5 ms·

Why is there no open source printer or hacker friendly printer? Surely Eric from Pebble should focus his energy on that.

dv_dt 2y ago
Because the paper and ink handling mechanicals are even less common than say PC grade electronics which are largely commoditized for an ecosystem of multiple designers. Eg Framework or MSI etc can design and build motherboards in the ecosystem. But, print engines afaic aren't design components packaged for multiple design partners.
- dmonitor 2y ago
  it's crazy that 3d printers are so hackable but 2d printers are malicious spyware machines with no alternatives
  - throwaway48476 2y ago
    The government has their tentacles in them to make sure the microdots are printed. They're trying to lock down 3D printers too in NY state.
    - alpaca128 2y ago
      > They're trying to lock down 3D printers too in NY state. Good luck with that. Unkess they inspect every single vehicle and delivery entering the state they could only make it a little less convenient and force a few more people to buy a kit instead.
  - p0w3n3d 2y ago
    Solution: put colourful pens into 3d printer "hands"
    - DaSHacka 2y ago
      This unironically may be what needs to be done. A video by Stuff Made Here covered what is essentially one such machine [0]. That specific machine is meant for generating handwritten notes, but I imagine it could likely work for general purpose documents too with some tweaks. [0] https://youtube.com/watch?v=cQO2XTP7QDw https://youtube.com/watch?v=cQO2XTP7QDw
- wmf 2y ago
  It seems weird because back in the 1990s there were a bunch of companies combining e.g. Canon print engines with their own RIP. But now everything has vertically integrated?
  - wildzzz 2y ago
    There's near zero money in printer hardware. Ink is what makes money. So few people are printing nowadays that it's effectively a dead-end industry. It's not new, there's very few innovations in printing lately (other than ink tanks but even then, that's not that new). You've been able to print over wifi for a while now and have had access to some sort of cloud printing service for just as long. I could see some hobbyist wanting to develop their own printer but I doubt any manufacturers would sell them a print engine, there's not enough money to even bother replying to an email. Maybe I could see something where you piggyback onto the controller board and run your own software but that's likely such a niche market. Who cares enough to do so? Firewall your printer off and use printers that support generic drivers and can take generic ink (or can be tricked into doing so), you'll save a lot more time than building your own printer that you'll use twice a year.
    - hulitu 2y ago
      > Ink is what makes money. IaaS (Ink as a service). /s
      - ralgozino 2y ago
        I see you have not bought an HP printer lately: https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/l/v2 https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/l/v2
        infogulch 2y ago
        Since we're beating up on brother in this thread, here's brother doing the same thing: https://www.brother-usa.com/supplies/subscription-info https://www.brother-usa.com/supplies/subscription-info
em3rgent0rdr 2y ago
If you can limit yourself to vector graphics, there are inexpensive open-source pen-plotters which use the same Arduino-based grbl program that is used by CNC drilling machines. I don't know how reliable they are, and I don't know of one with an automatic paper-feed, and they probably take long to draw, particularly if there are a lot of solid color areas. Looking on amazon I see a cheap A4-sized self-assemble pen-plotter for $130.
- wizzwizz4 2y ago
  We should make a dual-head pen-plotter / paintbrush combo, to fill in solid colour areas faster.
Almondsetat 2y ago
Because printers are ungodly complex to make
criddell 2y ago
Because as much as we like to complain about consumer hostile printer companies, modern printers are marvels. Reliable, excellent print quality, and fast and all that for very inexpensive prices. If selling printers was a business with decent margins, you would find a lot of Chinese white label printers doing more for less.
Sohcahtoa82 2y ago
Making a reliable paper feed is surprisingly difficult and requires construction with tiny tolerances. Not to mention that if you tried to re-invent it yourself, there's a good chance you'd end up violating a patent. Even if you didn't, HP or some other company could allocate a lot of legal funding to convince a judge that you have.

dv_dt 2y ago

Because the paper and ink handling mechanicals are even less common than say PC grade electronics which are largely commoditized for an ecosystem of multiple designers. Eg Framework or MSI etc can design and build motherboards in the ecosystem. But, print engines afaic aren't design components packaged for multiple design partners.

dmonitor 2y ago
it's crazy that 3d printers are so hackable but 2d printers are malicious spyware machines with no alternatives
- throwaway48476 2y ago
  The government has their tentacles in them to make sure the microdots are printed. They're trying to lock down 3D printers too in NY state.
  - alpaca128 2y ago
    > They're trying to lock down 3D printers too in NY state. Good luck with that. Unkess they inspect every single vehicle and delivery entering the state they could only make it a little less convenient and force a few more people to buy a kit instead.
- p0w3n3d 2y ago
  Solution: put colourful pens into 3d printer "hands"
  - DaSHacka 2y ago
    This unironically may be what needs to be done. A video by Stuff Made Here covered what is essentially one such machine [0]. That specific machine is meant for generating handwritten notes, but I imagine it could likely work for general purpose documents too with some tweaks. [0] https://youtube.com/watch?v=cQO2XTP7QDw https://youtube.com/watch?v=cQO2XTP7QDw
wmf 2y ago
It seems weird because back in the 1990s there were a bunch of companies combining e.g. Canon print engines with their own RIP. But now everything has vertically integrated?
- wildzzz 2y ago
  There's near zero money in printer hardware. Ink is what makes money. So few people are printing nowadays that it's effectively a dead-end industry. It's not new, there's very few innovations in printing lately (other than ink tanks but even then, that's not that new). You've been able to print over wifi for a while now and have had access to some sort of cloud printing service for just as long. I could see some hobbyist wanting to develop their own printer but I doubt any manufacturers would sell them a print engine, there's not enough money to even bother replying to an email. Maybe I could see something where you piggyback onto the controller board and run your own software but that's likely such a niche market. Who cares enough to do so? Firewall your printer off and use printers that support generic drivers and can take generic ink (or can be tricked into doing so), you'll save a lot more time than building your own printer that you'll use twice a year.
  - hulitu 2y ago
    > Ink is what makes money. IaaS (Ink as a service). /s
    - ralgozino 2y ago
      I see you have not bought an HP printer lately: https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/l/v2 https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/l/v2
      - infogulch 2y ago
        Since we're beating up on brother in this thread, here's brother doing the same thing: https://www.brother-usa.com/supplies/subscription-info https://www.brother-usa.com/supplies/subscription-info

em3rgent0rdr 2y ago

If you can limit yourself to vector graphics, there are inexpensive open-source pen-plotters which use the same Arduino-based grbl program that is used by CNC drilling machines. I don't know how reliable they are, and I don't know of one with an automatic paper-feed, and they probably take long to draw, particularly if there are a lot of solid color areas. Looking on amazon I see a cheap A4-sized self-assemble pen-plotter for $130.

wizzwizz4 2y ago
We should make a dual-head pen-plotter / paintbrush combo, to fill in solid colour areas faster.

Almondsetat 2y ago

Because printers are ungodly complex to make

criddell 2y ago

Because as much as we like to complain about consumer hostile printer companies, modern printers are marvels. Reliable, excellent print quality, and fast and all that for very inexpensive prices. If selling printers was a business with decent margins, you would find a lot of Chinese white label printers doing more for less.

Sohcahtoa82 2y ago

Making a reliable paper feed is surprisingly difficult and requires construction with tiny tolerances. Not to mention that if you tried to re-invent it yourself, there's a good chance you'd end up violating a patent. Even if you didn't, HP or some other company could allocate a lot of legal funding to convince a judge that you have.