jhbruhn
4 hours ago
Has the Cricut protocol been reverse engineered already? The primary motivation I had when building respira (controller software for the Brother PP-1 Skitch embroidery machine) was its shitty smartphone-only app. The reverse-engineering of the communication protocol was really doable with LLMs and the decompiled C++/C# code of the app. I can imagine something similar could be done with the Cricut machines.
The tooling is there in Inkscape (same for embroidery via InkStitch). AFAIK Silhouette plotters can be controlled via Inkscape plugins already.
alias_neo
4 hours ago
There's a Wiki link in OP that suggests two other pieces of software had added support in the past but were sued by Cricut's org to remove support.
The real take home (as OP is clear about), is don't buy anything from this shitty company, but at least if you already have, and really must use it, you can get their shitty, proprietary, locked down software running on Linux using OPs instructions.
I had always wanted a cutting machine like this, to complement my 3D printers, but I had learned about their plans to charge a subscription to use their software; OPs linked Wiki suggests that was scrapped after backlash; but the damage is done; I'd never buy a thing from them.
kotaKat
2 hours ago
Stick with Silhouette. They're at least owned by a bigger proper conglomerate (Graphtec) that doesn't fuck around with stupid bullshit like Cricut is.
As a plus, small Silhouettes provide a hardware and software upgrade path off of the Silhouette Studio to Graphtec's own design package, and then up to Graphtec's own full-size vinyl cutters.
nxobject
an hour ago
And they have pen-plotter attachments, too!