Could we get enough MPCNC folks supporting with Patreon or donations to change the equation for him to open source?
I figure itâs all tied together with estlcam.
tbh I can understand Christian somehow. He must have put so much work into his software and the money he makes by selling his hardware is also part of the fruit of his labor.
However, at least some part of the success of Estlcam is related to the possibility of using relatively cheap Arduino based machine controllers and if he would consider to stop supporting Arduino-based open hardware platforms in future versions of Esltcam I and certainly many others would be really disappointed.
There are already some parts of the firmware which are only available for owners of Christians hardware (e.g. connecting jog control, etc) and the recent developments seem to be made because he wants to protect his work against competitors ( I donât really see myself as one of them) - at least that was my impression.
Iâm really torn: I understand his decisions and i would like him to benefit of his work, but as a tinker/maker DIY guy i canât deny I would like to do as much as possible myself and therefore i would need open sources of the firmware or at least interface specifications.
I am not so much into this whole patreon/microfunding thing but I wonder if Christian wouldnât be able to benefit more from his work if he would open his firmware/software completely and let the CNC/Maker/hobbyist-Community support his development financially. What do you think?
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I would just like to point out this thread is starting to sound like a certain youtube thread form a certain german youtuberâŚ
If he wants to keep the software closed, and charge for it, that is fine by me. I donât think the patreon thing works as well as you think for non-entertainers.
My point was, he used to not charge for the firmware, and there were standard boards it would work for. But it was still closed source. I am not angry about it, but that seems backwards to me. It seems like it would sell more of the software he charges for if he would open up the firmware. But I am a mile away from this and I didnât realize he even sold his own hardwareâŚ
That hurts. There is some middle ground between that conversation and just completely not talking about it.
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Yeah, I think so too. I know Christian has a YT channel but its only in German also and he is not the entertainer type of guy I figure.
My point was, he used to not charge for the firmware, and there were standard boards it would work for. But it was still closed source. I am not angry about it, but that seems backwards to me. It seems like it would sell more of the software he charges for if he would open up the firmware. But I am a mile away from this and I didnât realize he even sold his own hardwareâŚ
I am not angry either and i can understand him. Its just sad he doesnât make the whole interface specification/firmware available for hardware developers. Im completely fine with the closed source of the CAM software running on Windows (i would love to see an ARM compatible version though).
Sorry, I donât understand you. Who do you mean? I would like to point out that im not a Youtuber. I am just a hobbyist who has developed the above mentioned Estlcam controller. Thatâs all.
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I can see the confusion. This isnât referring to you. It is referring to the Tom 3D printer YTer live build fiasco.
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Understatement of the QuarantineâŚ
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OHHH now i get it. You are referring to the dispute between Thomas San⌠and Ryan on twitter? 
As a gentle reminder, this is a very dead horse. The stable can certainly be discussed, and talked about (and it certainly should be, intellectual property rights and licensing is a very important topic, especially among makers and tinkerers), but that one particular equine is well and truly deceased, and no benefit will be gained by beating it. 
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Yea, just saying, if Christian wants his baby closed, itâs his choice. Itâs the same with Ryanâs stls. Theyâre both as open as the creators want them to be. As far as I can tell he doesnât charge for the firmware, itâs installed with estlcam same as itâs always been. I donât see anywhere you can get just the firmware by itself.
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Greetings Everyone.
I am new to the forum.
First I would like to thank Ryan for sharing your magnificent work and designs with the world.
Till, thank you for the Nano Estlcam Shield.
Uncle Phil, your videos are great. (I speak fluent German)
Jeff, Barry, Marion, and Cummings, thank you for answering so many questions. Although I havenât posted anything before, I have been researching and reading your comments/answers to everyone else in this forum.
A bit about me:
Retired-25 years- US army (Helicopter Mechanic)
Lived in Germany for 18 years (Uffenheim, Bayern)
I currently teach Manufacturing, Robotics and Mechatronics at a High School in Central Florida.
I started building the MPCNC, LowRider, RS32CNC, and the HyperCube as part of my curriculum last January. Since then, I cant get the kids to leave my classroom!
I know that some of these machines are not part of the Vicious1 engineering, but nevertheless, I always end up in this forum looking for ideas and suggestions to run all of my machines.
Sorry If I high-Jacked the topic, but I just wanted to say thank you to all!
Respectfully
J. Vega
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Welcome to the crew!
Hail to the teachers! Weâd love to see your work, throw up a picture or three! Show us what you and/or your students have been doing on your machines, ask questions, keep getting dirty, break stuff (but not people, of course) and figure out how to fix it⌠Start up a topic or two. The more, the merrier!
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Thank you.
The only one that was able to retrieve from school and bring home before the Covit Fiasco was the MPCNC. Iâll take a picture of it later and post it.
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Welcome to the forum. I stopped teaching primary school tech six years ago. If I every get into it again, you can be sure I am going to use Ryanâs machines.
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