I will throw this idea into the ether and hope someone with more time, knowledge, and talent than me builds on it: swap the brains of an HP Printer with a raspberry pi. All the motors and wiring are in place, and HP sells the printer for cheap to screw you on ink and software. You’d probably want a new source of ink and a way to refill the cartridges to fully cut out HP. I feel like this would get you pretty close at an affordable price.
The whole world wants the Linux version of a printer, we just need a couple people to get together and figure this out.
I would love to make a living lobotomizing smart devices.
The Linux version of a printer is just buy a brother color laser (or non color). I bought one for 85 bucks like 15 years ago and it still chugging along
Bought a Brother during the pandemic when they were hard to get. I shelled out $500 on an office machine and I’ve spent probably $100 in 3rd party toner in 5 years. No regrets.
Please tell me more about this brother laser thingy and why it is a good alternative
I work in IT. Our clients are small offices with existing equipment. So I see a wide variety of machines in different environments.
I would only buy a Brother printer. No question.
Brother is probably the least offensive brand. Laser uses toner instead of ink. So no more of this not printing anything for 6 months and it no longer works crap. Toner lasts basically forever. I’ve replaced my toner cartridge exactly once in like 15 years. The starter cartridge lasted something like 5700 pages of text. The non-starter cartridge should last longer.
“The motor was unable to verify activation. Please contact HP support”
Ohh God … That’s a very, very tall order.
You wouldn’t think that it’s that complicated. I worked in a print-on-demand house for about 5 years, The amount of black magic fuckery that goes on between streaming data into that driver and getting stuff on the page is absolutely insane.
You’re standing on the backs of like 40 years of trade secrets and poorly implemented protocols at half-assed feature sets.
And then the worst part is, HP is spent the last 20 years making the printer cheaper. Most of the inkjets don’t even have steppers anymore, just DC motors and a resistive feedback ribbon.
Developing a multi-platform certified signed driver would be a pretty decent hurdle as well.
Can’t we just stop printing? Change things over to black and white thermal when we really need something that’s pretty easy to do.
Someone could probably do this. But it would just be a fun project, not replicable.
You’d need to write your own printer driver. There are probably some open source libraries out there to do most of the heavy lifting, but it’s still a project.
The big issue is going to be the interface between the pi and the printer’s “motors and wiring”. Doable, but too finicky to publish a “kit” or something for someone else to replicate. It could be worth the work if it would help other people, but I don’t think that’s on the table.
Honestly, I think anyone with the ability to do that would probably find it easier to just build their own printer.
Inkjet cartridges are only refillable a handful of times before components wear out if you don’t screw up the refill in the first place. I used to work at an ink refill franchise, it’s all trash.
A decent toner printer and a small business that will refill toner for cheap is the way to go.
I have done this before!!!
I have bought a “starter” cartridge inkjet, a "premium“ AIO inkjet, and (supposedly) one-of-the-better-ones monochrome laserjet. All of them gave me nothing but grief. I used to think this was an accepted loss with the entire printing landscape, that it’s a problem of the domain itself.
Turns out it was because I had always bought HP.
The last final printer I bought is a Brother inktank. It is not without its quirks, granted, yet I have never felt so easy.
God knows how much of a grief stricken, pain inducing, blood boiling, poisoned my life was– because HP. Once I switched to a different vendor, a burden of sorts was lifted.
i have had a total of 5-6 products in my lifetime from HP, and I’m pretty sure each one has easily taken out years from my life expectancy.
Disregard inkjet printers
Acquire laser printer
Yup
I think the most under appreciated aspect is that ink can dry out just from sitting around. A lot of the time and “empty” ink cartridge just evaporated off its solvents
Toner lasts forever. Perfect for occasional use
Brother used to be the go-to but there was a post a week or so ago showing how they are starting to hold laser toner hostage.
I replaced my HP inkjet with a Brother laser a little over a year ago and seems to be going okay. Though I’m hesitant to let it update firmware.
Absolutely. I had multiple inkjet printer between 2000-2012, smearing, drying, expensive, etc. In 2012 I bought a laser colour wireless, (Samsung CPL-365W) this thing was fantastic, worked with windows, linux etc. Finally in 2024 the fuser died or something…
Yeah I’ve been using an HP laser for a decade, get knockoff ink from some random website that probably steals my info, but whatever, who isn’t stealing my info these days, it’s got almost zero value at this point. Only issues are when it’s just needs to be restarted to work sometimes and I have to walk down to the basement to do it. Need to put it on a smart plug so I can just do it from my phone. Then I need a trained monkey to bring me my prints.
