before my ultimate demise, will I ever see an UM app that...

[aag 3]

...that alerts me of a problem (e.g. run out of filament, pause, or else) by push notification? Because without that, the app is very-close-to-useless.

[mkoic 1]

9 hours ago, aag said:

...that alerts me of a problem (e.g. run out of filament, pause, or else) by push notification? Because without that, the app is very-close-to-useless.

 

Great idea.  You should write a plugin for that. 😉

 

[aag 3]

Absolutely! After you've paid $6K for a high-end printer, the least you can do is to learn android app coding and make your own plugins in order to enable basic functions! 😉

Edited September 18, 2020 by aag

[nallath 975]

It also helps to make feature requests without the passive aggresive tone 😉

 

It's a nice idea for a feature. But as with any technological product; the amount of features we can build are far greater than the amount of resources that we have to create them with. That unfortunately means that choices have to be made in what stuff is (and isn't) done.

[aag 3]

fair point and apologies for my rant, which is borne out of frustration with the inability to get any kind of warning if a remote printer runs into any kind of trouble.

[GregValiant 435]

The sensors would need to be present and the firmware would need to be able to translate each sensor and likely be sophisticated enough to make a decision about what to do.  The printer would need to be networked and have an address book of destinations to send the notification to, as well as internet access or a phone line of some sort.  The destination hardware and software would need to be constantly monitoring for messages from the printer.

 

Once the printer decided that a particular malfunction at a sensor (let's say the "spaghetti sensor") needed to go out, it could send a text message to the users' phone where a special tone would notify the user of a problem. If this was to occur at 3am then the user's significant other would punch the user in the side of the head and say something constructive like "WHAT THE %#$@ IS WRONG WITH YOU.  SHUT THAT %@%# THING OFF"  At that point the user would go to the printer, look at the problem, and say to him/herself "Yep, that ain't right." and then shut it off till morning when the problem could be dealt with.

 

The technology is certainly available for all of that.  (I myself have designed a spaghetti detector that would work.)  Unfortunately, it's probable that none of it could be installed as an upgrade to an existing printer, and that on top of the additional $6k cost of a new printer would be another $2k for the privilege of getting whacked in the side of the head in the middle of the night.

[aag 3]

Not sure I understand. Obviously the printer knows when it stalls. It tells so via the display, and you can check it on the app as well.  Why would be so complex to send a notification, e.g. by executing a custom script?

 

We have a bunch of $100 surveillance cameras that send all kinds of selectable alerts (including push notification and emails) when they detect movement. There is even a completely free Raspberry software (MotionEye) that offers movement notification either by email, or a by web hook, or by execution of a script. Regrettably, it detects "movement" rather than "absence of movement", or else I would install it on top of my UM5S and be done!

 

The whole point of having a networked printer is remote monitoring. Without some kind of heartbeat alert, all you can do with the network is to send files to the printer.

Edited September 18, 2020 by aag