IIUC, Meerk40t accepts Ruida commands (basically, an RD file) from LightBurn and converts them into equivalent commands for a stock K40 machine, but it cannot drive an actual Ruida controller directly from either an RD or a G-Code file.
I want to be proven wrong on that …
Just to be clear - in case you missed it in the language from the first post by @adammhaile : you will always be able to use LightBurn up to the latest 1.7 bugfix on Linux. That will never change. We just won’t be releasing version 1.8 and on with Linux binaries. So we’re actively not breaking your workflow. Though we realize we will be restricting it in case you wanted to use a new feature that comes out after 1.7.
So after some trial and error. WMI from microsoft only run’s on the 32bit wine. Lightburn is only 64bit so basically this will never work.
So, I took over most of the Linux packaging stuff when I joined LightBurn ~10 months ago now.
Since then, I’ve spent a not-insignificant percentage of my time on tier 3 Linux support tickets because of issues that come up with all of the Linux packages. Even with the AppImage packaging that was supposed to solve the problems we had before.
Then there’s things like the build infrastructure, which, unfortunately, is deprecating one of the tools we depend on to produce a usable AppImage release and will make it unavailable within the year.
The financial incentive is a fact. The biggest financial incentive, is, in fact, to free up the time from these T3 tickets to be able to build the application. Also, you assume that our proprietary code can be bundled and licensed separately from the application as a whole.
I hope you’ll realize that I’m a big penguin fan, and will continue to work on other FOSS software projects in my (limited) spare time. But I can’t and won’t spend a week at a time to try and figure out why maybe 5 people are running into an obscure issue with a window layout or having a license deactivating randomly.
Linux, by its nature, is made for customization. There were supposed to be a few packaging options, like AppImage, that were supposed to allow us to run the app without having to care about the underlying OS. But despite 10 days of work, I was not able to create a snap package that would provide functionality and pass the snapcraft store approval, and the flatpak creation was just going to add extra time on top of that.
All these initiatives and projects are great - as long as you don’t run afoul of the myriad of asterisks in the compatibility matrix. And we hit pretty much every one of them.
I will keep using Linux at home, and will keep my eyes open so that, if a good enough silver bullet ever appears that lets us bring Linux back, it’s considered. But unfortunately I don’t see that happening in the near future.
Did you try registering it in off-line mode?
Hello, it is bitter news, it comes to Lightburn only because it worked with Linux natively, I had used other software with wine, but Lightburn was native and had better functionalities.
The year of updates for 1.6.0 just expired and I was going to wait for at least 1.6.5 to come out to renew my license, and take advantage of the year it gives me more, since in my country every dollar costs us much more than in other countries. Both for a license and to renew my hardware.
I know that I will be able to continue using Lightburn as I have it now.
I understand that it is not profitable to invest hours for so few users, and for the same reason that we are not such a significant number, they have thought of letting all of us Linux users continue updating up to 1.7.9 for free, that is, Extend our licenses, or let Linux not verify the license?
Because I also saw that they return the money to those who have acquired a license. So it would be the same to renew the license and request the return as they have promised. But it would be like a farewell caress for all of us.
PS I’m using a translator
It registered fine, but didn’t validate when I started it a few minutes later. My guess: the missing MS function / library / whatever has something to do with hardware fingerprinting.
I’ll add my voice to the list of users not happy with this change. I think this is a step backwards in customer service, particularly for users in commercial settings. I changed over to linux about five years ago, after being continually frustrated with Windows and where I see Microsoft’s business plan heading. MS is not interested in making a better operating system anymore, they are focused on making an income driver, and as a result the software has become extremely cumbersome in production environments. I have a CNC at work that is on windows, and the settings in that machine have been tweaked over years to push out products that keep the business running. However Windows continuously gets in the way with updates and changes that interfere with productivity. We could spend enormous time managing network settings to try and block windows from getting in the way, but the machine needs to run the way we want, not waste downtime trying to undo MS’s vision. Having native linux software like lightburn means shops are in control of their computer systems, and can focus on making money. I don’t see Microsoft ever having a change of direction and making an OS that works for the user, rather than for their shareholders, and that’s why I see more people moving to linux in the future, especially commercially where budgets are thin and there’s lots of old hardware lying around. I love lightburn, but I think this is a short-sighted business decision, when you consider future plans from other operating systems.
It’s easy to call the decision short-sighted, but that ignores the realities of running a software business.
Lightburn has supported Linux for years. At this point, it’s disproportionately spending resources to maintain a mere 1% of users.
I would love to see Linux support continue. I had just started using it on Linux last week! But expecting them to continually chase what might happen years into the future ignores the realities of running a business today. The upshot is that if your vision pans out, they can always add support back in when the demand makes it feasible.
This directly captures the spirit of this move. Thank you for your input.
I was bummed, like the rest of us…
However it reminds me of Chaucers’ idiom All Good Things Must Come to An End
Many of us found Lightburn and loved it from it’s infancy. Much of this instigated by great software at a reasonable price for Linux.
If you read any of the other sites, you’ll see how fast Lightburn is spreading by word of mouth.
As Lightburn grows, it sheds clothes that no longer fit, such as Linux. This software is not going to stop growing here, it will again outgrow some aspect of it’s current configuration.
