5 ms·

I think this calls for a cheap open source printer to be made. Nothing complex is needed initially, just black and white with low running costs. In reality, any

by bArray 10y ago

I think this calls for a cheap open source printer to be made. Nothing complex is needed initially, just black and white with low running costs. In reality, any liquid that stains the paper of a given consistency should be fine. It shouldn't be costing this much to replace ink.

imaginenore 10y ago
There are cheap black and white printers with very low running costs. Laser printers. There have been attempts at open sourcing inkjet printers: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8542 http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8542 (2011)
- bArray 10y ago
  That open source one is slow and low-res, I'm sure we can do better than that. The alternative to close-source, high-cost shouldn't be crap and slow.
userbinator 10y ago
You can buy separate inkjet printheads intended for industrial high-volume printing applications and build the rest from parts salvaged from other printers. Very low running cost, but also low-resolution, and those printheads are not cheap. Alternatively, reverse-engineer existing printers to be able to use them with your own firmware that doesn't care what cartridges are in it.
- gtaylor 10y ago
  Just to make sure I'm getting this right, your suggestions are to: #1) Build your own printer. #2) Write your own firmware. These don't seem like good options at all unless you've got lots of time to burn on something like this.
  - prodigal_erik 10y ago
    I'm reminded of "The technology involved in making something properly invisible is so mind-bogglingly complex that 999,999,999 times out of a billion it's simpler just to take the thing away and do without it." There are things I'd like to build, but a printer is so likely to work badly that I'd probably just not print stuff instead of trying.
PieterH 10y ago
All you need to do is buy from a business that doesn't depend on fraud. Samsung make very nice and cheap black & white laser printers. I've bought two over the last few years, around $70. I see one on Amazon for $75 that has wifi printing as well), comes with a cartridge that lasted me 2-3 years and some thousands of pages, and replacement cartridges are $60 for branded ones, less than half that for generics. The printer is tiny, quiet, fast, etc. I can't believe people still buy anything else, after all we don't print photos at home much anymore, do we? There are other manufacturers that do the same kind of model. Just avoid HP and (in my experience) Canon. Laser is the way to go.
- smacktoward 10y ago
  Good news! HP just bought Samsung's printer business. http://www.anandtech.com/show/10677/hp-acquire-samsung-printer-business http://www.anandtech.com/show/10677/hp-acquire-samsung-print...
  - PieterH 10y ago
    Sigh. Well, HP is doing their best to bring us into the paperless future, I suppose. Nice of them.
  - jws 10y ago
    There is still Brother. They make nice, inexpensive black and white laser printers.
    - aruggirello 10y ago
      Plus they have excellent support for Linux with every single printer model - once you install their drivers.
    - MrTonyD 10y ago
      +1 for the Brother monochrome lasers. I have two of their 2270dw printers that I bought after throwing away my three HP printers (after I couldn't make an important print out due to cartridge time-outs). Best thing I ever did. Now I'm both saving money and getting reliable prints.
yyhhsj0521 10y ago
We need custom ROMs for printers. Like we have OpenWRT for routers.
- userbinator 10y ago
  One thing I've wondered about is why there seem to be various "hacking scenes" for other electronics like routers, game consoles, mobiles, and now even some 3D printers, but seemingly nothing for regular 2D printers; despite the fact that the hardware costs are extremely low. Given all the anti-user security those other devices have yet are bypassed by such skilled hackers, a printer may be absolutely trivial in comparison. Perhaps people are just not so interested in printers, or the thought of getting ink and paper everywhere puts them off?
  - rdiddly 10y ago
    It's probably because there's no single printer model that seems worth the effort. The printer landscape is basically hundreds of shitty cheap models. New ones all the time. A moving target. The more I think about it, it's probably intentional.
dghughes 10y ago
Perhaps ink?
ryandrake 10y ago
I've had the same LaserJet 4000N for close to 20 years. These things were built in the late '90s (pre-shenanigans) and last. Toner changes are cheap and infrequent. Find one on eBay.
mentos 10y ago
Ideally you would not want to start from scratch and instead purchase the rights to an old proven printer's design. Anyone know of who you could approach that would sell this design to you? Then you could probably get on Kickstarer and say "If we raise X dollars we will purchase the rights of this Y printer and open source all of the components"

by bArray 10y ago

imaginenore 10y ago

There are cheap black and white printers with very low running costs. Laser printers. There have been attempts at open sourcing inkjet printers: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8542 http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8542 (2011)

bArray 10y ago
That open source one is slow and low-res, I'm sure we can do better than that. The alternative to close-source, high-cost shouldn't be crap and slow.

