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Guten: A Tiny Newspaper Printer
- apgwoz 2y agoThis looks cool! Reminds me of the long defunct Little Printer (https://vimeo.com/32796535 https://vimeo.com/32796535).
- simonw 2y agoYeah, Little Printer may also serve as a warning that turning this kind of thing into a commercial endeavor is a very challenging road! You should be OK if you do the Kickstarter style of thing, take pre-orders etc - but I would be wary about raising investment for this kind of project.
- rkagerer 2y agoThis is totally awesome and would be even more wonky if it came out on a reel of teletype tape.
- dqv 2y agoWhat's the deal with the thermal paper though? I guess it's negligible exposure since you would only be using it once a day. There is an alternative thermal paper that uses vitamin c. It's slightly more expensive but I feel like that wouldn't matter for something like this since it's not using nearly as much as would be used for retail printing. I wonder if it's worth using the vitamin c kind instead.
- arminiusreturns 2y agoBased on some of my reading on the current thermal paper, we really need a safer alternative. If you deal with receipts many times in a day you should be wearing gloves!
- feisuzhu 2y agoI'm using a [Gprinter GP-1324D](https://www.ebay.com/itm/365264659480 https://www.ebay.com/itm/365264659480) in everyday work, printing task tracking stickers, various labels, etc. It's designed to print shipping labels / recipients in business scenarios so it's fairly robust. The only con I can think of is its physical size. I'm not familiar with eBay, but on Xianyu(Chinese second hand market app), yes you can buy one using only $20, shipping included.
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- feisuzhu 2y agoLinux CUPS driver here: https://github.com/feisuzhu/gprinter-cups https://github.com/feisuzhu/gprinter-cups
- smarx007 2y agoThis is even better as it allows you to glue the printouts on a diary page instead of discarding them, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kMFWM64gVQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kMFWM64gVQ
- Samin100 2y agoThis is great! I wonder how hard it would be to use a pen plotter instead of a thermal printer. You could even use a procedurally generated handwriting font and Claude to make it feel like a handwritten letter.
- yellow_postit 2y agoThat’s a neat idea — I wonder about pairing it with a low cost plotter like: https://www.generativehut.com/post/ly-drawbot-a-70-pen-plotter https://www.generativehut.com/post/ly-drawbot-a-70-pen-plott...
- mccolin 2y agoI have a TidByt in my office and this feels like the printed version of that. The ability to choose and order the sections of your daily newspaper from a library/app would be slick.
- irs 2y agoThis is cool. Please make it so its not just for news and developer friendly so it can print any content on demand using api. Tried to use a "memobird" printer for similar purpose but couldn't get any support for their API.
- syndicatedjelly 2y agoYou can write your own script to do this. It's a few lines of scripting to query whatever APIs you want, and then output to /dev/usb0 or wherever the printer is hooked up. Seems a bit unnecessary to add an extra API wrapper just to do that You can test this right now by running `echo "Hello, world!" > /dev/usb0`, assuming a printer is connected to that USB port of your Unix-based device. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/141016/a-laymans-explanation-for-everything-is-a-file-what-differs-from-windows https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/141016/a-laymans-ex...
- jossephus01 2y agoInteresting.i have always known usb0 exists but didnt think this would work. Now i am wondering what the equivalent command to print using bluetooth printers is.
- salgernon 2y agoadafruit used to sell a little pi powered thermal printer[1] but I always found the case a little fiddly and fragile. And my office mate didn’t care for the thing coming on at random times. (Not as bad as the text only 40 col commercial receipt printer that used actual ink and was as loud as a full size Epson MX-80. Free idea: Uber for printers. Need to print something? Car drives up with a printer in the boot, you print whatever (umbrella as appropriate) and the driver is responsible for ink and paper. [1] https://www.adafruit.com/product/717 https://www.adafruit.com/product/717
- ornornor 2y agoI cant imagine how much it would cost per print. I doubt anyone would be willing to pay 5–10$ for the first page. It’s cheaper to drive to a print shop or send your pdf to a printing service and receive hard copies by mail.
