10 ms·

Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers

671 points by Murfalo 4mo ago

murphy1312 4mo ago
Just make sure never, ever to buy from them again. It's the same story as Synology with their forced reliance on specific hard drives. As long as there are still other providers out there...
- system2 4mo ago
  Synology works with any hard drive. I bought a new unit and installed WD drives in it. No issues.
  - fenykep 4mo ago
    They did revert this because of public backlash: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/synology-caves-walks-back-some-drive-restrictions-on-upcoming-nas-models/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/synology-caves-walks...
  - RIMR 4mo ago
    The point is that Synology tried to vendor-lock their customers for profit, and even though they didn't follow through, they told us what they stand for, and it is now considered ill-advised to buy their hardware because of that.
    - system2 4mo ago
      We tried nearly all vendors, nothing is as polished as their Ui and software.
neo_tang 4mo ago
[dead]
mrdoosun 4mo ago
[flagged]
- happyopossum 4mo ago
  > whether users can keep using hardware they already own without depending on a vendor cloud path. That’s a complete misunderstanding of the current state of affairs. Bambu didn’t take away local network support, and you can use any Bambu printer without any cloud or internet connection. What you can’t do is use a 3rd party slicer with their cloud servers…
  - dns_snek 4mo ago
    > Bambu didn’t take away local network support Yes they did. Chronology is important because it speaks to their motives. First they blocked Orca slicer and others from connecting to the printer even when the printer is running in LAN-only mode. Due to extensive backlash they later split "LAN mode" into "Standard mode LAN mode" and "Developer mode LAN mode". The former, officially recommended, "secure" mode would prevent Orca slicer and others from using the printer. "Developer mode LAN mode" dropped all form of access control (including existing access code + serial number pairing mechanism), leaving users completely exposed - any device on your network, and any process on your machine can freely take control of the printer. They simultaneously absolved themselves of all customer support responsibilities for anyone using this mode. They also abandoned all work on features and bugs related to LAN mode (whether they affect standard mode or developer mode). Bambu Slicer is plagued by basic connectivity and usability issues that only affect LAN mode, feature parity is not there and there's been quite literally zero activity on any of the issues I've been following.
  - drannex 4mo ago
    Just letting you know, you replied to an LLM account.
Murfalo 4mo ago
https://www.fulu.org/ https://www.fulu.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jhRqgHxEP8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jhRqgHxEP8
- Aurornis 4mo ago
  That’s a vibe coded AI slop website if I’ve ever seen one. It even has a careers page that they didn’t try to edit out. There’s basically no information there. Is this just a copy of the other GitHub repo that was removed and someone is trying to rebrand it as their own? Or did they do some different work?
  - deleted 4mo ago
    [deleted]
  - em-bee 4mo ago
    That’s an LLM generated website if I’ve ever seen one the explanation for that is here https://youtu.be/II2QF9JwtLc https://youtu.be/II2QF9JwtLc basically louis found that not using AI to design his website drastically reduced the hits he would get from google.
    - andhug 4mo ago
      It’s still AI slop, even if your favorite youtuber built it.
      - em-bee 4mo ago
        yes, but that is not the problem here. the problem is that google search favors AI slop that makes this the preferred method of webdesign. there is a huge difference between creating AI slop because i am lazy (which i think most people doing that are) and creating AI slop because otherwise google gives your website a bad rating. now you and i may not care about google ratings, but many other people do, and the end result will be that all websites that want good ratings will end up being AI slop. somehow we need to send google a message to stop that.
hsuduebc2 4mo ago
If Bambu Lab responds to this criticism with lawyers instead of clear technical answers, it will only make the forced cloud requirement look more suspicious. To me, this is an obvious security risk. These printers are often used in labs, startups, engineering teams, and potentially even government environments. If print data, models, logs, or usage patterns are routed through a company controlled infrastructure, that creates a real opportunity for corporate espionage or data harvesting. I would not be surprised if Bambu Lab eventually faces the same level of scrutiny that Huawei network devices did.
- drum55 4mo ago
  I’ve been running mine offline for years, I don’t know why other people haven’t been. They’re the only competent and reliable printer that isn’t a project car in itself, but they’re obviously not completely trustworthy. Easily fixed with an air gap, updates work just great from a USB drive.
  - SchemaLoad 4mo ago
    I tried it but switched back to the online mode because being able to remotely check in via the app is very useful to check the print hasn't failed.
    - _carbyau_ 4mo ago
      Mine is now offline. But when it was online, I never checked the app for failed prints. If the print has failed, I'll find out when I'm near enough to it to do something about it. When offline, it amused me when there was a "hairball" and the printer detected it advising "AI Detecting Print Error". At what level does an image analysis algorithm become "AI"?
      - mh- 4mo ago
        I'm curious what concise phrase you'd display to convey the same information to that audience. "Computer Vision Model and Nozzle Telemetry Analysis Detect Print Error"?
nubinetwork 4mo ago
> This version of OrcaSlicer restores full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers I thought that was the point, that people didn't want to be tethered to their servers?
- javawizard 4mo ago
  People want the option. There are many reasons one might prefer OrcaSlicer over Bambu Studio. One might be perfectly fine using Bambu's cloud services while preferring OrcaSlicer for different reasons; this is for those people. Others might not want to use Bambu's cloud services at all; OrcaSlicer as it currently exists is fine for them.
  - binsquare 4mo ago
    this is it for me i bought the dang thing, let me decide how I use it.
    - ryandrake 4mo ago
      > i bought the dang thing, let me decide how I use it. Amazing how controversial this statement is here in 2026.
      - parasubvert 4mo ago
        [flagged]
