Information on pre-release units

Nice diagram! :smiley:

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Thanks, that clearly shows what is happening. This makes much more sense to me now. :relaxed:

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No, thatā€™s a temporary software limit until we build the ability to vary usable printing area with head speed. Itā€™s overly conservative, and as I note in the ā€œto doā€ section, weā€™ll improve it to 11.5 x 20.4. See this post for more details.

Thereā€™s no news here about Pro other than if you ordered a Pro and youā€™re chosen for a pre-release unit, youā€™ll get a temporary Basic.

Yes.

I apologize for the confusion in the post - I interchanged X and Y and rounded some numbers. I believe itā€™s correct, and should be the same as the website now.

@jdodds: DXF is definitely on the todo list.

We still have a schedule update coming by the end of the week.

Actually the pre-release units can do it too, weā€™re just only sending them to US customers.

Weā€™ll have a schedule update at the end of the week.

Iā€™ve asked our design team to make something pretty to show off. :slight_smile:

@dan_berry Thank you! That looks correct.

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Which did you find disappointing? The shipping work area gave me pause at first but the fact that they can adjust it via software to make up for all but a 1/2" was actually encouraging. It seems the only new news here was all positive and indicative of settled hardware and good software with a defined roadmap that is in line with or exceeding expectations. Software can be done non-intrusively (they donā€™t need my unit back to fix something). Iā€™m far happier with this report than any of Danā€™s previous ones :slight_smile:

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Iā€™ve backed a few Kickstarter products which had to have FCC, CE and UL certifications. The shipped units say pre-release, demo, testing unit, or something similar until they can get all of their certifications. In most cases, parts of a product or early versions of the product have been sent to get early feedback, so there arenā€™t last-minute surprises.

Iā€™m sure there are limits on how many a company can distribute this way though.

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Thank you.

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I thought about that but decided the glass is half-full today :smile: Some parades should not be rained on (Iā€™m a little surprised that no one has said ā€œbut what about the schedule announcement, whereā€™s that?ā€ :wink:). Lots of goodness in this one. The next one will be what it is.

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This seems to be a day one feature. I hope this isnā€™t Glowforgeā€™s way of pushing Proofgrade materials on us.

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Does this mean only those who signed up to be beta testers will be considered for pre-release units?

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That is correct.

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Bummer :frowning:

I had reasons at the time preventing me from beta testing, but Iā€™m available now to participate in the pre-release testing.

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Doesnā€™t that just make this extended Beta Testing?

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In one way yes. But customer testing is usually broken up into Beta (we expect bad things & have allocated time/resources to fix them) and Pre-prod (we think itā€™s all good and are looking for validation). But they are both not-production :slight_smile:

We separate them in our company as well - it helps manage the client/testersā€™ expectations of the pain we expect them to have inflicted.

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@m_raynsford Pretty much. (too late. Jamesā€™s response is the more accurate and thought out! :wink: )

@Just-Maken-It, you can still fill out the beta application (I think). I would think that they have already chosen the pre-release receivers, but if people turn it down, then thereā€™s still a chance.

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Hopefully, @dan will confirm how this will work letting me and others know how to proceed. More than willing to complete the beta form if that is needed at this time.

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Welp, looks like I will be checking my email religiously.

What is the best way to bribe the Glowforge staff?..asking for a friend of courseā€¦

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Appreciate you calling me a friend. Barely know you.

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I think Iā€™m just disappointed really, this isnā€™t exactly shipping in December, itā€™s just entering the next phase of testing.

I know it takes a long time to get a product sorted and I understand that, but itā€™s a shame to say Glowforge is shipping when it isnā€™t really.

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We donā€™t know the shipping schedule for production units yet. There will be another announcement on Friday regarding the shipping. No sense in jumping to conclusions when a real answer is just a few days away.

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