Bambu Lab vs. The Competition! - Making Awesome 166
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Just this past week on the 14th of December @BambuLab released their latest printer, the A1. A sized up A1 Mini with aggressive pricing. It fits into an odd ...

Apparently some group has broken Bambus encryption.

Apparently, as he claims, the logs reveal not only (further) licensing issues with Bambu, they also apparently send the complete Model you want to print to Bambu, which would be a huge issue for any companies using them.

What do you think?
Anyone ever checked on the size of the logs? Does it make sense that they actually send the whole Model?

/e: clarification, apparently the logs do not get sent to bambu by default on every print (even while in LAN-Mode) as it can be understood here, but all of this info is in the logs you can manually choose to send to Bambu (i.e. in the case of an issue with a print(/er) bambu is reasonably likely to ask for this).

  • AnonStoleMyPants@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    7·
    6 months ago

    Yeah after reading about this I feel like this is nothing. Is it weird that the logs include stuff like sensor data of your printer? Or that they send the model? Isn’t that the entire point of the help function and logging.

    The open-source copyright violations are an issue though, should those be factual.

    • TheYang@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      I don’t think it’s necesarrily nothing, as sending all of that data is so comprehensive it should be communicated clearly by bambu, and it seems (but I don’t know!) That it isn’t.
      Sometimes you might want/need help and don’t want to send everything.

      For a lot of stuff partial gcode / sensor data around the issue should suffice for example.

      But it sounded way worse before the clarification, when I understood that it was sending those logs all the time.

      The open source license issues will be interesting, but probably irrelevant. We already can be rather sure that they already are in violation with BambuStudio and no one wants to spend the money to do anything about it.

      • AnonStoleMyPants@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Sure yes I agree that it is shady and weird that they just don’t say what data is being sent. Not really sure why they don’t.

        It’s not that the data being sent is like too much or too in detail (though maybe WiFi ssid is unnecessary), it’s just that the company is weirdly not being upfront about this.

  • ERPAdvocate@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    7·
    6 months ago

    Man you guys think this is bad? My partner bought a Cricut because they thought it would be good for quilting (fancy vinyl cutter) and its a locked down nightmare.

    Proprietary software with no alternative, cloud upload required to print anything, even over USB connection… Oh and repair-ability, total nightmare with very little access to replacement parts, with Cricut regularly bricking older models as they reach EoL.

    Sorry rant over lol

    • charles@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      6 months ago

      As much as I love the projects I’m able to make with my Cricut, I know I won’t be getting another one when it eventually dies. Cricut’s software and approach to the customers is so awful.

      Wish I’d heard about Silhouette before getting my machine but I’ve definitely learned my lesson now.

      • Cris@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        6 months ago

        Thanks for mentioning silhouette, I’ll keep them in mind if I ever decide a vinyl cutter is something I ought to get :)

      • DoomBot5@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        6 months ago

        Clarification says it still logs, but doesn’t send off the logs in LAN only mode.

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zipEnglish
          61·
          6 months ago

          Sure, and we can also just not use the heated printhead and only print using spaghetti.

          Some people want to use network capabilities, but not if they always phone home.

  • arc@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    I have a P1S and I don’t really follow why it is necessary at all to send prints off to the cloud. Yes, it could be useful if printer and PC / app are on separate networks. But if they’re on the same network then they should directly communicate.

    • TheYang@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      It’s not necessary.
      At best it’s because this way they don’t have to differentiate between networks, and make the system a bit easier for Bambi themselves.
      At worst they want to lock you into an ecosystem they want to build and steal a ton of models people make.

      • dual_sport_dork@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        And/or have the ability to tattle on users printing “naughty” items, once 3D printing technology inevitably starts getting regulated or banned by those types of people. You know which ones.

      • arc@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        I’m sure it’s easier for them in a sense. I write software to control cloud based devices that are not adjacent to the caller and they use message based comms. But it’s also an unnecessary overhead to upload a 70Mb file to the cloud and back down again. If I were writing this software I’d consider some shortcut mechanism where the send file action could be sent to the printer directly and only fallback to cloud if that was not possible. If for no other reason that saving myself money and general responsiveness. I’m sure it would be achievable by doing a UPnP scan of the local network and allowing the PC to talk to the printer if it possesses and sends an API key - much like Octoprint works. Also, local network probably helps for the camera which could just blast a feed out on UDP.

        I’m not sure it helps them “steal” models because they probably have 100,000s of models passing through their system every day. It would be a wall of noise and random junk. And these aren’t models in the CAD sense, but some STL meshes and print settings. It does give Bambu information about what filaments people are using and in what quantity, the frequency they print as well as geographic location. That might be useful for marketing. If a government was interested in a particular user, they could also see in retrospect what they were printing. e.g. if someone were printing gun parts then maybe there would be evidence of that in the cloud.

  • EmilieEvansEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    I inquired about what the Slicer’s log/crash reports contain, and BambuLab was unwilling or unable to say what data they collect. They only responded with buy the X1E … Spoiler: This model uses the exact same slicer/software I asked about…

    Until BambuLabs take privacy seriously and understand NDA implications you can’t use them for this type of printing.