4 ms·

I'm more curious about why you hate printers.

by fouc 5y ago

plasma 5y ago
If OPs experience is anything like mine, they just suck at doing their job. There's often some silly reason its stuck, or it prints wrong, or the colors are off, etc, its really just a super painful experience and I can't believe its still so bad.
- Krasnol 5y ago
  Is this some meme I didn't hear about?
  - danuker 5y ago
    This video about how ink cartridges are a scam might be related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX6tHdQGiQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX6tHdQGiQ
  - dest 5y ago
    related comic: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers https://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers
  - lucb1e 5y ago
    I am very surprised you have not heard this before, especially if you've used a printer in your lifetime. Yes, it's a "meme" (not sure whether to apply that word if it's not a badly drawn or photo-edited image, perhaps recurring theme is a better word?). You're one of today's lucky ten thousand!
    - vbrandl 5y ago
      FYI: > a meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme The concept of a meme is in no way limited to images.
mitul_45 5y ago
I used to hate printers too but that changed when I started using HP Instant Ink. The printer needs to be connected to wifi all the time but on the flip side, the printer orders ink cartridges well in advance (so they get delivered in time and I have them ready when I need).
- goldenkey 5y ago
  Might as well just buy a thermal printer.
lucb1e 5y ago
Others said most of what there is to say but to give an answer from 'OP': them working reliably is the exception. Out of yellow -> refuses to print black. DRM cartridges that you can't have refilled. Black ink being more expensive than blood. Driver problems. Network issues. Paper jams. Out of paper error when there is paper. Trying to draw from the wrong paper tray. It doing five minutes of warmup exercises when you really want to get going but forgot to print this signed form to hand in. A new printer being literally free if you just buy the ink with it (my grandma has one of those). And so on. It's insanity more often than not. Ironically, Linux drivers are (as of ~2013 I've noticed this) more reliably than Windows ones. For scanners also. My dad had to re-add the printer (which works fine on Linux) every time on Windows in the configuration panel. It would say 'offline' but could be discovered and then printed with just fine. But only until it goes into standby mode, the next day it's the same story. Now he got an expensive scanner (the kind where you get business support), same story: it just doesn't see the device half the time. This time it's clearly a device issue though: it also only responds to ping when the computer can work with it (i.e. the device is just unreachable when the computer says it's unreachable; not a driver issue for once). And you pay a few hundred bucks for that. The big ones at school or in bigger companies, those seem to work reliably most of the time these days, and if one is out of order you can go a floor up and use the next one. I also remember my old boss (RIP) had a printer that never had a single issue -- of course the model went out of production by the time it gained the track record (all I remember is that it was a Brother laser printer, no colors, only one paper tray, no scanning... all that probably helped). Perhaps you, too, had one of these lucky models and were spared these printer problems. But so yeah that sparked a whole category of jokes on the internet, most people having this experience (at least until a few years ago, perhaps it has gotten better? People also just don't print as much).

I'm more curious about why you hate printers.

by fouc 5y ago

I'm more curious about why you hate printers.

If OPs experience is anything like mine, they just suck at doing their job. There's often some silly reason its stuck, or it prints wrong, or the colors are off, etc, its really just a super painful experience and I can't believe its still so bad.

Krasnol 5y ago
Is this some meme I didn't hear about?
- danuker 5y ago
  This video about how ink cartridges are a scam might be related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX6tHdQGiQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX6tHdQGiQ
- dest 5y ago
  related comic: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers https://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers
- lucb1e 5y ago
  I am very surprised you have not heard this before, especially if you've used a printer in your lifetime. Yes, it's a "meme" (not sure whether to apply that word if it's not a badly drawn or photo-edited image, perhaps recurring theme is a better word?). You're one of today's lucky ten thousand!
  - vbrandl 5y ago
    FYI: > a meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme The concept of a meme is in no way limited to images.

mitul_45 5y ago

I used to hate printers too but that changed when I started using HP Instant Ink. The printer needs to be connected to wifi all the time but on the flip side, the printer orders ink cartridges well in advance (so they get delivered in time and I have them ready when I need).

goldenkey 5y ago
Might as well just buy a thermal printer.

lucb1e 5y ago

Others said most of what there is to say but to give an answer from 'OP': them working reliably is the exception. Out of yellow -> refuses to print black. DRM cartridges that you can't have refilled. Black ink being more expensive than blood. Driver problems. Network issues. Paper jams. Out of paper error when there is paper. Trying to draw from the wrong paper tray. It doing five minutes of warmup exercises when you really want to get going but forgot to print this signed form to hand in. A new printer being literally free if you just buy the ink with it (my grandma has one of those). And so on. It's insanity more often than not. Ironically, Linux drivers are (as of ~2013 I've noticed this) more reliably than Windows ones. For scanners also. My dad had to re-add the printer (which works fine on Linux) every time on Windows in the configuration panel. It would say 'offline' but could be discovered and then printed with just fine. But only until it goes into standby mode, the next day it's the same story. Now he got an expensive scanner (the kind where you get business support), same story: it just doesn't see the device half the time. This time it's clearly a device issue though: it also only responds to ping when the computer can work with it (i.e. the device is just unreachable when the computer says it's unreachable; not a driver issue for once). And you pay a few hundred bucks for that. The big ones at school or in bigger companies, those seem to work reliably most of the time these days, and if one is out of order you can go a floor up and use the next one. I also remember my old boss (RIP) had a printer that never had a single issue -- of course the model went out of production by the time it gained the track record (all I remember is that it was a Brother laser printer, no colors, only one paper tray, no scanning... all that probably helped). Perhaps you, too, had one of these lucky models and were spared these printer problems. But so yeah that sparked a whole category of jokes on the internet, most people having this experience (at least until a few years ago, perhaps it has gotten better? People also just don't print as much).