Buddy Cam Stand Alone Option
If its not possible already I would like to be able to have the Buddy Cam be independent of the printers.
RE: Buddy Cam Stand Alone Option
me too. It already seems like it's an IP camera, so why no standalone option?
RE: Buddy Cam Stand Alone Option
I am actually surprised, that Prusa did not provide the following setup options for Buddy3D Cam from the start:
- Setup WIFI per QR Code without Prusa Connect: Just enter credentials in the APP or a website, generate QR code in the browser, without transmitting the credentials anywhere, camera reads QR code and connects to WIFI
- Publish firmware as download and allow firmware updates per USB-C
- Document the technical details of the local video stream option for integration
There may be reasons for them to develop the Prusa Connect scenario first, but I really hope they release a straight forward option for people, that do not want to hand over control over a webcam in their homes to a cloud solution.
RE: Buddy Cam Stand Alone Option
Agreed - it must be possible to set wifi credentials via USB connection or put a small config file on the uSD card, if Prusa could just let us know the details (if it's not possible it surely would be a trivial firmware change to do so).
I don't want anything on anyone's cloud service no matter how friendly and nice they are. Some places can't use cloud at all for security or other good reasons.
RE: Buddy Cam Stand Alone Option
For the curious, if you plug in a Buddy3D to a PC it actually enumerates a CP2102N USB-serial port which makes me think it may be possible to connect via a terminal app & configure it - or perhaps root it.
Looking inside there actually is a CP2102N chip on the USB interface board. I can also see a Winbond 25N QSPI-Flash but can't make out the actual brains of the system as there's 2 devices with heatsinks glued on top - one being the Wifi module and the other presumably being the system processor.
There's a lot of spare IO on the board - several unused connectors inside as well as what appears to be unpopulated footprints for chips, and a battery symbol that suggests the PCB design at least could be built with a battery - possibly in-built charging circuit too.
This *may* mean it's actually a 3rd party camera board that could be re-flashed to get around the cloud-only firmware.