    - iAMkenough 4mo ago
      there's not enough appeal with the investors and stock holders. they're going to try to make everything you have a subscription, starting with the homes you might try to buy. they don't even live here, but there's no laws stopping them, because your representatives personally benefit from letting things go for certain corporations/people (the same thing after the Citizens United decision)
- skeledrew 4mo ago
Our_Benefactors 4mo ago
For a moment I thought this was a way to get cloud printing restored to bambu printers without leaving lan-mode, would have been nice
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
bri3d 4mo ago
This looks to be a clone of the prior state of the repository that caused all the Bambu drama earlier this week. I did a ton of research because I didn't understand what people wanted here, and this is what's going on: Right now, Bambu have adjusted their system into two modalities: * "default" or "Cloud" mode, where you get an app, remote monitoring, but you have to use Bambu Studio or Bambu Connect to send prints. They implemented this by adding cloud auth to their "internal API;" the client application has to get a token from Bambu's servers, even if the request it eventually makes is a "local" one. * LAN / Developer mode, where the device displays a token and you put it into your app. This disables all of the remote monitoring but in exchange, clients can send prints locally. What users want is to "have their cake and eat it too;" they want the local token authentication _and_ the cloud authentication enabled at the same time. This isn't actually possible, so this plugin approximates it by emulating the interface to the cloud authentication to make the "Bambu Network" cloud RPC calls from a local slicer (one of these calls is a local_print call, so ostensibly this allows you to send prints without running them through the cloud, although with all of the online functionality still enabled and required, this seems like a pretty brave thing to trust). Personally, I find the Bambu reaction distasteful, and there's an argument that the offline mode only exists due to similar outrage, but I don't see the current system as particularly bad and find the appetite to restore "untrustworthy" cloud functionality a bit amusing.
- xg15 4mo ago
  > where the device displays a token and you put it into your app. This sounds really unpleasant to use. Maybe users just want a better UX for the local mode?
  - unsnap_biceps 4mo ago
    I believe it's a one time pairing code, not each print. FWIW I like the design.
  - bdcravens 4mo ago
    It's more of an API key that whatever client or code you're using needs.
h4kunamata 4mo ago
[flagged]
- hungryhobbit 4mo ago
  Our food toasts people when touched?
  - charlesbarbier 4mo ago
    I like toasts. Taste better than people.
  - mh- 4mo ago
    That was my takeaway; TIL. Perhaps a "USA tech compan(y)" will productize this.
mahgnous 4mo ago
[dead]
amazingamazing 4mo ago
I have an Ender3 that I use plugging in a microsd card to do prints with. What am I missing here? Seems like you can do the same with these printers. People want to use the cloud?
- jagged-chisel 4mo ago
  I think people like having an option for remote over the network communication. The cloud is not technically required for that. Bambu made it required for no good reason.
  - amazingamazing 4mo ago
    Doesn’t it have a lan mode?
    - bdcravens 4mo ago
      Yes, and aside from being able to send and monitor your prints from their mobile app (and there are third party implementation of a similar app), you really don't lose much by using LAN Mode, especially if you pair it with Tailscale.
      - snailmailman 4mo ago
        The mobile app is quite nice. Print error and print finish notifications. Webcam view when I’m not near my printer. The ability to pause it remotely if something looks off. I use LAN mode, plus a home assistant plugin to restore the lost functionality. The default webcam is pretty bad so I’ve also mounted a better one to my printer for a live video view that’s at more than 1fps. The main thing I’ve lost by using lan mode is printing from my phone? I think there are ways to do that. But OrcaSlicer has so many options that are frequently worth adjusting over random presets other creators used; it’s a strictly better experience compared to printing on mobile. I think there is some niche “cancel printing of one specific object” feature that I dont know how to use without the mobile app. If you are printing many objects at once, and one fails, you can cancel a specific part/object using the mobile app. Not sure how to do that with OrcaSlicer + lan mode, or if it’s even possible. (Edit: OrcaSlicer doesn’t support it. The home assistant plugin might? Bambu studio in lan mode doesn’t support it either, it requires the mobile app)
laweijfmvo 4mo ago
Imagine if traditional printers were this big of a pain to use… oh
- pc86 4mo ago
  As long as 3d printers are less than 50% harder to use than normal printers, they're dimensionally easier per capita.
- burnt-resistor 4mo ago
  Incidentally, almost all color 2D printers insert serial number tracing artifacts, and many 2D scanners and photo editing software prevent manipulation of images containing either EURion constellation circles or Counterfeit Deterrence System patterns. Interestingly, I didn't have a problem downloading, manipulating, or attempting to print currency-detected fragment images on iPadOS 18.x.
djfergus 4mo ago
What is Bambu’s motivation here? What do they get for damaging their credibility like this? Just usage data? Training a model on everyone’s STL files?
- roboror 4mo ago
  Wild speculation here obviously, but it could be a regulation play--there's a lot of potential legislation that would regulate what you can legally 3D print, which would warrant a system to be the age-verification equivalent for 3D printing.
  - jandrese 4mo ago
    If this is the angle then I'm even more suspicious that they're secretly pushing for the legislation so when it goes into effect they'll effectively be the only game in town. This is admittedly a bit tinfoil hat, but they wouldn't be the first company to attempt to legislate away the competition.
    - jijijijij 4mo ago
      I mean, they would not be the first big corporation to pull exactly this move. They are also subsidized by the Chinese government and are paying for users exclusively hosting on MakerWorld. Their move is obviously complete market capture, not sustainable finances at this point. There is a lot of things going on. We can only speculate, but it sure ain't going to benefit end users.
- dakolli 4mo ago
  Probably regulations, there are a few states trying to make it illegal for felons to own 3D printers by EOY. These things are about to get regulated like firearms, which is wild.
