The day after our launch, we made an announcement based on feedback from our very first customers: we said we’d open source our firmware. (This is a technical topic, so if this doesn’t mean anything to you, you can safely ignore the rest of this update.)
It took longer than we intended, but today we’re starting that process. We’re publishing both links to all the third-party open source software that’s used in the firmware, and the kernel modules responsible for lower-level hardware operation. This meets a crucial goal of ours: to recognize and fulfill our obligations to the work of the many great engineers who build the Linux operating system that runs the Glowforge.
We are working on doing more - the current software release doesn’t include all the files in the firmware, for example - but we believe this release both complies with our license obligations for 3rd party software we’re using, and gives people who want to experiment a useful starting point.
Please note that modifying your firmware is not recommended: besides voiding your warranty, it can cause severe damage to your Glowforge and cause fire, property damage, or even death.
You can find the code on our GitHub page at github.com/Glowforge and more information at glowforge.com/open-source.