- fragmede 2y agoFor those not driving, Uber package delivery will probably do the delivery for you.
- aziaziazi 2y agoI’m not driving and just walk or ride my bike to the next print shop (150m) or the further one (300m). I’m blessed to live in an affordable, living suburb. There’s many Uber (and competitors) cars parked in my neighborhood but I don’t see them often in the road. They probably roam around more pricy neighborhoods for work.
- deanputney 2y agoBefore I bought a printer for home, I'd go print things at my local library. Pretty convenient, and it was free for 10 b/w pages a week! But getting my own used Brother printer was a real step up.
- mediumsmart 2y agoThis is great for the environment. Millions of people could balance the strain they put on the planet by reading the news from their lithium powered Gadgets on good old paper. Win win
- latexr 2y agoMost thermal paper is made with harmful chemicals.
- iamjackg 2y agoI've had this same idea since I also own a thermal printer, but I could never get past the wastefulness of printing a piece of paper that I would then immediately throw away after reading, so I never implemented it. I still think about it periodically: there is something oddly alluring about finding a small piece of paper made specifically for me whenever I go to the kitchen in the morning. E-ink just doesn't quite feel the same.
- fnordian_slip 2y agoYeah, I kind of expected this to be an art project decrying the wastefulness of our times, not an actual project.
- bowsamic 2y agoI think there's a point where it's worth waste in order to enjoy life, for example writing on paper instead of typing, or eating a burger every now and then. Not using a small amount of thermal paper each day is I think a pathological over-optimisation
- fnordian_slip 2y agoOf course, it's just the symbolism of the whole thing. I now realise that my comment had a bit too much pathos, and could easily be interpreted as looking down on the creator of this harmless concept. Companies waste such an insane amount of resources on advertising alone, that this fun little project can not be seen as morally problematic. It's just so on the nose, and together with the current bad press surrounding of thermal paper due to health concerns, it felt like satire to me. But thank you for your "writing on paper" example, that was a useful one. It made me realise how my comment would have to be construed by someone lacking the context I had created in my head :)
- serf 2y ago>Not using a small amount of thermal paper each day is I think a pathological over-optimisation I agree, but OP is judging interest in order to produce a product from this concept. Using a bit of thermal paper each day on a personal basis creates negligible impact, agreed -- creating a company whose primary profit motive is the sales of equipment that produces this waste? That's a different question.
- alekratz 2y agoHey, I made something like this last year. It wasn't a self-contained unit, it was just a receipt printer with a script that would run every morning at 8am, getting the forecast, word of the day, and quote of the day. The idea was that if something important happened that day, I could hold onto that day's slip of paper and maybe write a note on it? I dunno, I stopped using after a month or so.
- october8140 2y agohttps://github.com/alibahmanyar/breaklist https://github.com/alibahmanyar/breaklist https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41742210 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41742210
- sleepybrett 2y agoThis same project has been done several times. Most notably by BERG London https://nordprojects.co/projects/littleprinters/ https://nordprojects.co/projects/littleprinters/ This thing came out right on the cusp of IOT as a concept, They put a lot of nice effort into design. You could configure it for some predefined blocks of content and also some support for rss. Was nice to have a little actual pen and paper sodoku every morning on the bus.
- mattvr 2y agoHow about showing all the money you spent/earned in the previous day, in one personalized receipt?
- graypegg 2y agoI’ve wanted to make something like this for a while! Though with sudoku puzzles instead of news. My mum goes thru tons of those sudoku books, and doesn’t want to use her phone for it. Just a button to get 1 puzzle, or hold for a roll of 10 or something seems like an easy thing to set up.
- CarRamrod 2y agoVery cool, but FYI, many types of thermal paper contain extremely high levels of the chemical BPA.
- macinjosh 2y agoYou’re not supposed to eat/lick/consume it.
- ornornor 2y agoYou don’t have to. It would seem it also leeches through your fingers.
- _joel 2y agoGood job you can get BPA and Phenol free rolls then.