Living in Japan and being able to walk a block over to the convenience store when I need to print something every few months is the greatest daily life I’ve ever had with a printer.
This came in handy for me, I dropped my phone there last time I was there on holiday, my screen shattered and I couldn’t get a QR code to scan, luckily the staff at the combini helped me print it out, god knows what they thought seeing a panicked Scotsman trying to translate through Google 😄
Yep. Can anyone explain why this is?
Unregulted corporate greed
Because printer manufactures are money grubbing bastards.
The amount of ink that comes with an inkjet printer is tiny. So a new printer comes with 10mL of ink, and the refills are 35mL or more. You quite literally get what you pay for.
The other reason is that inkjet printers need to be used on a regular basis, or the ink can dry out. But manufacturers have handled this by having the printer drip out tiny bits of ink all the time, so it’s literally using the ink even when you aren’t using it.
For the vast majority of people, a cheap laser printer is the far better option. Unless you want to produce art prints, but at that point you’re looking at spending a ton of money anyways.
Basically the business model is that if they can sell you a cheap printer at a loss, you won’t consider a less cheap model from a company that isn’t as shitty. Then they can lock you into years of buying their ink, which is overpriced deliberately.
Last I checked, if you need an inkjet printer, get a Brother or an Epson. All the rest will rip you off in various ways.
Even better, get a laser printer if you can afford it (or don’t mind forgoing colour with a b&w model)
A caveat to the HP thing, they split off their enterprise hardware division years ago, and it’s actually a decent company.
On top of this, the starter cartridges that come with the printer are often sized smaller than the refills.
Love my Brother black and white laser printer.
I’m convinced this is the only good printer in existence. They are an absolute workhorse.
Did they walk back their recent less than well liked choice to get into the same pool as HP? They were my go-to recommendation for the longest time.
Not sure, mine is several years old now.
Ate ink, ate cartridge, ate HP, luv me laser, luv me brother, luv me black and white, simple as
Mate, they sold you a printer that prints white?
Had to pay twice as much for two colors but it was worth it!
Well, if it would only print black, you could not see the text!
It isn’t the brand that makes it good, it is the fact that it is laser.
I used to have a Brother “multi function center” printer/scanner/photocopier/fax that used inkjet and it was pure asshole design.
With my old brother inkjet, it would say it was out of ink in like 2 weeks because it used an optical sensor on the printer looking through a window on the ink cartridge at aimed at a floating piece of black plastic in the tank that would drop when the ink level went down.
The thing is, the sponge in the cartridge would soak up the ink and cause the floater to drop when there was still like 90% of the ink left.
So the key was to just put some black electrical tape over the window on the cartridge and keep using it until it actually stopped printing that color.
Using a laser printer in your home comes with negative health consequences.
Sure, but the health impact of a modern laser printer is on par with other daily health hazards at worst. Modern toner shouldn’t contain anything dangerous, nanoparticles could be a problem depending on amount of printing and the printer model, but if you live in a city you will breathe in more by opening a window. Ozone is emmited during printing but in small enough amounts that it will be problematic only in a small room with shit ventilation and tons of printing, and I mean tons, atleast a couple of books worth.
I mean we know that it is harmful because we observe harm being done to people. It’s not some kind of theoretical risk, or even a statistical risk like getting hit by a car. It’s not risk, it’s harm.
If you have information that technology has changed in the last few years to address the harm, I’d be interested if you shared it.
Just so we are on the same page, could you share an example of this harm being observed?
HP has lower profits!
Are you suggesting there are people who die each year as a direct result of having a laser printer in their homes? If so, is there a source?
I’m curious because the person you’re responding to seems to be aware that the risk (harm) is real, but negligible. You seem to suggest the harm is so bad and unavoidable that it’s not worth buying a laser printer.
TIL I should get a vent hood for my printer.
This is exactly what my Brother MFC did and I also put some tape on the window to extend the cartridge life. The problem is that it still went through “cleaning cycles” every few days, in which it will dump a bunch of ink into a big sponge hidden inside the printer (I took it apart after it broke). It will eventually run out ink even if you don’t use it because of that. And if you keep it unplugged to stop it from doing that it will eventually dry up and clog up. Even worse, if you leave it plugged in with tape on the cartridges and it tries to print with an actually empty cartridge, it will burn the printer head.
