401–410 of 485 posts
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There's an onion article in there somewhere. Honestly, giving a money grubbing printer a credit card and ordering powers might make a decent analogy to parts of the supply chain issues at large.
It's a precursor to the dreaded Paperclip Maximizer.
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 always bought HP business laser printers. They've always worked for me. I also don't let it connect to the internet as it has a fixed IP and no gateway. Also none of this cartridge subscription business and I've always been able to buy the cheap unbranded cartridges on Amazon or Ebay for a fraction of the HP ones that must be made from solid Platinum or something...
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Pretty much every printer released since 2010 has IPP Everywhere support, which allows for driverless printing on any platform including Linux.
What about scanning?
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The thing about laser is it's not a great answer for your typical boomer mom-level consumer. They're large and color laser MFPs are usually ~$500
> The thing about laser is it's not a great answer for your typical boomer mom-level consumer. I'm not sure how someone's age matters, but the elderly appreciate "it just works" peripherals just as much as you little whipper-snappers. One of the best things we did for my mom-in-law was replace her ink-jet printer with a laser printer. B&W MFCs start around $200.
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…
Canon was actually on my short list of printer vendors I would have recommended people to use. Now it's just down to Brother and Kyocera I guess.
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Fed a diet of the necessary consumables-- toners/drums, fusers, rollers, separation pads, etc-- a 1990s LaserJet will outlive us all. For me, "peak LaserJet" was probably the LaserJet 4 w/ an integral JetDirect. The 4000 that followed was pretty solid and faster but more plastic-ey than the 4.
I have a 15 year old Wi-Fi Brother Laser that is still going strong. I’ve replaced toners a few times and the drum once. I’m sure it will last another 10 years. They still sell a brand new model that is almost identical.
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?
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My big question here is: Why aren't companies being found criminally negligent with the CFAA when they force poison-pill "upgrades" that remove stated features from the original device? How is this functionally different than the crypt-ransomware we see in the news?
You gave authorized access in the EULA. What we need is real penalties for contracts of adhesion.
> (5) (A) knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer;
A malicious driver that bricks the printer might meet that criteria. The access might be authorized, but the inflicted damage isn't.
Just like my stereo. It's the old fashioned kind, with separate components, all from different manufacturers.
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> The thing about laser is it's not a great answer for your typical boomer mom-level consumer. I'm not sure how someone's age matters, but the elderly appreciate "it just works" peripherals just as much as you little whipper-snappers. One of the best things we did for my mom-in-law was replace her ink-jet printer with a laser printer. B&W MFCs start around $200.
I think the age thing is about habits. A lot of older people grew up preferring reading stuff on paper to reading it on some flickering CRT display, and that habit is still with some of them. Younger people never got into the habit of printing anything.