- ornornor 2y agoAt least for plastic containers that are BPA free, it would seem the alternatives are just as toxic but we pretend it’s not because we have no alternatives.
- CarRamrod 2y agoSure, but it's a lot easier to avoid a harmful chemical (and protect children from it) when you have been informed that it's there.
- bryanrasmussen 2y agoPerfect for printing Aristotle's guide to comedy and passing around to the other monks.
- pavel_lishin 2y agoThis reference is right on the tip of my tongue, but I can't quite place it.
- bwoodward 2y agoI've wanted something like this since the days of TinyPrinter, but I just can't justify thermal printing. I'd love to have either impact or laser, however. I mostly want it for lists and recipes, but some other goodies would be fun, too.
- figbert 2y agoMade something similar that is probably my proudest work: https://figbert.com/projects/roll-call/ https://figbert.com/projects/roll-call/ I increasingly have come to believe that it is the screen itself that lies at the root of the ills of technology. It brings so much benefit—and so much convenience, from its flexibility—but it is in its fundamental glow-y rectangular nature that sucks us in, crushing our attention, posture, and so much else. Was incredibly fun to experiment with something radically different. Excited to see where things go from here.
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- fmajid 2y agoNice! I got an Epson TM-m30II PoS printer on a whim, and haven’t really found a use for it yet, I’ll definitely try your script.
- Neywiny 2y agoIf this is your website, as a heads up it doesn't work well on my browser. Firefox on Android, I believe I have a dark mode and the text is still black but on a very dark background.
- paulnpace 2y agoApropos.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoAre there accessibly priced printers to do actual newspaper or magazine style printing? Like if you wanted to be your own small publisher.
- landgenoot 2y agoNewspapers and magazines are pressed, not printed.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoIs that available at small scale?
- TheMode 2y agoYou could even 3d print it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spvYDhja1mo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spvYDhja1mo (or try finding used etching presses). Though there is also the question of ink price, and ultimately an industrial printer may work better at small scale.
- scraplab 2y agoYes: https://www.newspaperclub.com/ https://www.newspaperclub.com/ Disclaimer: I was one of the founders of the business, but left a long time ago. It’s still a great service! We print a newspaper for our friends and family each year.
- akoboldfrying 2y agoCute project, I can see myself getting into building something like it as a hobby project. Would I pay for one? Honestly, there's no way in the world.
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- amanvir_ 2y agoHey, I'm the creator of Guten! Thank you, OP, for posting this, and thanks to the community for all your support! To answer some common questions/comments/concerns: - Totally agree with the sentiment regarding screens being a big problem in today's day and age. The main reason I wanted to make Guten was so that I could start my day off reading something on paper instead of staring at my phone. It also helps that you can't doomscroll on a receipt ;) - I also love Little Printer - it seemed like such a cool product, but I unfortunately never had the chance to purchase one before it got discontinued. This is my attempt to bring back some of the functionalities in Little Printer that I'd find most useful in my day-to-day. - BPA in thermal paper was a concern of mine as well, but I thankfully found some BPA-free thermal paper on Amazon!
- Aloha 2y agoEpson still makes a two color impact printer as well in this form factor. https://epson.com/For-Work/POS-System-Devices/POS-Printers/TM-U220-Receipt-Kitchen-Printer/p/C31C514653 https://epson.com/For-Work/POS-System-Devices/POS-Printers/T... I'd be very interested in a "supply your own printer" version of this as well - either using these two color printers or thermal. I suspect there isnt a ton of money to be made in selling printers, but rather the aggregation services needed to drive it. Let people buy a commodity printers, or a variety of them - if you use CUPS as an abstraction layer, you can basically run anything, and the CUPS turns the actual output device into an abstraction.
- afandian 2y agoA dot matrix at 7am would also solve another problem I have.
- ninalanyon 2y agoI fondly remember a dot matrix printer that looked a bit like a single slot toaster from many decades ago, long before the internet and doomscrolling. You sat it above a stack of fan fold paper. My memory claims it was called Tiger, but what brand it was I have no idea. It was incredibly loud but also very fast.
