Setting the Record Straight on Cloud Access and Community

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819

Bambu Studio is essentially Prusa Slicer, who in turn is essentially Slic3r…Without the last two, there would have never been a Bambu Studio.

Those who use (and praise) Bambu Studio seem to (willingly) discard and forget that Bambu got to use plenty of community’s open source stuff for free in order to get a Bambu Studio working, thus it had to give back in the same measure….

So where’s Bambu’s merit in all that, cause I don’t see any?

However, credit is due, and it should be given, to Bambu for rethinking the 3d printer and how it should work for the average consumer, as well as for coming up with the AMS, making them work really well together.

Also, credit (and merit) is due to Bambu for plenty other smaller things that combined have put Bambu’s name and printers on the global map, and built a reputation as real innovator in 3d printing industry. For this, “chapeau” to Bambu. Should Bambu have decided to do just that (innovate and sell) - even in a closed ecosystem-, everything would have been and worked out great … but Bambu didn’t want to stop there…as (greedily) it went to grab more than it could actually chew, starting from January last year … It tried to catch the tiger (open source community) by its tail, and shove it into its *walled cage (*that others refer to as Bambu’s “walled garden”), only to discover now that the tiger does have big teeth, and that it can turn around and bite.

820

Interesting you mention “trying to twist what they are saying to fit an argument“ when I and others have tried time and time again to explain that forging a user agent is a trivial thing, it’s not even a “modern internet” thing, it’s been like this for decades, I’m not saying it’s correct or ethic, but it’s the way it is and everyone (big players or your local joe) sort of silently agreed that it is acceptable.
Then again if we wanted to have that discussion it would be so easy to derail into topics like how old protocols such as HTTP/TCP weren’t initially designed for the way we use them today and are terrible in many things. It’s a pointless discussion and trying to argue the user agent thing is IMO (and clearly of others who are more experienced on the backend) pointless

821

This is strange because most of my previous printers, before Bambu, worked the same. Press print, forget about it and come back to a perfectly printed part. With the bonus that i never have to “fish” pieces of broken filament and the maintenance is made yearly, at best.

People have the wrong idea of printers before Bambu, to be honest. And i am not talking about brands that are well known, unless Artillery was one of them.

I said it before and i’ll say it again, i can post prints from my old, but still working everyday printer and also pictures from Bambu printers and i bet that no one will see a difference.

Bambu is great yes. But even on the software side they need tinkering, as i have proven before. I won’t even talk about the hardware side because these last iterations have been bonkers, compared to the X1C and P1S.

Anyway… back to cure my hangover because of the “ad hominem” that made me consume 2 whole bottles in these last 2 days while silently participating in the challenge posted previously :sweat_smile:

822

Once mine got past the first layer it would always print fine. (Cocoon create touch from Aldi). Main reason was a slightly warped bed. Which most printers after that solved with thicker beds and probes. I could also use any slicer with it.

823

To follow up on your comment - and this isn’t directed at you, just a follow-up:

I don’t understand why this is even being discussed in this thread. Whether you press one button, hundreds, or none at all doesn’t matter. This is just a distraction from the main topic of discussion. We all know that Bambu makes good hardware. Of course, the mobile app, for example, has reached many new customers. But this is simply about a possible licence violation and the cloud. Neither of these has anything to do with how often, where or which buttons you have to press. I think this is just a distraction from the topic. It’s obvious how this keeps getting thrown in to distract from the topic.

The only thing that really matters now is the licensing path from Slic3er to PrusaSlicer to BambuSlicer to OrcaSlicer.

Even what the developer had programmed has become pretty much irrelevant by now, because it turns out that wasn’t the root of the problem at all. It was the person who brought it up, but the problem has always existed, and Bambu had known about it since 2024. Not a good foundation for discussion.

Overall, I personally see only a two major issues:

  • License violation or not <= Will a court have to decide
  • Securing the cloud <= Bambu’s homework

Sure, we could keep talking about the developer, or about user_agent, or even how many buttons you can press - I’m part of those discussions too - but we’ve actually reached a dead end.

Even if GamersNexus - to name just one of many - were to release a video and launch a fundraising campaign right now, nothing would change for the time being. What is needed now, above all, is time.

My personal opinion: We should keep up the pressure on Bambu so that they really start thinking about how to get a handle on this topic. This is in everyone’s best interest - even the most die-hard Bambu fans - because improving a product, or in this case software & clud, benefits all customers.

I also hope that the competition takes a close look at this, because I’m sure they have the same problem - it’s just that no one is talking about it, except maybe SFC, which tends to fly a bit under the radar.