The absolute worst part is that you have zero control over when it did those cycles in which it would make all sorts of loud clunking and whirring noises and if it detected that an ink cartridge was low it would also beep loudly. It was in my bedroom at that time and it would wake me up in the middle of the night every time. I don’t care what people say about this company, I will never buy anything from it again.
The problem is that it still went through “cleaning cycles” every few days, in which it will dump a bunch of ink into a big sponge hidden inside the printer (I took it apart after it broke). It will eventually run out ink even if you don’t use it because of that. And if you keep it unplugged to stop it from doing that it will eventually dry up and clog up.
In other words, inkjet printers are inherently unsuitable for anybody who doesn’t need to print on a regular and consistent basis, but the initial purchase price of the hardware is cheaper so that’s what a lot of people who only need to print occasionally end up buying.
Here’s the catch: They’re not suitable for people who print frequently either because the cost per page is higher than laser. The only upside is the lower upfront cost but you very quickly make that difference in running costs no matter what your use is.
They’re only suitable for people who want high-quality color prints almost all the time, for things like photos and posters and banners, not just normal documents. The only inkjets that have a good reason to exist are the high-end ones mostly found at print shops and sign shops and the like; the cheap consumer ones are just e-waste from the moment they’re manufactured.
Nah. Brother inkjets were the inky ones that didn’t require chips on the inktanks. Don’t know how it is nowadays but they were the only company that didn’t make everything shitty.
We now have a brother color laser and it’s a godsend.
My Brother inkjet printer didn’t have electronic DRM on their cartridges, but it would still waste a ton of ink through periodic “cleaning cycles” (in which it dumps a bunch of ink into a sponge hidden inside the printer) and would declare a half-full cartridge “empty” unless you put electrical tape on the sensor window. Even if I didn’t print anything it would run out of ink every few months. If you unplugged the printer to avoid those cleaning cycles it would eventually clog up. I agree that other companies like HP make it extra shitty with stupid DRM chips on their cartridges. But even without that, inkjet is just a bad technology.
Now I have a Lexmark laser printer and I’ve printed through a whole stack of paper in the over 8 years I’ve had it and it’s still running the original toner cartridge. No cleaning cycles, no clogging and if I haven’t used it in months I know the toner level will have remained completely unchanged when I eventually use it again. And when it finally runs out I know there are 3rd party toner cartridges available for it because no DRM.
FYI, Brother seem to be acting a little shady in the last couple of years.
It doesn’t surprise me, I feel like I’m navigating a labarynth trying to reset the drum/toner count on my brother printer. It feels like they have the framework in place to make laser just as bad as inkjet brands.
All inkjet printers have to waste ink when they are not in use. Otherwise the ink in the print head dries out and clogs it up. Inkjet printers are the worst possible choice for infrequent use.
They’re also a bad choice if you’re a frequent user because the cost per page is higher than laser. The only upside is the lower upfront cost but you quickly lose that difference in running costs.
The ink tank printers are pretty cheap to run if they work with generic ink. They are a decent option if you need to print a lot of graphics. A laser printer will always produce higher quality text though.
I have a Canon laserjet that absolutely sucks and a Brother inkjet that works great. Both were about the same price (the Brother can do 11x17) and were top recommendations from a bunch of sources. Unfortunately I think buying a printer at this point is just a crapshoot of whether it’ll actually be good.
Huh, our canon works great. Even lets me ignore the low toner warnings.
This Canon decided the cartridges it shipped with were expired and would pop up a “warning” on the printer that you had to acknowledge every print. After a while, it didn’t even let you get past that.
Printer must have kept seeing the cartridge as half empty.
yup. If I need color I can make sure it looks good in black and white and then head to the library and print it out. Its so rarely necessary but love the hassel free nature of the laser. Real question is how long it will take me to get through the starter cartridge. May end up being the same as the comic with as how often I print. Man though its great to have it work right away with no pre print clean out of such needed.
Buy third-party toner, it’s cheap.
After I bought a bunch of inkjet printers and figured out ink tank modifications … I finally just bought a good Canon Inkjet Printer.
After ten years of messing around with these dumb printers for about ten years my inkjet printer has been working fine for the past ten years and I’ve only ever changed the toner once and never had any problems.
Everyone keeps raving about ink tank but I feel I need to specify, don’t buy this style if you don’t print at least once every few weeks, the lines will clog and it’s a royal pain in the ass trying to remove a clog on these styles!
