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HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

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Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#221

Post by colejohnson66 »

tamana wrote: post #161
kreitje wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just had a Lexmark tell me cyan, yellow and magenta were low, which was fine since the document I was printing was black text with 2 exceptions for arrows where to sign in red. It printed all the text in orange and the 2 arrows were a perfect red.

There's a setting to tell your printer to not obnoxiously use color inks to print blacks.

It's not without purpose though. It does it because printing all four colors ("registration") instead of just black makes for a deeper black (if that makes sense).

However, you don't want to use 100% registration for text as it can easily eat up your ink/toner. A good compromise if you need deeper blacks is 100% K with a bit of CMY (don't know the percentage).

I'm not discarding the idea that printer companies do it so the customer has to buy more ink; that may be somewhat true. However, even high end printers that are designed to last still do this to an extent, so it's not entirely a money grab.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#222

Post by Mister_Snuggles »

I bought a Lexmark laser printer about 12 years ago. A few days ago I bought my very first replacement toner cartridge for it - until this point I have been using the included cartridge, which is probably a half-capacity one. As you can guess, I do a lot of printing.

The box for the cartridge actually says that it will:

1) Only dispense a certain amount of toner before the printer will stop printing and that there will still be some toner left in the cartridge when this happens.

2) Update the firmware on the printer so that it won't accept 3rd-party cartridges.

3) Stuff about me agreeing to return the used cartridge to Lexmark for recycling since I bought a "return program" cartridge. Lexmark sold the cartridge for a reduced price, returning it for recycling is my end of the bargain.

They didn't use these exact words, but it was very clearly written and seemed like it would be pretty understandable to a regular person.

On one hand, I have to give Lexmark props for full disclosure that doesn't hide behind a click-through license or any weasel-words/legalese. On the other hand, changing the printer after purchase to lock the owner into Lexmark cartridges seems kind of low.

I'm really not sure how I feel about this though. I don't mind buying the manufacturer's cartridges or packing up the old one to be returned. But at the same time I'm worried that, in another 12 years, Lexmark might no longer be making cartridges for this printer and I'll have to throw the printer away.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#223

Post by evadne »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #221
tamana wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a setting to tell your printer to not obnoxiously use color inks to print blacks.

It's not without purpose though. It does it because printing all four colors ("registration") instead of just black makes for a deeper black (if that makes sense). However, you don't want to use 100% registration for text as it can easily eat up your ink/toner. A good compromise if you need deeper blacks is 100% K with a bit of CMY (don't know the percentage). I'm not discarding the idea that printer companies do it…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_black

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#224

Post by tunap »

copperx wrote: post #157
imglorp wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stallman was right...

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you...

Haha, no, they're always laughing at us. First and foremost they take the money. Then they force/trick you into loading 200MB of crap to get a kB driver loaded. Then they ignore you, except for the multiple, obfuscated spywares the driver bundle installed.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#225

Post by colejohnson66 »

brightball wrote: post #87
PieterH wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is so corrupt. HP deserve a total boycott.

How is this not a class action lawsuit?

Either (a) you most likely agreed to an arbitration clause when purchasing the printer or (b) customers don't care enough. Or both. My money is on the second one.

Customers are cheap and lazy. If their printer breaks, they go buy a new $40 one instead of doing research and finding a quality one for a few hundred. "What does this $300 laser do that this $40 inkjet doesn't!?" You mean besides last longer, actually work when you need it to, and not have nozzles that clog up?

People continuing to purchase cheap PoS printers and just accept that "printers break after a year; get a new one" is what allows this nonsense to keep happening.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#226

Post by [deleted] »

evadne wrote: post #223
colejohnson66 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not without purpose though. It does it because printing all four colors ("registration") instead of just black makes for a deeper black (if that makes sense). However, you don't want to use 100% registration for text as it can easily eat up your ink/toner. A good compromise if you need deeper blacks is 100% K with a bit of CMY (don't know the percentage). I'm not discarding the idea that printer companies do it…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_black

[deleted]

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#228

Post by gtaylor »

userbinator wrote: post #69
bArray wrote: post #59

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.

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.

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.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#229

Post by canttestthis »

rayiner wrote: post #153
petra wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it's not a verified-purchase , it's still counts in Amazon's count of percentage of 1 star reviews.

On principle I hate the idea of encouraging people to submit reviews for products that they haven't purchased. It's a crime worse than time-bombing generic printer cartridges and makes online reviews basically worthless. I don't give a shit about your moral stand against HP. Give me an honest review of a product you own or don't say anything.

Disagree. You don't have to own a product to write an honest review of it. You don't need to have a Galaxy that caught fire to warn others of what's happening. I'm going to leave a 1-star review because my review is an accurate description of the product even though I haven't owned it.

The real problem is people who review products on unrelated issues, like the political positions of the CEO.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#230

Post by [deleted] »

rayiner wrote: post #153
petra wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it's not a verified-purchase , it's still counts in Amazon's count of percentage of 1 star reviews.

On principle I hate the idea of encouraging people to submit reviews for products that they haven't purchased. It's a crime worse than time-bombing generic printer cartridges and makes online reviews basically worthless. I don't give a shit about your moral stand against HP. Give me an honest review of a product you own or don't say anything.

[deleted]
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