userbinator 10y ago

You can buy separate inkjet printheads intended for industrial high-volume printing applications and build the rest from parts salvaged from other printers. Very low running cost, but also low-resolution, and those printheads are not cheap. Alternatively, reverse-engineer existing printers to be able to use them with your own firmware that doesn't care what cartridges are in it.

gtaylor 10y ago
Just to make sure I'm getting this right, your suggestions are to: #1) Build your own printer. #2) Write your own firmware. These don't seem like good options at all unless you've got lots of time to burn on something like this.
- prodigal_erik 10y ago
  I'm reminded of "The technology involved in making something properly invisible is so mind-bogglingly complex that 999,999,999 times out of a billion it's simpler just to take the thing away and do without it." There are things I'd like to build, but a printer is so likely to work badly that I'd probably just not print stuff instead of trying.

PieterH 10y ago

All you need to do is buy from a business that doesn't depend on fraud. Samsung make very nice and cheap black & white laser printers. I've bought two over the last few years, around $70. I see one on Amazon for $75 that has wifi printing as well), comes with a cartridge that lasted me 2-3 years and some thousands of pages, and replacement cartridges are $60 for branded ones, less than half that for generics. The printer is tiny, quiet, fast, etc. I can't believe people still buy anything else, after all we don't print photos at home much anymore, do we? There are other manufacturers that do the same kind of model. Just avoid HP and (in my experience) Canon. Laser is the way to go.

smacktoward 10y ago
Good news! HP just bought Samsung's printer business. http://www.anandtech.com/show/10677/hp-acquire-samsung-printer-business http://www.anandtech.com/show/10677/hp-acquire-samsung-print...
- PieterH 10y ago
  Sigh. Well, HP is doing their best to bring us into the paperless future, I suppose. Nice of them.
- jws 10y ago
  There is still Brother. They make nice, inexpensive black and white laser printers.
  - aruggirello 10y ago
    Plus they have excellent support for Linux with every single printer model - once you install their drivers.
  - MrTonyD 10y ago
    +1 for the Brother monochrome lasers. I have two of their 2270dw printers that I bought after throwing away my three HP printers (after I couldn't make an important print out due to cartridge time-outs). Best thing I ever did. Now I'm both saving money and getting reliable prints.

yyhhsj0521 10y ago

We need custom ROMs for printers. Like we have OpenWRT for routers.

userbinator 10y ago
One thing I've wondered about is why there seem to be various "hacking scenes" for other electronics like routers, game consoles, mobiles, and now even some 3D printers, but seemingly nothing for regular 2D printers; despite the fact that the hardware costs are extremely low. Given all the anti-user security those other devices have yet are bypassed by such skilled hackers, a printer may be absolutely trivial in comparison. Perhaps people are just not so interested in printers, or the thought of getting ink and paper everywhere puts them off?
- rdiddly 10y ago
  It's probably because there's no single printer model that seems worth the effort. The printer landscape is basically hundreds of shitty cheap models. New ones all the time. A moving target. The more I think about it, it's probably intentional.

dghughes 10y ago

Perhaps ink?

ryandrake 10y ago

I've had the same LaserJet 4000N for close to 20 years. These things were built in the late '90s (pre-shenanigans) and last. Toner changes are cheap and infrequent. Find one on eBay.

mentos 10y ago

Ideally you would not want to start from scratch and instead purchase the rights to an old proven printer's design. Anyone know of who you could approach that would sell this design to you? Then you could probably get on Kickstarer and say "If we raise X dollars we will purchase the rights of this Y printer and open source all of the components"