  - scottbez1 4mo ago
    More strictly than firearms, in fact. Some of the proposed 3d printer laws will require printers being sold to be capable of evaluating what you are using them for and blocking “bad” usages. I’m not aware of any such legislation around firearms.
asveikau 4mo ago
Squashing the git history is not cool.
- jogu 4mo ago
  Presumably the original dev that implemented the changes for this functionality that pulled the repo does not want to be associated so some level of squashing was required but yeah, the whole history was maybe a bit silly.
  - asveikau 4mo ago
    Apparently the full history is here: https://github.com/DARKFiB3R/OrcaSlicer-bambulab https://github.com/DARKFiB3R/OrcaSlicer-bambulab And it doesn't look good. This has me call into question the caliber of developer who made the fork. No sane open source project would allow this to be upstreamed in this shape
    - RIMR 4mo ago
      I mean, the presence of a CLAUDE.md file tells me everything I need to know about this fork.
ghostpepper 4mo ago
A lot of the distrust toward Bambu is because they originally announced cloud auth would be required even for printing locally in LAN mode, and only backpedalled on that when they saw the backlash. I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org but you can still see the original post for now: https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-authorization-control-system-2/ https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-au... -- Critical Operations That Require Authorization The following printer operations will require authorization controls: Binding and unbinding the printer. Initiating remote video access. Performing firmware upgrades. Initiating a print job (via LAN or cloud mode). Controlling motion system, temperature, fans, AMS settings, calibrations, etc.
- ThePowerOfFuet 4mo ago
  >I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org Think about why they'd make such a request to archive.org.
- dns_snek 4mo ago
  > I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org Because they have a track record of altering their website, gaslighting the community, and then getting caught through archive.org so they simply blocked it, not realizing that other archives exist and then getting caught again. They tried to alter their warranty terms and got caught. They altered their ToS which would allow them to block prints until the printer firmware was updated. When the community got upset, they not only backpedaled but altered the associated blog post and accused everyone of spreading baseless misinformation because "it's clearly explained in this [edited, backdated] article". That's precisely the article you linked to. See the original version: http://archive.today/2025.01.16-173123/https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-authorization-control-system-2/ http://archive.today/2025.01.16-173123/https://blog.bambulab...
- dspillett 4mo ago
  > I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org So when they claim “we never said that” it is less easy to prove that to be an, erm, incorrect statement of truth. It could be an accident due to over-doing scraper protection, but given the company's general behaviour of late I'm inclined to consider the negative interpretation more likely. > but you can still see the original post for now: https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-au... https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-au... I'd hazard a guess that that is not entirely the original post as it was before things erupted. There have been a couple of instances of materially changed posts.
AmmyTang 4mo ago
[dead]
shevy-java 4mo ago
It was a mistake by BambuLab to piss off and alienate the community. They poked the bear; stung the bee; squashed the frog. This is literally the Barbara Streisand effect in the modern era. Now people are watching. Reputation went out the window already: "If they can sue one of us, they can sue all of us". (Well, threaten to sue at the least, aka applying financial pressure on that developer.)
- Orygin 4mo ago
  Good joke if you think more than 1% of their customer base will care about that. Bambu is not (never has been?) targeting 3D printing hobbyist but everyday people; and for them cost/reliability is more important than running your custom slicer. Until there is a serious competitor that has a polished and cheap printer, Bambu can alienate all of the open source community and still be fine.
  - InTheArena 4mo ago
    How many sales do that 1% drive? They also tend to be the evangelical users / YouTubers / tech bloggers that drive sales for the company. Bambu is following Synology's footsteps here. And just like Synology, they will wake up to press at some point and common wisdom "don't buy Synology, the elite moved off when Green came out and now the rest are leaving too". I own the most expensive Bambu (The H2C) - and even I am willing to admit that the snap maker is a great printer, and a better technical path in someways then the H2C vortek system for anyone who doesn't care about engineering filament
    - Orygin 4mo ago
      Indeed these voices will drive some sales away, but unless other options are competitive with Bambu's offer, they still sell some of the best price-performance-reliability ratio printers on the market, and that's really attractive for the average buyer. Most commenters here will value the openness of Prusa, but most lambda users will have limited budgets that Prusa does not cover. The U1 is a great attempt at taking on BambuLab head front, with interesting features at a reasonable price point. In the end, a lot of people (including here) are using an iPhone even though it's locked down to a higher degree. Some people like a walled garden, some don't care.
danw1979 4mo ago
Reminder about the way Ubiquiti does this, as a vendor who wanted to provide users remote access to their own devices behind NAT: Unifi Cloud handles the auth and connection brokerage through a public portal, but you’re then connected straight to your own gear using your web browser (or one of the apps, if you choose). I can even turn all this off if I want to handle the remote access side of it myself. Other vendors take note !
- Gormo 4mo ago
  Ubiquiti really should be the model for every company selling hardware today. Their business model is a straightforward "sell a good product at a reasonable price" approach, and they seem to be quite successful at it without needing to resort to gimmickry, subscription fees, or other even less savory ways of monetizing other people's activities.
  - skinfaxi 4mo ago
    I'm still pretty sour that they removed the ability to self-host the NVR and you have to use their cloud solution now.
    - danw1979 4mo ago
