…User states that cutting squares is great but round objects come out crooked.
After about an hour of many people offering suggestions, the person admits they are using a pirated version of lightburn.
Another user mentions they see this problem all the time with the pirated LB version.
I just think if u have a laser, and are concerned about the price for the lightburn license, you either have no idea what ur doing… or just hate life and want problems.
/Gotta give credit where its due.
/the license pays for itself
/its cheaper than the other maintenance you have to pay
/pick your battles wisely…
/kinda mad i lost half an out of my life trying to help.
In no way trying to condone piracy/theft, but wouldn’t hurt considering some folks out there are running $200 lasers. When you’re playing in the big leagues with tens of thousands invested in hardware, Yes, a software license is literally a pittance. I can see where $60 + renewals for software can seem excessive at the lowest entry levels.
I’m at a pretty low level, but still looking at over $2k in equipment. So, even at that, the LB license is insignificant. Personally, I can’t imagine running a half-assed Alibaba special on your covered porch, but people do it.
I think the way LightBurn protects their software is funny and reasonably humane, it could, for example, also reset the machine settings at irregular time intervals
But what is more important is that the price for an LB license is still reasonably set and affordable even for people who start their laser career with a 200 dollar diode laser. Everything is a matter of prioritization. A few years ago, Adobe introduced a 365 license system for their products, I don’t want to be part of that, so I still sort and post-process my images with the Lightroom version from before this time and which I have personally paid for - no problem. The same applies to the MS Office package, it was so expensive that I will not pay for it. Fortunately, Open Office exists, it’s at least as good and it’s free. GIS or CAD-CAM programs, here we are talking about really large amounts, I used QGIS professionally for many years and it was largely free.
What I want to say, those who want to cheat always try to cheat and LightBurn has a great solution for this.
I didn’t mean to come across as endorsing piracy. Not did I intend to diminish the efforts of the dev team and/or those who help so much on the forums.
In the grade scheme of things Lightburn is one of the least expensive programs there is. some you cant even buy anymore you have to pay a subscription.
For me the price of the subscription is not for the software but for the Fantastic support they offer. I never understand people who are using free software and get upset when it takes time to receive answers to their questions.
We’ve developed an if it’s on the Internet it’s free attitude or should be, along with the same view of just copying software and using it somewhere else.
How many people actually read the terms and condition when they install software… You are entering into a legal agreement when you execute the software… you should know what the agreement is.
Come on people $60 isn’t a lot. If you break that down in what I call the “Starbucks” example.
Say you go to Starbucks and get a cup off their coffee every day and it costs $5.00. It would take 12 days of NOT getting a Starbucks…12 days out of 365 days to pay for a year of Lightburn.
If you go out to dinner regularly, that might be a 1 time or a couple of times.
I don’t buy a lot of software (and no, I don’t pirate other software…I use a trial or a free version…I am lucky that I get to use Adobe CC for work)…I would and will be paying for Lightburn until I don’t laser anymore.
People tend to forget that after a year it is only $30 to add a year of updates to their existing license…that would be 6 Starbucks.
(Moderator Edit for accuracy: You don’t get a new license for $30. Your key works indefinitely. You can extend the update cut-off for your key.
Agree with what you say. I worked in packaging design and steel rule diemaking, and the software was 7-10k per seat depending on the modules. If you would add another laser or router, you pay another 1k for the driver.
“Well actually”… It’s 12 days to pay for lightburn indefinitely.
After a year you also don’t have to get a new licence, or renew your current one, if you don’t feel like you need the upgrades.
Lightburn it a one-time purchase, with optional years of upgrades you can get for $30.
So in the grand scheme, it’s even cheaper, as you’re not dependant on a recurring subscription. You buy it, you own it. If you want a year worth of upgrades, you pay a small fee. That’s the most reasonable software offering I’ve seen in a long time
You are not correct - this forum is not free - it’s paid for by the people who purchase the software. And the web hosting is also not free and costs Lightburn. You are making the assumption that if I didn’t pay for it, it’s free for me, but someone pays for everything.
Awesome circle there, Bud! As for hacked version, I wouldn’t be surprised if LightBurn put that in the wild. I like that theory. Some vendors charge huge amounts for software, and people hack it. But the vendors who charge a reasonable amount for a package are smarter, they make up for the price difference, big time, in volume. Sixty clams is nothing! Go buy it. When I tried the demo and saw that it was multiple light years ahead of anything else, I bought it immediately. So glad I didn’t bother wasting my time learning some other barely functional POS first too.
I appreciate the experience that our community is having with this. The developers work hard and deliver a top-notch product. They have taken steps to protect the IP and it seems that we’re all agreeing that it’s reasonable and well within their purview to do so.
This is getting a little off-track. I’m going to close it and trim some of the less laser-focused commentary.
Thank you all for your input and participation. I appreciate what you’ve shared. I’m going to adjust it (as little as possible) so folks who are directed to this technical answer, have a more gentle introduction to the forum.
To share a little bit of the history here, the DSP software was written first. The GCode controller was second.
LightBurn made the decision to keep the price for the GCode license as low as possible and include GCode control with DSP or Galvo control.
Making the GCode controller license the entry-level product allowed LightBurn to staff up the support side ( particularly for $200 lasers ) so the devs could go back to writing some pretty amazing stuff.
I have to confess, I’m on Team $200 Laser. I’ve got three of those and a handful of loose controllers. I ask questions every day. The learning never stops.