They look amazing if you do a lot of artists stuff and you use it frequently but if you’re the college student or someone that may have to print out a report every other month or something like that, you are far better off going with a laser Printer. Less headache for similar pricing
note: this isn’t a diss on the person I’m replying to, I acknowledge that tank printers are amazing at what they’re good at, I’ve just had so many people bring me their ink tanks because they’re clogged because they only use them maybe once every other month stating that the reason they went with the printer in the first place because it was supposed to not have the penalties that standard inkjets had, so I feel the need to clarify
No offence taken … the last time I used those dumb tanks, or off brand cheap inkjet replacements (I still have a stack of them in my basement in sealed packages) was over ten years ago. I don’t remember how or what I did back then … all I remember is that it was all a constant pain because every time I found a solution, the companies figured out ways to break any set up and then people would start with something new again.
And all I ever wanted to do was print black and white documents anyway. It was always a pain in the ass to try to print a black and white page and my printer would complain that it needed CYAN! … the comic and jokes about that is real … you couldn’t print unless all the colours were there.
I got so mad about it all I went and bought a $300 laser printer and have never had problems since. Once this printer goes, I won’t mind spending $500 on another laser printer because I will never invest in an inkjet printer for my home office.
For real, an HP nowadays is even worse at that. They have a setting now called true black that instead of just using the Black Ink that comes with a printer it uses the black ink and a little bit of every color to make it so it’s a darker shade. The result is a darker tone however it blows through your ink even faster because it’s also using your color at the same time.
If I have no more choices … I’d switch to a mechanical Gutenberg press before I go back to inkjet ever again.
??
You said “ten years” so many times in one sentence that I’m honestly unclear on how much time passed.
It was a time loop … it could have been ten years, maybe more, maybe a hundred years … I don’t know
Pro life tip.
- Buy a printer that accepts off-brand cartridges.
- Buy off-brand cartridges in bulk for further discounts (I buy 12-packs of ‘Hicorch’ cartridges for my Epson Stylus)
- Relax never having to worry about running out of ink.
Or an ink tank printer. Way cheaper.
- don’t buy an inkjet printer
Ink is for chumps. Real chads buy toner.
- Don’t update the printer that might put DRM in after the fact.
Keep it far away from the internet.
Now for an idea time. Printer with WiFi that auto-connects to unsecured networks (read “public”) to install updates for user’s convenience. Or, the drivers could proxy host’s connection. Or, download the update to host in advance, then auto-update by pushing to the printer when connected, even offline. Or, build an LTE modem into the printer.
Better pro-life tip.
1)Buy a laser printer instead of inkjet and never worry about ink again.
That’s it. That’s the only step.
If you don’t mind black and white, go for an Inkless Thermal Printer.
You can get portable ones for less than £100
Get an ecotank printer
I have am epson ecotank and they actually make money on the printer instead of the ink, you fill the ink into tanks on the printer
Governments need to sue more companies for the environmental and resource damage they do with irresponsible business models like this. Get that money Mr. Government. It’s laying on the floor for you to pick up.
They do get that money. They are called bribes … err, I mean … It is called lobbying.
My advice, since as others have said inkjets are trash: If you only need to print something every so often, use your local library. Easier if you live close to one, and still a hassle loading it on a thumb drive, but to me it’s easier than having a printer taking up space in my home.
And if you want to print photos, get it done at a lab. It’ll cost more or less the same or even be cheaper, and come out much better.
When you say “a lab,” what are you referring to? Do you mean shops that provide photo printing, or somewhere more dedicated to photography specifically?
I like to scrapbook, but I don’t know anywhere that only prints photos. The photo lab at CVS can suffice for a lot of things, but if there is a better option, I’d value advice about it!
I’ve been doing this for over a decade now. I don’t use a thumbdrive though, I just email myself the thing I need to print. Go to library computer, log in to email, print right from there. Each page is 10 cents at my local branch.
Also, a lot of libraries will provide you with a “guest pass” so you can use the computers even if you don’t have a library card. 10/10 highly recommended.
I have to press “keep on printing” on my printer for months now and every print is fine. This is just disgusting.
Another way they get you: the ink cartridges that come with new printers are often only half full.
half full is a very optimistic view. I’ve taken apart HP cartridges that were defective at my last job, the starter cartridges are maybe 1/8 to a fourth of the container when being generous, the instructions back when they used to have paper instructions would say there is only enough ink in the printer for about 10 pages worth
Way less than that. They put demo cartridges that are like 1/8 normal capacity, so you get a few pages and then gotta cough up.
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