      You’re talking about when you used to be able to run Unifi Video on your own distro? Yeah that was good, but you definitely don’t have to “use their cloud solution” for NVR now; you buy the box, the video is stored on the box.
      - skinfaxi 4mo ago
        Yeah you used to be able to run unifi video on your own hardware. Now you have to use their box and access it through their cloud. I had notifications working in the self-hosted version with VPN.
        Gormo 4mo ago
nazgu1 4mo ago
I considered buying bambu lab A1, bout watching this and previous dramas I rather go with different vendor. Are there any good alternatives for newcomers? I like hacker nature and openness of Prusa, but I’m worried if it is good printer as a first one…
- shuv1337 4mo ago
  it honestly depends on your budget. prusa is definitely overpriced for what you get. but, i bought one anyway specifically because of their stance on OSS, and this kind of bullshit the bambu is pulling. even though bambu objectively has a better or at least equal product for significantly less money.
  - imhoguy 4mo ago
    Less money because you get significantly closed product likely susbidised by state to dominate the open competition.
    - jijijijij 4mo ago
      Yeah, overpriced is a big word when the competition is likely not operating sustainable due to subsidies and a lot of investment cash to burn for market capture. Eg. they are paying random people to host their models exclusively on MakerWorld (where the CCP tells you what's okay to print; try searching for anything 'Jinping'...). They are obviously pouring enormous amounts of cash into marketing on social media, especially YouTube (a lot of large maker channels became full-on advertisement platforms). Their expenses are evidently enormous. There is no way they are running sustainable. It's a long con.
  - i5heu 4mo ago
    You have to consider that you do not own the product from bambu. So to say you spend significantly less money for a product that will be changed whenever bambu sees fit to whatever extend they see fit. I regret my bambu purchase a lot. I have to keep up with all the ways bambu wants to lock in my hardware and take it basically away from me.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
AlfeG 4mo ago
In the issues there is a link to another repo: https://github.com/danielcherubini/fork-a-slicer https://github.com/danielcherubini/fork-a-slicer Wonder how Bambu can prevent this kind of forks, where no code - just instructions to AI on how to build a network plugin from scratch.
basilikum 4mo ago
It's maddening that quite a few people are jumping to defend Bambu here. Principally if you sell a device with a certain functionality and you later modify that device later to remove that functionality that is called theft. It does not matter the slightest bit whether you break into someone's house to physically alter the device or whether you remotely install a malicious software update to do that. But what's even more insane here is that some people are claiming that BambooLabs would somehow have the right to do this, because while BambooLab might not have the right to limit the hardware they already sold (which they did and these people just pretend did not happen) they have the right to limit their printer client software under the license conditions they impose on it from the beginning, when their printer client is literally a modification of AGPL licensed software. The entire point of the GPL is to prevent people like BambooLabs from doing exactly this. The AGPL is literally the single license with the most restrictions on BambooLabs to ensure that the users of the software — the customers — do not have any restrictions in what they can do with it. Some people are seeing this situation and just decide to side with the company against their customers on imposing restrictions on an already sold product after the sale and they are literally making shit up to justify it. Edit: For people who do not know what this is about: Someone modified AGPL software to reenable features of these 3D printers that BambooLabs stole after the sale and BambooLabs sent a legal threat to them to stop distributing the software.
- amelius 4mo ago
  I always put printers (2d and 3d) behind a firewall so they cannot reach the internet. This prevents auto-updates and surprises like disappearing functionality.
  - jamesnorden 4mo ago
    I've been bitten by an HP printer auto updating and my aftermarket ink suddenly not being acceptable. Never buying HP again after that.
    - 9cb14c1ec0 4mo ago
      I once updated my Epson, and it started rejecting aftermarket ink. Fortunately there is a way to downgrade the firmware. Never buying a cartridge based inkjet printer again.
richyo-codes 4mo ago
I run Bamboo Printer on it's own wifi VLAN in developer mode / LAN only mode, and been developing my own Flutter App to monitor video and MQTT status in this state. I am also progressing towards filament management and uploading / printing from SD Card. Just sharing to let other know how they can cope running in LAN / Dev mode. https://github.com/richyo-codes/boom-print https://github.com/richyo-codes/boom-print
mikey_p 4mo ago
Genuine question here, is the Chinese government telling Bambu Lab what to do? The longer Bambu keep shooting themselves in the foot, and then doubling down on their mistakes, it really makes me start to wonder if the whole thing isn't being controlled by the party in service of the PRC. I can't think of a scenario in which they aren't going to subject themselves to more Streisand effect visibility every time they file an obviously bogus AGPL claim, so why do it??
TheMagicHorsey 4mo ago
How much of this action by Bambu is driven by the fact that they're being threatened from Washington DC that they will have to be able to prevent people from printing "illegal" items, like gun parts, in the future?
aurizon 4mo ago
A retrospective analysis of what was the motive behind all this? Did they want an Adobe/Oracle type stranglehold/walled garden for max revenue extraction? Did they want to own any new things/ideas anyone invented by a rush to patent/copyright/?? It seems they did not anticipate the amount of fur that would fly and they should probably try to back away as gracefully as possible before they kill their own golden goose, if at all possible after the recent forks as vigourous fan driven forks can exceed their source forks?
realaaa 4mo ago
with all this let's not forget that this is not about just smashing Bambu as fun as it may seem to zerg rush them (they are still a good company overall I am guessing so - but don't know enough about them) the real goal here as Louis stated himself is this https://consumerrights.wiki/w/DMCA_Section_1201 https://consumerrights.wiki/w/DMCA_Section_1201

