@dan Anything new going on? How are those new PSU checking out (or anything else that being tested)?
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Trying to see just long you (the royal we you) can go without inquiring about software and hardware progress is a lot like trying to see just how long you can hold your breath isn’t it. 
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The delivery date that can be named is not the true delivery date.
(I’ve been trying to just ignore that whole question and have fun talking about lasers)
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Unless I missed a post somewhere, it’s been just us and the crickets in here on progress. Early May was I believe the last post on this thread from Dan. I found another post on June 6th that said some may ship earlier, but laking some features that would be added later on. That may indicate completion of the Hardware portion of development. I’d be very happy if that were the case, but I’m glad I got my cheap Chinese laser in the interim to play with.
Based on the first projected delivery date all of the preorders would have been in our hands now. I would hope we start to see a growing group of beta testers, so we can see more art and designs being printed, and some proof concept videos. Jkopel has done a great job, and I’m glad he was chosen as a beta tester, but I’d like to see more.
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I wonder how much of what we’re seeing (or not seeing) about timing issues right now is about things that can’t be rushed. If you’re going to have an extensive beta program, you need to have the protocols in place to support the beta users and learn from what they tell you, and you need the hardware and software to be in places where beta testing it will provide useful information. My impression from jkopel’s posts is that the hardware pretty much works, ditto the software as far as it currently goes. And I assume there are a bunch of production-component GFs back at HQ undergoing accelerated life testing. I wonder how the packing/shipping development work is going.
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My guess is that on the day the crowdfunding campaign closed, dan et al, could not in their wildest dreams have imagined just how horrifically they had underestimated how far away from being ready for prime time they really were.
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If I recall correctly, the primary reason for the June Shipping delay was the power supply, which we were told was finished, but not quite ready for prime time. If the prototype was working, then the next stage would be pre-production prototyping, before final production run.
We have seen cutting and engraving as output, but I don’t think we have seen any grayscale output at all. If it was finished I wonder why we haven’t see output from it. This is apparently a tough nut to crack, and I hope they pull it off soon.
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You just hit a somewhat worrisome nail right on the head. If the power supply was the holdup, then the software etc. should still be on schedule. But we aren’t seeing previews which make me feel like that is the case. Hopefully they are just being cautious about revealing their “secret sauce.”
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yes and no with a new power supply it could be possible all the fun cool variable power things need total re write or calibration at either the UI level or firmware level.
eg if I get a new grow lights and new drivers (power supply) for my garden the settings I have for my automation are going to be way off and I’m going to need to recalibrate everything so the grow cycle works the right way.
the best we can do is sit back have a beer and find other things to play with. like learning how to do modeling and producing projects to cut after all what good does a laser do if you don’t have a pile of projects to process
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I was thinking the same thing. If the hardware changes then the software is no longer optimized for the hardware. So, the software evolves outside of or after the hardware is developed. Does that make sense? I used to think these little hardware modules were interchangeable and that software was too, like magic LEGO parts. But then I got into product development, actually Industrial Design, and then lets just say I learned something about how these things interact thanks to a few Electrical Engineers that programmed firmware and what not. One of them once told me that It is all analog outside of the digital world. Granted, I’m very slowly learning about Arduino, but it is a great refresh to my 1 year of high school electronics and archaic Basic programming.
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Wasn’t that a Madonna song? “Analog world”?
Now I have an ear-worm.
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“Like a surgeon, cutting for the very first time.”
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(Proofgrade) Material Girl
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Soft and hardware are interrelated but still, at some point you have a stake in the ground and you can say, “the camera alignment system works like this” regardless of how the laser power (or whatever) is being controlled. I wish we could see more evidence of the user-facing feature evolution.
If truly the software has to wait until the hardware is 90% buttoned up then I worry we’ll be disappointed in what we get. It takes a long time to make good software! Even if you don’t have technical challenges it takes a long time to get it polished, easy to use, and supporting all your important use cases. If there is supposed to be a GF box on my doorstep in December, the software had better be pretty far along today.
But, I guess I would rather have them working on the GF than spending time making demos for us!
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You mean it’s not “Like a Sturgeon”?? 
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I wouldn’t go that far in that direction normally, but now that you have, I want you to know that I appreciate your humor. I often have parodies running in my head while listening to the radio. It’s a good way to pass the time while listening to the 2-3 pop radio stations that my kids must always be listening to while driving places.
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What is the cutoff date for people who will be receiving their machine this year? I ordered mine on October 22nd. Did I make the cut, or do I get mine shipped sometime next year?
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You are a day ahead of me, and near as I can figure I’m at around the 6,000 mark.
Yes, we made it! Barely.
We would really like to see some examples of your work!
How about a peek in the “Show &Tell” thread?
Personally I am a big fan of kinetic art.
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I will post a couple of photos. Thanks for asking.
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