So in the spirit of this community and not just to focus on the Reddit… issues… I thought it might be nice to get a topical conversation going in here.
Basically, what open source projects are you currently working on or are you heavily involved with?
I think it would be nice to see what projects people have on the go, get some publicity out there and otherwise talk about stuff that we should be discussing here.
What a nice idea!
My claim to fame is probably OctoPrint, a web interface for consumer 3d printers that I created over a decade ago now and have been maintaining ever since, since 2014 full time and since 2016 also 100% crowd funded. It’s written in Python (backend) and HTML/JS (frontend) and licensed under AGPLv3.
Oh I was just listening to a podcast where you were a guest in https://pod.fossified.com/2023/04/05/s01e03.html and I had to lough out loud when they asked you what they could do to bring more women into FOSS or what it was and your response was to not invite them to podcasts only to discuss the topic of women in FOSS :D
Yeah, that just had to be said since it’s a bit of a pattern indeed 😅 I warned Daniel that I’d drop that if they got me on for that topic ^^
Oh my god you’re foosil? I’ve never met a celebrity before!!!
Yep, foosel aka Gina Häußge, that’s me ^^
I wouldn’t say you have now, because I don’t consider myself one, but if it makes you happy, I won’t judge 😂
OctoPrint is good stuff. I don’t always have it set up as I usually just use SD cards with my Ender 3, but I appreciate the work that’s gone into OctoPrint. It is a nice interface for 3D printing and the plugin system is great, especially the bed leveling plugin.
Thanks! 😊 I consider the plugin system one of my best ideas - it’s causing me a ton of grey hair, but it also has allowed people to implement stuff that I’d never could have dreamed of and/or been able to merge in core. And I don’t have to maintain all of that either 😂
Oh nice, I still have my OctoPrint server set up on my Raspberry Pi attached to the other side of my Ender-3 (which has sat neglected for a couple of years I’m sad to say). Was really happy when I discovered it as it made using the printer so much better than constantly running back and forth with my USB stick.
I even made a remix of an OctoPrint monitor so I could keep an eye on progress - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4055922
Hah, that is awesome! I originally wrote it because I was annoyed of having to keep the printer tethered to my PC and pray that a Windows update would not kill my print job - that was before SD cards let alone USB sticks became the norm, so it was even worse 😅 It has since taken over my life 😬
Well glad to say that I for one think it has been worth it, its a really nice tool and I think I would have given up using the printer in frustration long ago without it. The plugin system is really useful to add functionality too (I can’t remember the name now but I have a screen on the PI so I can control the printer without using the main controls or having to use my PC).
I loved OctoPrint when I used it. Unfortunately, I switched to SLA printers and their support for anything open source really sucks.
SLA printing sucks I agree, the software on the SLA side is absolute trash. The only exception is PrusaSlicer which does have SLA support, but only for Prusa’s official machines. However, there is a workaround - customize the Prusa machine profile to fit your machine and then convert the output file with UVTools (the other great FOSS SLA printing tool). These two tools make SLA printing tolerable.
Yeah, I’ve been looking into that too. Currently, I am using LycheeSlicer, but it is a downgrade from what I was used to. I really hope one day we will have a nice open source printer like i3 that will help SLA get to the same level as FDM, but I remain skeptical.
Oooh that’s awesome, I use OctoPrint all the time! Great work!
Glad to hear it 😊
Thank you for OctoPrint! I love it!