[vcf-midatlantic] Is it just me or.....

[John Heritage]

Good questions.

One major difference between the PC and 3DP is the latter will require
substantial materials advancements to make it usefully mainstream and there
doesn't seem to be a Moore's law driving that.

The material advancements will be required to print things useful for the
total non DIYer.

Side note, Interestingly 80s hardware is powerful enough to drive 3DP.

And yes prusa rocks :).  (Though I've only built my own over the past 5
years , so no self leveling bed :) ).

On Mar 2, 2018 12:12 PM, "Joseph Oprysko via vcf-midatlantic" <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

> The quest for technology appears cyclic. All technologies go through their
> growing pains. Right now, one of the potentially disruptive consumer
> technologies is rapid prototyping, more commonly referred to as 3D printing
> m. 3D Printing in various forms has been a technology used by corporations
> and in engineering firms for years. The roots of which date back to the
> early 1980’s.
>
> I see the current environment around 3D printing in a consumer aspect
> appears to closely mimic the growth of the personal computer industry in
> the 70’s and 80’s.
>
> One difference I see is that in the late 70’s and early 80’s, the Open
> Source movement was also in its infancy, while now, a large share of the
> hardware and firmware involved in the current growth of 3D Printers embrace
> open source initiatives.
>
> But in contrast, many of the closed source 3D printer manufacturers often
> appear to have a more consumer friendly product. So this I suppose from a
> very high level is a good “test” of the open source ideology.
>
> Just as many early Linux users and developers thought that the majority of
> PC’s would be running open source software. (I’m intentionally separating
> the Personal Computers from mobile devices and infrastructure) While there
> are a good number of users of open source operating systems, it’s a highly
> splintered group, with many of the operating systems based on various major
> distributions of the software and operating system.
>
> The open source initiatives have forced the hands a lot of major players in
> various industries to embrace, or at least utilize openness in parts of
> their products, sometimes it may be a front end UI, sometimes the firmware
> or other components. Often there will be a mix of proprietary systems and
> open source systems to create a device.
>
> So, where will the 3D printing industry end up?
>
> What is your opinion on this?
> --
> Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot.
> Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do.
> Normal Person: So you go surfing?
> Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a
> lot...
> Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level.
> Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?
>