671 points by Murfalo 4mo ago

Just make sure never, ever to buy from them again. It's the same story as Synology with their forced reliance on specific hard drives. As long as there are still other providers out there...

system2 4mo ago
Synology works with any hard drive. I bought a new unit and installed WD drives in it. No issues.
- fenykep 4mo ago
  They did revert this because of public backlash: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/synology-caves-walks-back-some-drive-restrictions-on-upcoming-nas-models/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/synology-caves-walks...
- RIMR 4mo ago
  The point is that Synology tried to vendor-lock their customers for profit, and even though they didn't follow through, they told us what they stand for, and it is now considered ill-advised to buy their hardware because of that.
  - system2 4mo ago
    We tried nearly all vendors, nothing is as polished as their Ui and software.

neo_tang 4mo ago

[dead]

mrdoosun 4mo ago

[flagged]

happyopossum 4mo ago
> whether users can keep using hardware they already own without depending on a vendor cloud path. That’s a complete misunderstanding of the current state of affairs. Bambu didn’t take away local network support, and you can use any Bambu printer without any cloud or internet connection. What you can’t do is use a 3rd party slicer with their cloud servers…
- dns_snek 4mo ago
  > Bambu didn’t take away local network support Yes they did. Chronology is important because it speaks to their motives. First they blocked Orca slicer and others from connecting to the printer even when the printer is running in LAN-only mode. Due to extensive backlash they later split "LAN mode" into "Standard mode LAN mode" and "Developer mode LAN mode". The former, officially recommended, "secure" mode would prevent Orca slicer and others from using the printer. "Developer mode LAN mode" dropped all form of access control (including existing access code + serial number pairing mechanism), leaving users completely exposed - any device on your network, and any process on your machine can freely take control of the printer. They simultaneously absolved themselves of all customer support responsibilities for anyone using this mode. They also abandoned all work on features and bugs related to LAN mode (whether they affect standard mode or developer mode). Bambu Slicer is plagued by basic connectivity and usability issues that only affect LAN mode, feature parity is not there and there's been quite literally zero activity on any of the issues I've been following.
- drannex 4mo ago
  Just letting you know, you replied to an LLM account.

Murfalo 4mo ago

https://www.fulu.org/ https://www.fulu.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jhRqgHxEP8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jhRqgHxEP8

Aurornis 4mo ago
That’s a vibe coded AI slop website if I’ve ever seen one. It even has a careers page that they didn’t try to edit out. There’s basically no information there. Is this just a copy of the other GitHub repo that was removed and someone is trying to rebrand it as their own? Or did they do some different work?
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- em-bee 4mo ago
  That’s an LLM generated website if I’ve ever seen one the explanation for that is here https://youtu.be/II2QF9JwtLc https://youtu.be/II2QF9JwtLc basically louis found that not using AI to design his website drastically reduced the hits he would get from google.
  - andhug 4mo ago
    It’s still AI slop, even if your favorite youtuber built it.
    - em-bee 4mo ago
      yes, but that is not the problem here. the problem is that google search favors AI slop that makes this the preferred method of webdesign. there is a huge difference between creating AI slop because i am lazy (which i think most people doing that are) and creating AI slop because otherwise google gives your website a bad rating. now you and i may not care about google ratings, but many other people do, and the end result will be that all websites that want good ratings will end up being AI slop. somehow we need to send google a message to stop that.

hsuduebc2 4mo ago

If Bambu Lab responds to this criticism with lawyers instead of clear technical answers, it will only make the forced cloud requirement look more suspicious. To me, this is an obvious security risk. These printers are often used in labs, startups, engineering teams, and potentially even government environments. If print data, models, logs, or usage patterns are routed through a company controlled infrastructure, that creates a real opportunity for corporate espionage or data harvesting. I would not be surprised if Bambu Lab eventually faces the same level of scrutiny that Huawei network devices did.

drum55 4mo ago
I’ve been running mine offline for years, I don’t know why other people haven’t been. They’re the only competent and reliable printer that isn’t a project car in itself, but they’re obviously not completely trustworthy. Easily fixed with an air gap, updates work just great from a USB drive.
- SchemaLoad 4mo ago
  I tried it but switched back to the online mode because being able to remotely check in via the app is very useful to check the print hasn't failed.
  - _carbyau_ 4mo ago
    Mine is now offline. But when it was online, I never checked the app for failed prints. If the print has failed, I'll find out when I'm near enough to it to do something about it. When offline, it amused me when there was a "hairball" and the printer detected it advising "AI Detecting Print Error". At what level does an image analysis algorithm become "AI"?
    - mh- 4mo ago
      I'm curious what concise phrase you'd display to convey the same information to that audience. "Computer Vision Model and Nozzle Telemetry Analysis Detect Print Error"?

nubinetwork 4mo ago

> This version of OrcaSlicer restores full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers I thought that was the point, that people didn't want to be tethered to their servers?

javawizard 4mo ago
People want the option. There are many reasons one might prefer OrcaSlicer over Bambu Studio. One might be perfectly fine using Bambu's cloud services while preferring OrcaSlicer for different reasons; this is for those people. Others might not want to use Bambu's cloud services at all; OrcaSlicer as it currently exists is fine for them.
- binsquare 4mo ago
  this is it for me i bought the dang thing, let me decide how I use it.
  - ryandrake 4mo ago
    > i bought the dang thing, let me decide how I use it. Amazing how controversial this statement is here in 2026.
    - parasubvert 4mo ago
      [flagged]
  - iAMkenough 4mo ago
    there's not enough appeal with the investors and stock holders. they're going to try to make everything you have a subscription, starting with the homes you might try to buy. they don't even live here, but there's no laws stopping them, because your representatives personally benefit from letting things go for certain corporations/people (the same thing after the Citizens United decision)
skeledrew 4mo ago

