gap, they asked him to remove it, then he demanded free hardware. They said no, and the conversation turned sour. Why is everyone mad at them? I'm not blaming either side, but it sounds like a rather typical failed negotiation.

He just copied their AGPL licensed code, they send the DMCA notice because he didn’t change their user agent string.

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#37

Post by VorpalWay »

IdiotSavage wrote: post #27

I have a problem: I'm in the market for a new 3D printer. My old Ultimaker 2 is still going strong, but it's from a different generation and doesn't fit my needs anymore. Looking purely at features, I really want a Bambu Lab X2D. However I hate what that company is doing, don't want to give them my money and don't want to lock myself into their increasingly locked down ecosystem. Features I want: - 2 nozzles (print p…

You didn't specify a price range, but a Prusa Core One with INDX, or a Prusa XL could work if you aren't price sensitive.

I have heard good things about the Snapmaker U1 that just released, though apparently the slicer software isn't quite there yet, but you could just run stock OrcaSlicer instead.

Time will tell how reliable and more importantly serviceable the Snapmaker is. Prusas are renowned for both of those.

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#38

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

the_af wrote: post #31
_zoltan_ wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

building and managing a printer is far from a hobby. it's like the Linux desktop people who just fight with their system instead of enjoying MacOS.

We Linux desktop people aren't fighting our desktop anymore. Everything just works and it has for some years now. Linux with Steam + Proton is a better gaming platform than MacOS, by the way. The Year of the Linux Desktop arrived a while ago and nobody noticed :)

Well, you can choose to fight your OS (said with love from a Gentoo and NixOS user). You just don't have to:)

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#39

Post by DoctorOetker »

silversmith wrote: post #12
sen wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve owned half a dozen printers (Prusa, Bambu, and Creality) and help manage a hackerspace with a print farm of mixed brands, and I won’t personally touch any brand other than Prusa now for actually getting prints done. There’s plenty of other printers that can do the same or better and/or cheaper if you want “building and managing the printer” to be half the hobby, which is a totally fair thing and can be lots of f…

That used to be the case. Less so now - the Chinese brands tend to work right out of the box. I run an Elegoo Centauri Carbon ar home, and the building and managing process was unscrewing couple transport bolts and clicking "self calibrate" button. From what I've seen, Creality is the same way now too. Yes, the old Ender 3 I used to have demanded attention every other print. But it's not the norm now. I'm sure Prusa…

do these alternatives all share the same pattern of providing cloud services like BambuLabs?

Re: 'Fuck you, Bambu': How one private message could change the face of 3D printing

#40

Post by VorpalWay »

syntaxing wrote: post #3

Serious question, I have a Bambulab printer now. What is a good next printer option? Prusa is way too expensive without a decent AMS alternative. Flashforge is doing some sketchy stuff with their maker site + AI. Is Creality or QIDI the best next options?

The thing is, a Prusa will last way longer, and when something breaks it is fully serviceable. All the cheap Chinese brands are at best only partially serviceable. Just the other day I saw a post about a BambuLabs X1C that had to be thrown out because of a pully that was worn out and not replaceable.

Snapmaker (also Chinese) seem to be doing things better at the moment, but only time will tell how the serviceability is.

For me personally, the only viable choices today would be a Prusa Core One (possibly with INDX for multi-material, I don't care about MMU/AMS, those are just for multi-colour and with a lot of waste) or a Voron 2.4. My Prusa Mk3.9s bedslinger is still going strong though, and I don't expect to replace it any time soon.

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