Re:Ask HN: What do you do with your Raspberry Pi?
by Udo on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @04:24AM
(#20272128)
OctoPrint user here. I'm surprised that unattended printing is somehow supposed to be the primary use case for OctoPrint.
For me the point of the software is not to leave a printer unattended for long periods of time. To be honest, I don't see how OctoPrint is fundamentally different from the printers' physical panels in this regard: my printers did not come with deadman switches either! If I wanted to start a 2 week unattended megaprint, I could do that from the standard printer panel as well.
The draw of OctoPrint comes from the fact that it's a standardized and networked UI. It allows you to upload files to your printer, manage its settings, take a video of the print. It's a deluxe firmware.
For me the point of the software is not to leave a printer unattended for long periods of time. To be honest, I don't see how OctoPrint is fundamentally different from the printers' physical panels in this regard: my printers did not come with deadman switches either! If I wanted to start a 2 week unattended megaprint, I could do that from the standard printer panel as well.
The draw of OctoPrint comes from the fact that it's a standardized and networked UI. It allows you to upload files to your printer, manage its settings, take a video of the print. It's a deluxe firmware.