Our_Benefactors 4mo ago

For a moment I thought this was a way to get cloud printing restored to bambu printers without leaving lan-mode, would have been nice

deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

bri3d 4mo ago

This looks to be a clone of the prior state of the repository that caused all the Bambu drama earlier this week. I did a ton of research because I didn't understand what people wanted here, and this is what's going on: Right now, Bambu have adjusted their system into two modalities: * "default" or "Cloud" mode, where you get an app, remote monitoring, but you have to use Bambu Studio or Bambu Connect to send prints. They implemented this by adding cloud auth to their "internal API;" the client application has to get a token from Bambu's servers, even if the request it eventually makes is a "local" one. * LAN / Developer mode, where the device displays a token and you put it into your app. This disables all of the remote monitoring but in exchange, clients can send prints locally. What users want is to "have their cake and eat it too;" they want the local token authentication _and_ the cloud authentication enabled at the same time. This isn't actually possible, so this plugin approximates it by emulating the interface to the cloud authentication to make the "Bambu Network" cloud RPC calls from a local slicer (one of these calls is a local_print call, so ostensibly this allows you to send prints without running them through the cloud, although with all of the online functionality still enabled and required, this seems like a pretty brave thing to trust). Personally, I find the Bambu reaction distasteful, and there's an argument that the offline mode only exists due to similar outrage, but I don't see the current system as particularly bad and find the appetite to restore "untrustworthy" cloud functionality a bit amusing.

xg15 4mo ago
> where the device displays a token and you put it into your app. This sounds really unpleasant to use. Maybe users just want a better UX for the local mode?
- unsnap_biceps 4mo ago
  I believe it's a one time pairing code, not each print. FWIW I like the design.
- bdcravens 4mo ago
  It's more of an API key that whatever client or code you're using needs.

h4kunamata 4mo ago

[flagged]

hungryhobbit 4mo ago
Our food toasts people when touched?
- charlesbarbier 4mo ago
  I like toasts. Taste better than people.
- mh- 4mo ago
  That was my takeaway; TIL. Perhaps a "USA tech compan(y)" will productize this.

mahgnous 4mo ago

[dead]

amazingamazing 4mo ago

I have an Ender3 that I use plugging in a microsd card to do prints with. What am I missing here? Seems like you can do the same with these printers. People want to use the cloud?

jagged-chisel 4mo ago
I think people like having an option for remote over the network communication. The cloud is not technically required for that. Bambu made it required for no good reason.
- amazingamazing 4mo ago
  Doesn’t it have a lan mode?
  - bdcravens 4mo ago
    Yes, and aside from being able to send and monitor your prints from their mobile app (and there are third party implementation of a similar app), you really don't lose much by using LAN Mode, especially if you pair it with Tailscale.
    - snailmailman 4mo ago
      The mobile app is quite nice. Print error and print finish notifications. Webcam view when I’m not near my printer. The ability to pause it remotely if something looks off. I use LAN mode, plus a home assistant plugin to restore the lost functionality. The default webcam is pretty bad so I’ve also mounted a better one to my printer for a live video view that’s at more than 1fps. The main thing I’ve lost by using lan mode is printing from my phone? I think there are ways to do that. But OrcaSlicer has so many options that are frequently worth adjusting over random presets other creators used; it’s a strictly better experience compared to printing on mobile. I think there is some niche “cancel printing of one specific object” feature that I dont know how to use without the mobile app. If you are printing many objects at once, and one fails, you can cancel a specific part/object using the mobile app. Not sure how to do that with OrcaSlicer + lan mode, or if it’s even possible. (Edit: OrcaSlicer doesn’t support it. The home assistant plugin might? Bambu studio in lan mode doesn’t support it either, it requires the mobile app)

laweijfmvo 4mo ago

Imagine if traditional printers were this big of a pain to use… oh

pc86 4mo ago
As long as 3d printers are less than 50% harder to use than normal printers, they're dimensionally easier per capita.
burnt-resistor 4mo ago
Incidentally, almost all color 2D printers insert serial number tracing artifacts, and many 2D scanners and photo editing software prevent manipulation of images containing either EURion constellation circles or Counterfeit Deterrence System patterns. Interestingly, I didn't have a problem downloading, manipulating, or attempting to print currency-detected fragment images on iPadOS 18.x.

djfergus 4mo ago

What is Bambu’s motivation here? What do they get for damaging their credibility like this? Just usage data? Training a model on everyone’s STL files?

roboror 4mo ago
Wild speculation here obviously, but it could be a regulation play--there's a lot of potential legislation that would regulate what you can legally 3D print, which would warrant a system to be the age-verification equivalent for 3D printing.
- jandrese 4mo ago
  If this is the angle then I'm even more suspicious that they're secretly pushing for the legislation so when it goes into effect they'll effectively be the only game in town. This is admittedly a bit tinfoil hat, but they wouldn't be the first company to attempt to legislate away the competition.
  - jijijijij 4mo ago
    I mean, they would not be the first big corporation to pull exactly this move. They are also subsidized by the Chinese government and are paying for users exclusively hosting on MakerWorld. Their move is obviously complete market capture, not sustainable finances at this point. There is a lot of things going on. We can only speculate, but it sure ain't going to benefit end users.
dakolli 4mo ago
Probably regulations, there are a few states trying to make it illegal for felons to own 3D printers by EOY. These things are about to get regulated like firearms, which is wild.
- scottbez1 4mo ago
  More strictly than firearms, in fact. Some of the proposed 3d printer laws will require printers being sold to be capable of evaluating what you are using them for and blocking “bad” usages. I’m not aware of any such legislation around firearms.

