Zoe: as you could have read in my original post, apart from defective hardware, lack of software, and scummy data policy - I really don’t have any issues. (Not actually true, because interface sucks, too, but that’s small potatoes.)
Defective hardware: illohminati described exactly the same issue in January of 2023 (see link below). Filament feeds fine when heads are parked; once heads move into the printing position, feeding mechanism starts clicking, fails to feed, underextrudes, and I get a filament error. Once heads are parked again, and I hit Resume, filament re-primes just fine only to fail again as described above. Three different filament brands (including the reels that came with the printer), two different materials, and I was FINALLY able to print the shark by holding two reels (of off-brand filament, I must add, could not get the snapmaker stuff to work no matter what I did) above the enclosure and feeding directly into the print heads. Clearly, snapmaker was aware of the defect for over a year, and clearly, they have done nothing about it.
Lack of software: solved, no thanks to snapmaker (and, heh, they fixed .deb download - but given their data policy discussed below, I still don’t trust it). Although I appreciate xchrisd suggestions above, shouldn’t the software be available directly from the manufacturer? In fact, Linux compatibility was one of the major selling points, and if the manufacturer fails to deliver on that, it smells very much like false advertisement. It also creates an ethical issue: if I am using Prusa slicer, I really should be using Prusa printer, to reward a company that actually stands behind their products.
Scummy data policy: I’ve actually read the click-through data agreement that snapmaker wants me to accept before giving me access to the machine I paid my perfectly good money for, and even in the most restricted form, it is exceedingly broad. Why snapmaker expects me to serve as their beta tester for my own money? What if I sell the machine, and the new user will be subject to the agreement he never accepted? No skin off my nose, though, since I am not putting the printer online, but in my world, those agreements are opt-in only, with rewards for those willing to share their data (and I am still not interested). The real scum move comes from the fact that I have not been informed of this upfront; if I had been, I would have considered a different brand.
I know snapmaker personnel reads this forum, so my question is - what are you going to do to fix the faulty hardware? I’ll let the other two slide.
