8 ms·
I think what he's actually misinterpreted are complaints that the Mk4 controller board isn't open source. Prusa has long bragged about their hardware being ope
by commandar 3y ago
I think what he's actually misinterpreted are complaints that the Mk4 controller board isn't open source.
Prusa has long bragged about their hardware being open source and they've made an about face on that over the last couple of years.
- kiba 3y agoAre you talking about the xBuddy board? I haven't been able to find the repository on their github page. I took a look and found Adafruit reporting on it. If they're worried about cloning, I don't see how making it proprietary will prevent Prusa from being cloned.
- commandar 3y agoJo wrote an entire blogpost about it: https://blog.prusa3d.com/the-state-of-open-source-in-3d-printing-in-2023_76659/ https://blog.prusa3d.com/the-state-of-open-source-in-3d-prin... One of the big takeaways from this for me is that Jo doesn't really understand IP law. He talks about wanting a new license for open source hardware; the trouble with that is that a copyright license does not and cannot protect a hardware design. That's what patents do. That's not a defense of current IP law, just a statement on the reality of what it is.
- kiba 3y agoYeah. I read that blogpost. I don't think the hardware license protects him from Chinese cloners, scrupulous or unscrupulous. They're just very good at cloning and I don't think he has the funding or the legal resource to sue them into oblivion. Going non-free is going to lose him a lot of goodwill, just as what happened to makerbot.
- the_mitsuhiko 3y agoThe stated goals for that license also would not be open source any more.
- cmsj 3y agoAnd that is a fair complaint to make, since that is a change for Prusa, but that is not what was claimed by OP, Armin or the Reddit post linked to.