Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 297 posts

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#41

Post by Spooky23 »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #20
carpenecopinum wrote: post #13

I can't wrap my head around how the printer market has turned into this absolutely dispicable, foul state that it is in right now. Decades of innovation that have been invested, not to make a better product, but mostly on how to extract more and more money from their victims, I mean "customers". I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spendin…

> I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spending several hundred bucks on a device For printing something like once a month, it is even harder to justify wasting space by putting a printer. Printers should be put around in form of vending machines which would let you you insert a USB stick, drop some pennies and print the PDFs.

They are. Public libraries and places like FedEx Office do this and have for years. FedEx even has a virtual printer driver.

Until my kids were a little older, I had an old HP laser printer and then one of those cheap Brother devices. Now I use a little HP mfp with instant ink… it’s essentially a worry free existence.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#42

Post by jrib »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #20
carpenecopinum wrote: post #13

I can't wrap my head around how the printer market has turned into this absolutely dispicable, foul state that it is in right now. Decades of innovation that have been invested, not to make a better product, but mostly on how to extract more and more money from their victims, I mean "customers". I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spendin…

> I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spending several hundred bucks on a device For printing something like once a month, it is even harder to justify wasting space by putting a printer. Printers should be put around in form of vending machines which would let you you insert a USB stick, drop some pennies and print the PDFs.

My local library allows me to print for a few pennies per page. I need to print things so rarely and don't want a printer taking up space, so I've been using my library most of the time.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#43

Post by hoistbypetard »

Ugh. This is bad news. I've used Brother B&W lasers at home for the past 20 years, and they've been great. (I'm 5 years into my second one, because when the rollers wore out on my first one, 15 years in, I decided I'd rather have the iOS printing features they offered on their newer models instead of sourcing new rollers and taking it apart to change them.)

Between their BrScript and their no-BS networking, they were the last I know of to work with no fuss with all the machines I own. On everything other than the iDevices, it's nothing more than a PPD install.

I hope this isn't accurate.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#44

Post by lelandfe »

ztrlp wrote: post #18

Soon they'll have a hidden 5G Internet connection that sends all printed material to the manufacturer, who will then sell the data to advertisers and the state. Are there still any new printers (postscript, laser) that are reasonable? Black and white printing is sufficient.

There's an XKCD for that: https://xkcd.com/416/

Also, actual example of a smart TV connecting to an unprotected WiFI: https://web.archive.org/web/20210912135232/https://forum.dev...

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#45

Post by School-Cotton »

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #21
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #5

Ok... so if I need a printer, that won't fuck me with stuff like this, what should I buy now? Except HP of course, and now Brother

You'll have to buy a pen and use it to trace out the stuff on your screen by holding a piece of paper up to it. Until they see this hack and the system blurs the screen whenever it senses third party pens being used. If only there was some body that could pass laws that would prevent companies from doing such things. You know, like how phones have to use common charger cables.

This is not similar at all to phone charger cables. My iPhone cables, which are now being made illegal by the EU, work perfectly (including the third-party ones).

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#46

Post by selykg »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #20
carpenecopinum wrote: post #13

I can't wrap my head around how the printer market has turned into this absolutely dispicable, foul state that it is in right now. Decades of innovation that have been invested, not to make a better product, but mostly on how to extract more and more money from their victims, I mean "customers". I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spendin…

> I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spending several hundred bucks on a device For printing something like once a month, it is even harder to justify wasting space by putting a printer. Printers should be put around in form of vending machines which would let you you insert a USB stick, drop some pennies and print the PDFs.

UPS Stores also have this type of option. Though, depending on your print choice it is freaking costly.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#47

Post by alistairSH »

hotpotamus wrote: post #25
carpenecopinum wrote: post #13

I can't wrap my head around how the printer market has turned into this absolutely dispicable, foul state that it is in right now. Decades of innovation that have been invested, not to make a better product, but mostly on how to extract more and more money from their victims, I mean "customers". I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spendin…

If you print something once a month, then shouldn't the starter cartridge last for about the life of the printer (maybe a decade or so)? That's been my experience with the B&W Brother laser printer I bought about 2010. I've never changed anything on it. And really I don't find much need to print anything these days anyway.

Toner cartridge? It should (artificial limitations notwithstanding).

Ink jet? Nope, those starter packs are only enough to get you hooked on expensive replacements.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#48

Post by lelag »

otherme123 wrote: post #26
jlturner wrote: post #12

Bummer, I’ve been a fan of Brother in the past. Owned two monochrome laser printers that have been great over 10 years of service with not a single paper jam.

That's also for me. I've advocated for Brother before here in HN, as they just seem to sell printers that works, and avoid toner shenanigans.

I'm in the same boat. I was a big fan after many years happily using a monochrome HL-5250DN networked laser printer. It was just great: the printer was cheap, it printed well and fast, the cartridges were dirt cheap and lasted forever (1 cartridge was like 7000 pages).

Now I have one of their color laser printer which is OK but it's slow, you can't print that much with it before having to change one or the other cartridge and the OEM ink is terribly expensive.

If they now prevent from using third party ink like this, I'm officially out.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#49

Post by 0des »

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #21
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #5

Ok... so if I need a printer, that won't fuck me with stuff like this, what should I buy now? Except HP of course, and now Brother

You'll have to buy a pen and use it to trace out the stuff on your screen by holding a piece of paper up to it. Until they see this hack and the system blurs the screen whenever it senses third party pens being used. If only there was some body that could pass laws that would prevent companies from doing such things. You know, like how phones have to use common charger cables.

I appreciate the advice but be careful speaking so openly about it, the ink cabal is watching.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#50

Post by danpalmer »

carpenecopinum wrote: post #13

I can't wrap my head around how the printer market has turned into this absolutely dispicable, foul state that it is in right now. Decades of innovation that have been invested, not to make a better product, but mostly on how to extract more and more money from their victims, I mean "customers". I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spendin…

> I can't wrap my head around how the printer market has turned into this absolutely dispicable, foul state that it is in right now.

This is the dying gasps of an industry that is mostly irrelevant in the modern age.

When I was growing up we always had a printer, and while ink wasn't cheap, it wasn't too bad, so we used it a lot and printed everything we needed. The industry grew to expect this, most households with a computer also owning a printer and regularly buying ink for it.

This isn't the case anymore. So much of our lives happens "digital-only" that printers aren't needed by most people, and those who do need them don't need as much ink. I have never owned a printer myself, and my parents still own one but buy ink on a yearly basis now.

The market should be shrinking naturally, and so every printer company is trying everything they possibly can to grow or at least keep from shrinking as much. In the panic they are in, it's understandable that this will lead to crappy business practices.

Post reply on HN