I have been on the internet since the 70’s, before search engines… Many sites … Lightburn has done something … they made their own family… some of the family doesn’t even speak the same language…
I praise all at Lightburn, not only for their product and it’s simplicity, to support and personal availability at the site.
It’s been a great ride… looking forward to the next step 
As of a forced move to Windows 11 I am done with Microsoft. Been a reluctant Windows user since Windows 2.0 and it has gone down hill greatly since Windows 4 (NT). I will not use Windows anymore and Linux seems the only logical alternative. Been with Linux as a dabbler since Linus released it way back. If I cannot find applications for Linux then I will abandon the applications and vendors as they have done me and save a fair chunk of change in the process.
Having said that it appears that Light Burn is only stopping further development of a Linux version and that the current version will continue to work going forward albeit with a frozen feature set so other than updates I see no issue there, however I do currently use the Windows Version of Light Burn.
Ditto on the Windows… my only savior is that I have inherited a Mac… so when Linux dies out, I’ll probably use the Mac…
I understand about Windows… Moved to Debian almost two decades ago.
I know of NO other software that runs on Linux from any manufacturer to directly run my Ruida or the JCZ fiber … so what’s you gonna do?
There is really nothing to choose from out there, excluding some hacks that may or may not work.
Sometimes, we need to learn to move on when things get to end of their life cycle.
Good luck
Since I do not currently derive any income from any O.S. or Software I will simply quit using said same when it doesn’t suit me any more. I have been supporting integrated circuit manufacturing equipment, computer systems and computers O.S.'s since the late 1970’s when I turned 20 years old and a person reaches a time when enough is enough (if their livelihood is not threatened.) I am certainly tired of vendors who support a shareholder base rather than a user base (Light Burn not currently in this group thankfully).
I get it… I wined at that spouse about having to deal with learning the Mac.
Completely understand getting tired of learning new packages.
Good luck
Discovered LightBurn and MillMage via V1 Engineering forum and RMRRF event.
Curious if “latest dev framework” being used is QT still, or are you switching to different framework(s) that’s requiring camera library implementation/interop rewrite?
We’re still using Qt. The long and short of it is that these camera libraries allow us to do more while also being closer to the operating system’s direct interface for cameras. On Windows, we’ve supported a second camera driver for a long time in addition to the default Qt one and this will be similar.
What a shame 
I bought LightBurn because it was working with linux. I’m really disappointed by your decision.
It is short-sighted, and I’ll explain exactly why. Lightburn has invested years of labor and knowledge in developing a piece of software that works amazing on Linux. There is nothing wrong with the software, other than perhaps trying to appease numerous distros rather than keeping the software in an appimage or flatpak. Ending software support of a product that works and is loved, but not popular, is the wrong mindset. This is not a coding problem, or a user problem. This is a SALES problem. As in, the sales team needs to get motivated and drive interest in the product. There are so many laser printers coming out of China, and each one comes with garbage software. Incentivizing vendors to bundle lightburn would benefit Lightburn, vendors, and end users. It wouldn’t take much extra effort to create an incentive for the Linux version. Waiting for the customer to choose an OS version is the wrong mindset. Tell them why they would be happier moving their laser computer to Linux. The userbase is getting more computer savvy all the time, and showing them how much better the Linux experience is will capture future trends. Windows is killing itself with bloat and a poor user experience, show customers that they don’t have to put up with it.
My biggest complaint with this decision is that it obviously means Millmage won’t be coming to Linux. I’m stuck with using crappy hobby vendor software on my home cnc, or spending big bucks and running Vectric in a virtual window (When 12 was released it worked via wine, then they updated something and now it doesn’t work unless in a virtual environment. ) Hopefully Millmage will work with wine so I can keep CPU usage low. I appreciate that Lightburn will remain available, but I find it so sad that a company abandons what I consider the future of computing, particularly when we’ve seen such a massive advancement with Steam making gaming amazing on Linux recently. I wish Lightburn the best of luck, but I hope they find someone amazing to drive sales, and interest in the product.
I agree with a lot of what you wrote but it’s a very hard sell to get people to switch from Windows no matter what Microsoft does to them. It’s the olde ‘The devil you know’ syndrom. I’ve literally had people tell me they don’t have time to spend learning Linux and then they are fine telling me how they spent 2 days repairing their Registry to get their system running again. What’s happened is LightBurn went from being software for the maker community to LightBurn for the none technical users. Those are predominantly running Windows and in the last 5+ years have started buying the inexpensive Chinese lasers.
What I think would have helped was if LightBurn for Linux worked natively on the rPi. Granted, the K40 vendors would not have stuck an rPi in the K40s but for everything 50W and above it would have been a slam dunk to have an rPi, 10" or larger touchscreen and LightBurn installed. Granted, the users would still be installing LightBurn for Windows on their desktops but the rPi installation would have shown the devs lots more Linux system installs. ie the appliance model has favored Linux for those installations wanting low support issues. The LightBurn for Linux users running Ruida are really in a pickle after v1.7 starts looking old.
The more I think about it, it would have been better for LightBurn’s support staff had they moved the LightBurn for Linux to a custom ISO before ending native distro dev and support. It would have mostly ended installation support issues, packaging issues and customer support issues related to installing on different distros and desktops. The forums could have supported others who tried to run it on their own distro or desktop version and when something failed to work they could boot a liveUSB to test if it really was broken in LightBurn vs broken in their distro installation.
