Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink • Hacker News Board

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#381

Post by ruined » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 9:53 PM UTC

greggman3 wrote: post #343

neilv wrote: post #173

As many techies will probably always say anytime inkjet product shenanigans come up: just buy a laser printer. And I now add: and don't let it connect to the Internet, and don't install proprietary drivers or software for it on your computers. Also, remember the names of companies doing sketchy things, and do your part to provide negative feedback when you can, and to give positive feedback to better companies. (Exam…

Laser printers, at least in my experience, suck for photos. Not that people print photos any more but if you're using your printer for any kind of small framed photos or crafts than a laser printer really isn't a solution

anything you can do at home sucks for photos. drugstore prints too. you can't expect inkjet pigments to last very long.

if you want a decent photo print that won't deteriorate, projection onto real silver or archival color process is the way to go.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#382

Post by busymom0 » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:01 PM UTC

neilv wrote: post #173

As many techies will probably always say anytime inkjet product shenanigans come up: just buy a laser printer. And I now add: and don't let it connect to the Internet, and don't install proprietary drivers or software for it on your computers. Also, remember the names of companies doing sketchy things, and do your part to provide negative feedback when you can, and to give positive feedback to better companies. (Exam…

> I've just moved away from the Apple product ecosystem, because Apple did one too many obnoxious things, and I'll also be pointing friends who ask to alternative solutions

Good to hear I have more companions on the same boat.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#383

Post by mianos » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:05 PM UTC

rdtwo wrote: post #377

acjohnson55 wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The inherent problem with inkjets is the ink drying out over time, requiring replacement even if you only use it occasionally.

This or the printer constantly dumps ink to prevent this problem. Both are not ideal

Like Epsom printers that come with just enough ink to prime the print head, dump the rest and print two colour pages. It is a terrible purchasing experience.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#384

Post by matheusmoreira » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:07 PM UTC

heavyset_go wrote: post #290

matheusmoreira wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no funky drivers Even on Linux?

Pretty much every printer released since 2010 has IPP Everywhere support, which allows for driverless printing on any platform including Linux.

What about scanning?

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#385

Post by buzzwords » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:09 PM UTC

I hope this article ranks high when people Google canon review.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#386

Post by zeusk » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:13 PM UTC

neilv wrote: post #173

As many techies will probably always say anytime inkjet product shenanigans come up: just buy a laser printer. And I now add: and don't let it connect to the Internet, and don't install proprietary drivers or software for it on your computers. Also, remember the names of companies doing sketchy things, and do your part to provide negative feedback when you can, and to give positive feedback to better companies. (Exam…

What Apple alternatives have you been using?

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#387

Post by shagie » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:16 PM UTC

greggman3 wrote: post #343

neilv wrote: post #173

As many techies will probably always say anytime inkjet product shenanigans come up: just buy a laser printer. And I now add: and don't let it connect to the Internet, and don't install proprietary drivers or software for it on your computers. Also, remember the names of companies doing sketchy things, and do your part to provide negative feedback when you can, and to give positive feedback to better companies. (Exam…

Laser printers, at least in my experience, suck for photos. Not that people print photos any more but if you're using your printer for any kind of small framed photos or crafts than a laser printer really isn't a solution

> Laser printers, at least in my experience, suck for photos.

They do... Though if your use case is only photos, look at a completely different technology.

For a number of years, for printing photos I used an Olympus dyesub printer - it was a P-400. It prints an 8x10 (and you had best use the 8x10... or make 4x 4x5s). The problem was that it cost about $3/page to do that print.

I'm not sure about the current lineups and price points. Looking around, there's a Kodak one for $130 for the printer that appears to be at $0.50/4x6.

Now days, for printing photos - for those that I want printed, I go to smugmug or similar.

When you get down to it, I haven't been pleased by the photo printing quality of any of the other technologies.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#388

Post by quickthrower2 » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:18 PM UTC

int_19h wrote: post #367

quickthrower2 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brother sells overpriced refills but there are off brand replacements about half the price. They also report ink run out on starter cartridges when it hasn’t. I think the only ethical printers are 3D ones.

Have you tried resetting the counter? The procedure is different on different models, but it goes something like this: https://www.inkhub.com.au/ink/brother-mfc-l3750cdw-toner-res...

I have a mechanical mod to do that … but point still stands the default isn’t good.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#389

Post by axiolite » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:19 PM UTC

greggman3 wrote: post #343

neilv wrote: post #173

As many techies will probably always say anytime inkjet product shenanigans come up: just buy a laser printer. And I now add: and don't let it connect to the Internet, and don't install proprietary drivers or software for it on your computers. Also, remember the names of companies doing sketchy things, and do your part to provide negative feedback when you can, and to give positive feedback to better companies. (Exam…

Laser printers, at least in my experience, suck for photos. Not that people print photos any more but if you're using your printer for any kind of small framed photos or crafts than a laser printer really isn't a solution

I bought the cheapest (Samsung) personal color laser printer I could find, and I would have to say it is, at worst, mediocre for photos. They come out a bit darker than one would like, and some of the colors can sometimes be shifted to a slightly different tint. Very bright/vivid photos generally come out looking great on plain paper... better than inkjet as they don't saturate the paper.

You should look around for current reviews on the quality of photo printing on color lasers, as I'm sure you'll find reasonably priced models which do a very good job.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#390

Post by dspillett » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 10:23 PM UTC

acjohnson55 wrote: post #355

sangnoir wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As many techies will probably always say anytime inkjet product shenanigans come up: just buy a laser printer It's Canon/HP/$MANUFATURER shenanigans - nothing inherent to inkjets. I think the better solution is to buy from more ethical printer companies, like Brother.

The inherent problem with inkjets is the ink drying out over time, requiring replacement even if you only use it occasionally.

> requiring replacement even if you only use it occasionally

I'd say especially if you only use occasionally, given how many times I sometimes had to run the head-clean on the last inkjet I used, every time it was left alone for a couple of weeks.

At the time I ran a B&W laser for bulk (and letters & other documents that needed to be crisp) and the inkjet for occasional photos and other colour work. I now just have a colour laser and on the rare occasion I need better photo quality I get a print done commercially.

Be careful on your selection of laser printer though, some are far more expensive than others wrt consumables, and/or far less reliable, especially as the not-silly-expensive-for-home-use end of the market.