asveikau 4mo ago

Squashing the git history is not cool.

jogu 4mo ago
Presumably the original dev that implemented the changes for this functionality that pulled the repo does not want to be associated so some level of squashing was required but yeah, the whole history was maybe a bit silly.
- asveikau 4mo ago
  Apparently the full history is here: https://github.com/DARKFiB3R/OrcaSlicer-bambulab https://github.com/DARKFiB3R/OrcaSlicer-bambulab And it doesn't look good. This has me call into question the caliber of developer who made the fork. No sane open source project would allow this to be upstreamed in this shape
  - RIMR 4mo ago
    I mean, the presence of a CLAUDE.md file tells me everything I need to know about this fork.

ghostpepper 4mo ago

A lot of the distrust toward Bambu is because they originally announced cloud auth would be required even for printing locally in LAN mode, and only backpedalled on that when they saw the backlash. I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org but you can still see the original post for now: https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-authorization-control-system-2/ https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-au... -- Critical Operations That Require Authorization The following printer operations will require authorization controls: Binding and unbinding the printer. Initiating remote video access. Performing firmware upgrades. Initiating a print job (via LAN or cloud mode). Controlling motion system, temperature, fans, AMS settings, calibrations, etc.

ThePowerOfFuet 4mo ago
>I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org Think about why they'd make such a request to archive.org.
dns_snek 4mo ago
> I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org Because they have a track record of altering their website, gaslighting the community, and then getting caught through archive.org so they simply blocked it, not realizing that other archives exist and then getting caught again. They tried to alter their warranty terms and got caught. They altered their ToS which would allow them to block prints until the printer firmware was updated. When the community got upset, they not only backpedaled but altered the associated blog post and accused everyone of spreading baseless misinformation because "it's clearly explained in this [edited, backdated] article". That's precisely the article you linked to. See the original version: http://archive.today/2025.01.16-173123/https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-authorization-control-system-2/ http://archive.today/2025.01.16-173123/https://blog.bambulab...
dspillett 4mo ago
> I'm not sure why their entire domain has been excluded from archive.org So when they claim “we never said that” it is less easy to prove that to be an, erm, incorrect statement of truth. It could be an accident due to over-doing scraper protection, but given the company's general behaviour of late I'm inclined to consider the negative interpretation more likely. > but you can still see the original post for now: https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-au... https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing-new-au... I'd hazard a guess that that is not entirely the original post as it was before things erupted. There have been a couple of instances of materially changed posts.

AmmyTang 4mo ago

[dead]

shevy-java 4mo ago

It was a mistake by BambuLab to piss off and alienate the community. They poked the bear; stung the bee; squashed the frog. This is literally the Barbara Streisand effect in the modern era. Now people are watching. Reputation went out the window already: "If they can sue one of us, they can sue all of us". (Well, threaten to sue at the least, aka applying financial pressure on that developer.)

Orygin 4mo ago
Good joke if you think more than 1% of their customer base will care about that. Bambu is not (never has been?) targeting 3D printing hobbyist but everyday people; and for them cost/reliability is more important than running your custom slicer. Until there is a serious competitor that has a polished and cheap printer, Bambu can alienate all of the open source community and still be fine.
- InTheArena 4mo ago
  How many sales do that 1% drive? They also tend to be the evangelical users / YouTubers / tech bloggers that drive sales for the company. Bambu is following Synology's footsteps here. And just like Synology, they will wake up to press at some point and common wisdom "don't buy Synology, the elite moved off when Green came out and now the rest are leaving too". I own the most expensive Bambu (The H2C) - and even I am willing to admit that the snap maker is a great printer, and a better technical path in someways then the H2C vortek system for anyone who doesn't care about engineering filament
  - Orygin 4mo ago
    Indeed these voices will drive some sales away, but unless other options are competitive with Bambu's offer, they still sell some of the best price-performance-reliability ratio printers on the market, and that's really attractive for the average buyer. Most commenters here will value the openness of Prusa, but most lambda users will have limited budgets that Prusa does not cover. The U1 is a great attempt at taking on BambuLab head front, with interesting features at a reasonable price point. In the end, a lot of people (including here) are using an iPhone even though it's locked down to a higher degree. Some people like a walled garden, some don't care.

danw1979 4mo ago

Reminder about the way Ubiquiti does this, as a vendor who wanted to provide users remote access to their own devices behind NAT: Unifi Cloud handles the auth and connection brokerage through a public portal, but you’re then connected straight to your own gear using your web browser (or one of the apps, if you choose). I can even turn all this off if I want to handle the remote access side of it myself. Other vendors take note !

