Comment by Ccecil

I work with the Smoothieware project. The V1 Smoothieboard was one of the first (the first I am aware of) with an ethernet connection.

It was always stated by our devs that it should never be connected to anything but a local network. Why? Because you are supposed to be there running the printer...it is a fire hazard otherwise. People do run unattended, myself included, but it should not be advised or hyped as a "good idea".

The possibility of a hack was always there too. What could a malicious actor do with access to your machine?

The advice was not only ignored...but used as an advertising point to show how innovative they are.

Amazing how fast everyone forgot the time Bambu forced a firmware update which caused a large number of printers to begin printing uncommanded which in some cases caused damage due to completed prints still sitting on the bed. [1]

V2 Smoothieware has the ability to auto update firmware via network...but it is a command that requires the user to send.

At any rate...this matters to me little anymore. My printer is a decade old and going strong still. I have no desire to "purchase" any printer. I would just build another if needed.

The biggest lie sold by the marketers is that working on your printer is "lost time". Personally...I am glad I had the 2011 RepRap struggles. I would never give up my opensource hardware for a "cheaper" machine.

[1] I searched for old webpages on this...can't seem to find them anymore using google. It was a very well known issue in the 3d printing community at the time though.