Have been watching Tested video of them using the pre release unit. It sounds like somethings still isn’t in there. Is this just disabled in software or is the Hardware still alpha/beta units.
Normally when we designate something as a release candidate, it is feature complete and almost all known bugs eliminated. We don’t even call it beta if features is missing. I know you plan to improve the software over time so feature complete can be hard to describe, but being able to use the full bed sound like one of the features I would expect on the before release list.
They announced a much bigger bed than originally released. The actual cutting size will improve (as stated before). How you react to the news, of course, is up to you. - Rich
The question was not as much meant as an reaction to the bed size change as it is to the terminology around there units and to get a realistic overview of if they will hit the next deadline. A big part of the way to do that is to know that they actually have units in house that are at least the final hardware revision.
From the same post, regarding work area: “To do: When the laser is moving at maximum speed, it needs room to slow down near the top, bottom, and both sides. We’ll be updating the software to compensate for that so it can give you more working space - up to 11.5” x 20.4" for slow movements like cuts; a little bit less for faster motions like engraves."
Are they still working on features? “Software features yes; hardware features no.”](Dec 2016 Glowforge Q&A)
I haven’t seen anyone refer to there being a release candidate of either the hardware or the software.
The pre-release units are the final hardware design, however there may be part vendor changes or manufacturing changes for quality or ease of manufacturing/reliability, etc. With this recent delay, they wanted to fix quality and reliability/durability and all that goes with that…so is that an ambiguous enough answer for you? Go - Rich
One difference between the two is that beta testers are under NDA and not allowed to take suggestions or answer questions from the general population. Pre-release testers are not subject to either limitation.
It’s not beta. Their betas went to screened people with non-disclosures who can’t talk about details or answer questions. They expected issues & problems with those machines & the software build they’re using.
The pre-release units are final build although they do reserve the right to make changes if something unexpected does come up or if they can source a component somewhere new (or in higher volumes than they have currently). They’re not expecting problems but they are preparing for them if they arise. The users are not bound by non-disclosure and can do and say anything they want.
I guess they could have. The units designated as pre-release are an order of magnitude more complete than the units used as Beta units. So differentiation for those of us that have been around the forum since the beginning is useful. For the most part they expect that the Pre-release hardware is the same in the units that will be designated as Production. I don’t question semantics from a company that calls a laser cutter a 3D Laser Printer.
In @dan’s online Q&A, he indicated that there are a few parts that they would like to find a different supplier for. The pre-release hardware has the existing parts, the release hardware may have these replaced with something else.
Thanks for asking, @garup. Lots of good information in this thread already from forum regulars. In my experience, names mean different things at different companies (I’m looking at you, Gmail beta). We don’t have hardware features missing. The bed size limitation is enforced in software and is a function of motor speed; it will be increased with software.
- Rich
- Rich