824

I must be thick and not getting something here. So I read from Youtubers and the likes that due to licensing Bambu shouldn’t complain about using access to their services the same way Bambu does due to open source.

Isn’t that the same if I would use an open source forum software, like myBB … So I create a fork, make changes, install on my web server and use a commercially available database software or maybe even my own propriatary software for the backend.

Now it seems that people would argue here that it would be totally ok and expected that people that downloaded myBB should also have access to my database software.

Surely that’s not right ? And as far as I know the network plugin and means to connect to Bambu’s server isn’t opensource ??

825

If they made a completely stand alone program that you use to send G-Code to their servers and then back to your printer, then it would be fine. They didn’t do that. They made a plugin that runs in conjunction with the open-source slicer, and that is the no-no here. As I understand it.

826

Exactly. BambuConnect which is exactly a separate app does not come into the question of AGPL complaince. Only the tightly integrated so-called plugin.

827

Why do you think it matters to Bambu and why does it matter to you? (And please don’t say because it matters to Bambu, nor is acting like and official app, for the reasons mentioned below)

In this sense I do not see this as impersonation. I would be more worried about the consequences of impersonation, take a read of CD-SEC-02: Account Impersonation | OWASP Foundation.

Think about it this way. Bambu authorises your printer, the printer has an ID. A print job is sent to the cloud and then back down to your printer. I would certainly hope that Bambu is verifying that the job is being sent to the correct printer. Bambu will know the job is intended for one of their printers, they know which one. I say they don’t really care what slicer string was passed apart from stats. It is certainly not about denial of service. See above link for why you never trust unsigned metadata. Every developer will know about what data you can trust and how to build that trust, I am betting even Bambu developers know this too.

828

Correct it is not right. What people are saying is that any software in the slicer on your machine should be open source, plus any software downloaded and executed in the slicer.

Once the print job makes it to the cloud, that is Bambu’s IP and is not under the slicers APGL license.

So what they are talking about is the cloud client plus other plugins downloaded that are used in slicing and sending to your printer/cloud.

Any access to Bambu’s cloud is controlled by them and their authentication processes.

From my perspective all I want is clarity in being able to use any slicer I want to send files locally to my printer without Bambu adding restrictions. (If forced to use a USB stick/SD card, that is not acceptable) Someone said recently they reinstalled the software with lan mode I think and had to transfer files using usb/SD card, hopefully I got that part correct and not misquoting.
I don’t really want to see lawsuits flying about.

The beauty of an opensource slicer is that Bambu benefit from past and future efforts and users benefit from any additions that Bambu add, win win. Plus when you want to use a slicer on a different printer, there is no big learning curve.

829

This is where my confusion starts. It appears that Bambu Lab does not want this and have made it pretty clear.

And then you make it pretty clear it is not about opensource issues it is about what you want. You want to be able to use a closed source slicer if you want.

I understand both sides of the real issue( which is not about opensource licenses) They want to build their business the way they want, and you want to do what ever you want with their machines even if it hurts their business.

830

rarity_faint

“Seek to tear bambu down” lolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the concept of responsibility for ones own actions being “tearing something down” lollllllllllllllllllll josh isn’t the only one drinking

831

200w

832

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“ad hominem"

833

Im banking all my “ad hominem” drinks for Saturday night.

What are we up to 9 Guinnesses now?

834

A couple replies are mixing my narrow point with broader claims I have not made, so I am going to answer those directly.

If the question is strictly AGPL compliance, none of our interpretations decide the outcome. A court or the parties involved would. You may have missed some of the earlier exchange, but AGPL is not what I was commenting on.

I cannot speak for Bambu.

Why it matters to me is simple. There is a difference between a compatible client and a client presenting itself as the official one. Even if Bambu’s validation is weak and should be fixed server-side, weak validation does not make that behavior appropriate.

This is not about whether it is technically possible or legally allowed. It is about whether it is appropriate. That is an ethical judgment, not a technical claim.

835

What, didn’t you get an invitation to the secret Anti-Bambu-Cult? Plans for a revolution? The task is to tear down Bambu? Folks often call us Replicants because we also use printers from other manufacturers.

However, we have to be careful - there are police officer, so-called Bambu-Runners, chasing us. They won’t tolerate any criticism of Bambu and are relentlessly hounding us.

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In case anyone doesn’t get it: It’s a joke.

836

Correction. They used to be their machines. Once I bought them, they became MY machines. I don’t care about their business.

837

I totally get that, But you bought a machine that does X when you wanted a machine that does Y, There are machines that do Y and that is what you should have bought. And then you want to say “I don’t care about Them” but I want them to care about me.

838

Sometimes people don’t see what they don’t want to see.