3D printer manufacturer Bambu Lab’s newest firmware update for its A- and P-Series 3D printers has ignited backlash within the 3D printing community, with critics accusing the company of reinforcing i
I’ve set my P1S to print through LAN and it works fine. I don’t want or need to use an app to control the printer so I’m not concerned by that loss of functionality. IMO printing via LAN makes more sense anyway for most users. Having to upload some multiple megabyte file to the cloud just to download it back down to a machine you’re sitting beside makes no sense.
I like Bambulabs hardware but I don’t get their obsession with locking down the firmware. Ultimately it’s just a 3d printer that takes an STL and prints it. There is very limited IP in a firmware that needs protection or that couldn’t be figured out by monitoring the I2C or whatever protocol it uses to send instructions to various systems like AMS, camera, printer board etc. Somebody could reverse engineer it already and all this controversy just makes it more likely that someone will.
I mean, I kinda understand where they are coming from. I don’t agree with their implementation though.
Why add this? Public/unsecured/shared wifi. The moment someone is on the same network, they had full access to the printer. Yeah, technically the fault of the end user, but I can understand them not wanting the potential hate for it.
But in reality, all they needed to do was add a proper local API with full access behind a login/token system. It would suck in the short term as all previous tools would break, but it would solve both problems.
I’ve set my P1S to print through LAN and it works fine. I don’t want or need to use an app to control the printer so I’m not concerned by that loss of functionality. IMO printing via LAN makes more sense anyway for most users. Having to upload some multiple megabyte file to the cloud just to download it back down to a machine you’re sitting beside makes no sense.
I like Bambulabs hardware but I don’t get their obsession with locking down the firmware. Ultimately it’s just a 3d printer that takes an STL and prints it. There is very limited IP in a firmware that needs protection or that couldn’t be figured out by monitoring the I2C or whatever protocol it uses to send instructions to various systems like AMS, camera, printer board etc. Somebody could reverse engineer it already and all this controversy just makes it more likely that someone will.
I mean, I kinda understand where they are coming from. I don’t agree with their implementation though.
Why add this? Public/unsecured/shared wifi. The moment someone is on the same network, they had full access to the printer. Yeah, technically the fault of the end user, but I can understand them not wanting the potential hate for it.
But in reality, all they needed to do was add a proper local API with full access behind a login/token system. It would suck in the short term as all previous tools would break, but it would solve both problems.