OrcaStudio

Fork of Bambu Studio with OrcaSlicer changes applied.

This version restores BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers through the Linux bambu_networking component.

It is not limited to LAN-only mode. It restores the normal Bambu Lab network workflow used by Bambu Studio, including printer monitoring and printing.

Important

This version also fixes a slicer issue that appears when using BMCU with Bambu Lab A1 / A1-mini printers on firmware 01.08.01.00 and 01.08.00.00.

Instead of showing an error and blocking the whole slicer, OrcaStudio ignores that error and retries sending the print.

If an error appears on the printer - stay calm. Wait 5 seconds. The error should disappear by itself and the print should resume.

If this no longer works, it means that Bambu Lab still does not respect BMCU, does not respect customers who bought their printers, and continues to block BMCU users.

Warning

Bambu Lab is limiting local BMCU interoperability through firmware updates.

About how printer updates remove functions that were available at purchase: BMCU vs firmware locks

Important note about bambu_networking and AGPL

OrcaStudio does not ship the closed bambu_networking component.

The application contains the callback/interface code needed to use that component. This code comes directly from the public AGPL v3 Bambu Studio source code.

In my opinion, the closed bambu_networking component is not AGPL-compliant. Bambu Studio is AGPL v3, but its public code downloads, installs, dynamically loads and deeply integrates this closed component through ABI structures, callbacks and runtime control flow.

The Linux version of this component is the least problematic path, because it does not require the same Windows/macOS publisher-signature workflow that ties the module to Bambu Lab-signed binaries. On Windows/macOS, Bambu Studio can validate that the module has the same publisher/certificate as the application, with certificate checking enabled by default unless ignored by configuration.

Bambu Lab should publish the complete corresponding source code for bambu_networking under AGPL-compatible terms.

Detailed analysis: https://github.com/jarczakpawel/OrcaSlicer-bambulab/blob/main/bambu_agpl.md

Installation

Windows

Windows requires WSL 2.

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as Administrator and run:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Restart Windows, then launch OrcaStudio.

The application imports its own WSL2 runtime named:

BambuStudio-LinuxRuntime

If WSL 2 does not work, make sure virtualization is enabled in BIOS/UEFI. Depending on the motherboard, this option may be named Intel Virtualization Technology, Intel VT-x, AMD-V, or SVM Mode.

Linux

Nothing special is required.

Install and run normally.

macOS

1. Open the downloaded DMG.
2. Drag OrcaStudio.app to the Applications folder.
3. Start OrcaStudio from Applications.

On first use, the application will ask to install the local Linux runtime.

The public macOS builds are currently ad-hoc signed because this project does not have an Apple Developer ID certificate and Apple notarization credentials. macOS may therefore display a message that Apple cannot verify the application.

First try Control-clicking OrcaStudio.app, selecting Open, and confirming Open. You can also use System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Open Anyway.

If macOS still blocks the application after it has been copied to Applications, run this once in Terminal:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/OrcaStudio.app"
open "/Applications/OrcaStudio.app"

This removes quarantine only from OrcaStudio. Do not disable Gatekeeper globally.

Removing the runtime

Windows

To remove only the WSL runtime used by OrcaStudio:

wsl --terminate BambuStudio-LinuxRuntime
wsl --unregister BambuStudio-LinuxRuntime
rmdir /s /q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\BambuStudio-LinuxRuntime"
rmdir /s /q "%APPDATA%\BambuStudio_OrcaSlicer\ota\plugins"

If you do not use WSL for anything else, you can also disable WSL 2:

dism.exe /online /disable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /norestart
dism.exe /online /disable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /norestart

Restart Windows after disabling WSL 2.

Linux

There is no WSL/Lima runtime to remove.

Remove the application package/AppImage and, if needed, remove its user data:

rm -rf ~/.config/BambuStudio_OrcaSlicer ~/.cache/BambuStudio_OrcaSlicer ~/.local/share/BambuStudio_OrcaSlicer

macOS

To remove the local Lima runtime:

LIMACTL="$HOME/Library/Application Support/BambuStudio_OrcaSlicer/slicer-linux-runtime/lima/bin/limactl"
if [ -x "$LIMACTL" ]; then
    "$LIMACTL" stop slicer-linux-runtime 2>/dev/null || true
    "$LIMACTL" delete -f slicer-linux-runtime 2>/dev/null || true
elif command -v limactl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    limactl stop slicer-linux-runtime 2>/dev/null || true
    limactl delete -f slicer-linux-runtime 2>/dev/null || true
fi
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/BambuStudio_OrcaSlicer/slicer-linux-runtime"

What was done

• Updated to OrcaSlicer through commit d6cb667b894f71f68a180861b549f49258cf3a2a.
• Restored BambuNetwork support through the Linux bambu_networking path.
• Added Windows WSL2 runtime support.
• Added macOS Lima runtime support.
• Fixed macOS runtime integration, including printer connection, file browsing and camera preview.
• Removed non-portable macOS build-runner LC_RPATH entries and added distribution checks for packaged Mach-O files.
• Added experimental Bambu Lab A2L printer support - it has not been tested.
• Fixed the issue that appears when using BMCU with A1 / A1-mini printers on firmware 01.08.01.00 and 01.08.00.00.
• HMS notifications remain dismissible and never use modal retry-failure dialogs; BMCU print retries can be started again without restarting OrcaStudio.
• Fixed the known integration issues from this fork.

Special thanks

The macOS version was made possible thanks to support from Daniel Rakowiecki's service.

I have been a huge fan of this channel for many years and I have learned a lot from Daniel. He often repairs difficult service equipment and many other devices that other people often do not attempt to repair or are unable to repair.

Daniel provided the MacBook that made it possible to work on the macOS version, for which I am extremely grateful.

Here is the video showing the repair of the MacBook that was sent to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC3ySN0Fp0w

This is not an advertisement or a sponsored post. I am writing this freely and voluntarily as a thank you.

BMCU

I also encourage you to use BMCU.

BMCU firmware is available here: https://github.com/jarczakpawel/BMCU-C-PJARCZAK

BMCU Flasher is available here: https://github.com/jarczakpawel/BMCU-Flasher