Gormo 4mo ago
Ubiquiti really should be the model for every company selling hardware today. Their business model is a straightforward "sell a good product at a reasonable price" approach, and they seem to be quite successful at it without needing to resort to gimmickry, subscription fees, or other even less savory ways of monetizing other people's activities.
- skinfaxi 4mo ago
  I'm still pretty sour that they removed the ability to self-host the NVR and you have to use their cloud solution now.
  - danw1979 4mo ago
    You’re talking about when you used to be able to run Unifi Video on your own distro? Yeah that was good, but you definitely don’t have to “use their cloud solution” for NVR now; you buy the box, the video is stored on the box.
    - skinfaxi 4mo ago
      Yeah you used to be able to run unifi video on your own hardware. Now you have to use their box and access it through their cloud. I had notifications working in the self-hosted version with VPN.
      - Gormo 4mo ago

nazgu1 4mo ago

I considered buying bambu lab A1, bout watching this and previous dramas I rather go with different vendor. Are there any good alternatives for newcomers? I like hacker nature and openness of Prusa, but I’m worried if it is good printer as a first one…

shuv1337 4mo ago
it honestly depends on your budget. prusa is definitely overpriced for what you get. but, i bought one anyway specifically because of their stance on OSS, and this kind of bullshit the bambu is pulling. even though bambu objectively has a better or at least equal product for significantly less money.
- imhoguy 4mo ago
  Less money because you get significantly closed product likely susbidised by state to dominate the open competition.
  - jijijijij 4mo ago
    Yeah, overpriced is a big word when the competition is likely not operating sustainable due to subsidies and a lot of investment cash to burn for market capture. Eg. they are paying random people to host their models exclusively on MakerWorld (where the CCP tells you what's okay to print; try searching for anything 'Jinping'...). They are obviously pouring enormous amounts of cash into marketing on social media, especially YouTube (a lot of large maker channels became full-on advertisement platforms). Their expenses are evidently enormous. There is no way they are running sustainable. It's a long con.
- i5heu 4mo ago
  You have to consider that you do not own the product from bambu. So to say you spend significantly less money for a product that will be changed whenever bambu sees fit to whatever extend they see fit. I regret my bambu purchase a lot. I have to keep up with all the ways bambu wants to lock in my hardware and take it basically away from me.

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

AlfeG 4mo ago

In the issues there is a link to another repo: https://github.com/danielcherubini/fork-a-slicer https://github.com/danielcherubini/fork-a-slicer Wonder how Bambu can prevent this kind of forks, where no code - just instructions to AI on how to build a network plugin from scratch.

basilikum 4mo ago

It's maddening that quite a few people are jumping to defend Bambu here. Principally if you sell a device with a certain functionality and you later modify that device later to remove that functionality that is called theft. It does not matter the slightest bit whether you break into someone's house to physically alter the device or whether you remotely install a malicious software update to do that. But what's even more insane here is that some people are claiming that BambooLabs would somehow have the right to do this, because while BambooLab might not have the right to limit the hardware they already sold (which they did and these people just pretend did not happen) they have the right to limit their printer client software under the license conditions they impose on it from the beginning, when their printer client is literally a modification of AGPL licensed software. The entire point of the GPL is to prevent people like BambooLabs from doing exactly this. The AGPL is literally the single license with the most restrictions on BambooLabs to ensure that the users of the software — the customers — do not have any restrictions in what they can do with it. Some people are seeing this situation and just decide to side with the company against their customers on imposing restrictions on an already sold product after the sale and they are literally making shit up to justify it. Edit: For people who do not know what this is about: Someone modified AGPL software to reenable features of these 3D printers that BambooLabs stole after the sale and BambooLabs sent a legal threat to them to stop distributing the software.

amelius 4mo ago
I always put printers (2d and 3d) behind a firewall so they cannot reach the internet. This prevents auto-updates and surprises like disappearing functionality.
- jamesnorden 4mo ago
  I've been bitten by an HP printer auto updating and my aftermarket ink suddenly not being acceptable. Never buying HP again after that.
  - 9cb14c1ec0 4mo ago
    I once updated my Epson, and it started rejecting aftermarket ink. Fortunately there is a way to downgrade the firmware. Never buying a cartridge based inkjet printer again.

richyo-codes 4mo ago

I run Bamboo Printer on it's own wifi VLAN in developer mode / LAN only mode, and been developing my own Flutter App to monitor video and MQTT status in this state. I am also progressing towards filament management and uploading / printing from SD Card. Just sharing to let other know how they can cope running in LAN / Dev mode. https://github.com/richyo-codes/boom-print https://github.com/richyo-codes/boom-print

mikey_p 4mo ago

Genuine question here, is the Chinese government telling Bambu Lab what to do? The longer Bambu keep shooting themselves in the foot, and then doubling down on their mistakes, it really makes me start to wonder if the whole thing isn't being controlled by the party in service of the PRC. I can't think of a scenario in which they aren't going to subject themselves to more Streisand effect visibility every time they file an obviously bogus AGPL claim, so why do it??

TheMagicHorsey 4mo ago

How much of this action by Bambu is driven by the fact that they're being threatened from Washington DC that they will have to be able to prevent people from printing "illegal" items, like gun parts, in the future?

aurizon 4mo ago

A retrospective analysis of what was the motive behind all this? Did they want an Adobe/Oracle type stranglehold/walled garden for max revenue extraction? Did they want to own any new things/ideas anyone invented by a rush to patent/copyright/?? It seems they did not anticipate the amount of fur that would fly and they should probably try to back away as gracefully as possible before they kill their own golden goose, if at all possible after the recent forks as vigourous fan driven forks can exceed their source forks?

realaaa 4mo ago

with all this let's not forget that this is not about just smashing Bambu as fun as it may seem to zerg rush them (they are still a good company overall I am guessing so - but don't know enough about them) the real goal here as Louis stated himself is this https://consumerrights.wiki/w/DMCA_Section_1201 https://consumerrights.wiki/w/DMCA_Section_1201