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Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 27th, 2017, 11:27 am
by LePaul
From the Release Notes...

Cura 2.6.1 - June 27, 2017

Added and improved material profiles. Cura 2.6.1 contains optimized 3D printing profiles for Ultimaker PP (polypropylene) and improved profiles for TPU 95A, CPE+, and PC.
Added Japanese translations.
Added Korean translations.
Fixed an issue with incorrect nozzle sizes in g-code.
Fixed a bug in which settings were ignored when a Custom FDM Printer was used and the number of extruders was set to 1.

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 27th, 2017, 2:25 pm
by LePaul
I see these improved profiles and a firmware update to the Ultimaker 3

However, how about firmware updates for the Ultimaker 2 series?

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 27th, 2017, 5:10 pm
by nilrog
UM2 will probably not see any more major firmware updates (apart from possibly some bugfix release) now that they released UM3...that is their future...so if you aren't already running Tinkergnomes firmware I suggest switching to that one.

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 28th, 2017, 7:00 am
by nallath
UM2 did get a firmware upgrade. I think it just adds PP as a material.

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 28th, 2017, 9:37 am
by LePaul
Was that officially announced? It seems like all the news is Ultimaker 3 and Cura lately....reminds me of having a UMO and all the news was UM2 back in the day :)

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 30th, 2017, 3:46 pm
by Izzy
I agree Paul, I've seen nothing re a firmware upgrade for the UM2

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 30th, 2017, 10:03 pm
by LePaul
Have we been abandoned? :)

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 30th, 2017, 10:10 pm
by Neotko
LePaul wrote: June 30th, 2017, 10:03 pm Have we been abandoned? :)
Most probably... Tinkergnome time

Basic business practice. If works, don't touch it.

Also, there's no money on improving old models. Yes, um2+ is 'current'. But I bet UM sees UM2+ as a finished product that doesn't need any upgrade (and they are most probably right).

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: June 30th, 2017, 10:25 pm
by LePaul
Well true but the Profiles for Materials should probably be updated

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: July 1st, 2017, 3:37 am
by Neotko
LePaul wrote: June 30th, 2017, 10:25 pm Well true but the Profiles for Materials should probably be updated
Indeed the PP new material and update is a missing opportunity. Also shows how little effort they will put on the firmware

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: July 3rd, 2017, 3:43 am
by nallath
Marlin is quite an unmaintainable piece of crap software architecture wise. Sure it works just fine, but making changes to it is really hard to do without breaking something. Besides, the um2 works perfectly well as it is now. Why risk changing it? There isn't a whole lot we can change without a re-write. The chip has hardly any memory left anyway.

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: July 3rd, 2017, 4:58 am
by Neotko
nallath wrote: July 3rd, 2017, 3:43 am Marlin is quite an unmaintainable piece of crap software architecture wise. Sure it works just fine, but making changes to it is really hard to do without breaking something. Besides, the um2 works perfectly well as it is now. Why risk changing it? There isn't a whole lot we can change without a re-write. The chip has hardly any memory left anyway.
I do agree with you at some level. I think the Lepaul issue to update materials could be easily implemented, but not without ofc time and people testing on all machines, indeed that's always an issue when something can go wrong, it goes wrong.

Also I think that UM should just ditch the material system once and for all and do what it does with um3, Cura material profiles and remove the ugly Ultigcode Flavor and really update their firmware to have Temperature/fan limiters (- and +) like the um3 allows on the fly, but like Amedee's does on his version for umo/umo+ where the user can force the temperature/fan/bed to override (AND CALIBRATE) their machines so they print at the same temperatures, or just to reprint a job with different settings.

OFC OFC um2 is already a product and users use it. But also leaving products without improving them shows that current versions are being worked on, but old versions are as-is without any possible improvement. Even new Marlin (not the old one that umo/umo+/um2/um2+ has) have a better movement planner that prints better, or at least does the motion better IMO. But all that would need effort, money and people to do it, OFC! Could be worth to update an OLD model? I think it does, but for the past history UM will not. And that's well, a burden that Community has, and thanks to users like Tinkergnome and Amedee our machines keep getting better options and more accessibility, but not thanks to UM. Posting a code and leaving there is nice, but improving the machines that currently are being sell, that would be even better IMO.

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: July 4th, 2017, 10:04 am
by nallath
As for changing how the machines work; Ditching API (eg g-code flavor) for the same generation of machine is just asking for trouble. How are you properly going to communicate the difference between users that aren't technical minded (or keep track of bleeding edge differences?). It will improve things for people like you, but it will make it a whole lot harder for the rest (and put a burden on us, as we will get a lot more "false" bug reports). The choice isn't as simple as you paint it to be.

I think it will cost a significant chunk of money and resources (eg; people to do it). It's the second option that's the most difficult. One could argue that it's something that can be outsourced, but that will only increase the cost (and would mean that you let engineers with 0 3d print experience build it. I think all of us can agree that that isn't a very good idea).

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: July 4th, 2017, 10:11 am
by Neotko
Well UM isn't a 10 guys in a garage company, is a real company with a business plan and workers. I think that to gain market, or not loose it vs new machines that offer much stuff (but most of them atm do it quite wrong like the ugly robo3d). So leaving old machines as Old, will only leave others to reach that market offering simple stuff (on paper but that isn't simple ofc) like wifi, camera, better control, etc.

So, even if cost money, money makes money, and leaving old machines unattended only shows to new customers that their new machines will be as they are with little updates when a new generation arrives. I think is a bad msg.

Re: Cura 2.6.1 is out

Posted: July 4th, 2017, 11:42 am
by nallath
Neotko wrote: July 4th, 2017, 10:11 am Well UM isn't a 10 guys in a garage company, is a real company with a business plan and workers.
Which is exactly why decisions like this are made. I think that a Garage like company is more likely to stick to bleeding edge (with no regard for other parameters). That's what Ultimaker used to do at least.
Neotko wrote: July 4th, 2017, 10:11 am I think that to gain market, or not loose it vs new machines that offer much stuff (but most of them atm do it quite wrong like the ugly robo3d). So leaving old machines as Old, will only leave others to reach that market offering simple stuff (on paper but that isn't simple ofc) like wifi, camera, better control, etc.
Assuming this is the case at all. Sales figures disagree with you unfortunately.
Neotko wrote: July 4th, 2017, 10:11 am So, even if cost money, money makes money, and leaving old machines unattended only shows to new customers that their new machines will be as they are with little updates when a new generation arrives. I think is a bad msg.
Or it shows that the new machine doesn't -need- the updates to do what it needs to do. The trend I see with quite a few people is that they hardly ever update their firmware in the first place.

I'm not that convinced that the "new" marlin is good. My opinion of the code quality of marlin is quite low. The only reason why I have some confidence in the UM2 firmware is because of the fixes we made to it (and not constantly adding new features to it).