- mongol 2y agoI think the idea would work better using an ordinary laser printer.
- 4k93n2 2y agotheres definitely something nice about how analog this is, but as an anti-screen solution it doesnt make much sense since you would have to spend more time using a screen to make sure your tasks are filled out the night before. for me anyway there are certain tasks i just remember so i mainly only make a note of the things i would forget, but with this i would have to write down everything
- mikojan 2y agoVery inconvenient that people are still using Twitter. A presence on a more open network that would at least be cross-posted to, would be much appreciated.
- louismerlin 2y agoFun! A friend of mine has been working on something similar: https://www.wintermute.org/project/The_Screenless_Office/ https://www.wintermute.org/project/The_Screenless_Office/
- baumschubser 2y agoAs cool as thermal printers are, if you want to have printed news from the nyt in the morning, it might be simpler to just, you know, subscribe to the newspaper.
- CTOSian 2y agothose cheap-as-chips thermals are nice, esp some old ones , they come with a parallel port - very retro! I used an 80mm one to print short todo/lists, they fit well into my 'ancient' pocket filofax (4-ring), alas this kind of paper is not echo friendly.
- Mistletoe 2y agoDoes this fill your body with BPA like store receipts do for workers that touch them a lot? That would be a bad way to start each day.
- quartermaster 2y agoThis reminds me of Little Printers from a few years ago: https://nordprojects.co/projects/littleprinters/ https://nordprojects.co/projects/littleprinters/ Nice to see the concept is still alive and useful!
- aboardRat4 2y agoI'd like to have a program to prepare and typeset PDFs for newspapers to be printed out of a gazillion of news sources is like to read, very few of which have an rss.
- eggy 2y agoAfter my PET 2001 I had purchased in 1977/78, I bought a Commodore Vic-20. Using the book, "Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator", I wrote a program in Vic BASIC which was the same as the PET's to identify the four most prominent moons of Jupiter based on their elliptical plane being on edge when viewed from Earth. I wanted a way of going on my roof in Brooklyn with my small refractor to identify them, so I bought a thermal printer and printed out the primitive graphics on a line for a given time for the next few hours or so of stargazing. I can't remember the printer brand, but it wasn't one of the Apple, Atari, or ZX offerings. Good fun. I have to say, I would use my phone nowadays or my e-ink tablet instead. Not from being 'sucked in' but merely because it would be quick and more accurate and have other uses for the same task like Stellarium!
- NoboruWataya 2y agoVery cool looking thing, though I am confused from these comments as to whether it will kill me or not.
- phyrex 2y agoPlease be aware that handling thermal paper is super unhealthy: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5453537/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5453537/
- smartmic 2y agoNot necessarily, if you choose a friendly alternative. In Germany, we have https://www.oekobon.de/ https://www.oekobon.de/ , I guess there a similar offers for other markets. As always, there are downsides. In this case, the eco version comes with a blue base color.
- mosselman 2y agoWow this is great! Danke
- 9dev 2y agoMy daily supermarket uses these and I keep old receipts for personal finance evaluation, they definitely do not hold up as well as the website advertises. As soon as they get a few crinkles, they darken and get really hard to read. Ideally, we’d all get to online-only receipts and stop the paper madness already, but that said, it’s still miles ahead of ordinary thermopaper.
- declan_roberts 2y agoThere's a reason why a lot of the Costco receipt checkers wear nitrile gloves now.
- ck2 2y agothermal receipt paper should not be handled they contain BPA and BPS which are endocrine-disrupting https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-thermal-paper https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-... https://www.ecocenter.org/our-work/healthy-stuff-lab/reports/bisphenols-and-alternative-developers-retailer-receipts-us https://www.ecocenter.org/our-work/healthy-stuff-lab/reports...
- Dwedit 2y agoTotally misread the headline as "Gluten" on first glance.
- Instantnoodl 2y agoAlways happy to see other thermal printer projects :D I have my own project for using these for TTRPGs: https://sales-and-dungeons.app/ https://sales-and-dungeons.app/