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Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

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Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#51

Post by digi_owl »

rkangel wrote: post #14
agumonkey wrote: post #6

We'll have Fusion reactors before solid and enjoyable printers.

People just don't seem to realise that moving parts are hard. Phones are incredibly complex but (mostly) just keep working until you drop them on a hard floor. Cars have lots of moving parts and need maintenance. Screens use complicated technology and (mostly) just keep working. Printers have moving parts and break a lot. Moving parts are inherently unreliable. We've just got really used to the incredible reliability…

Then how come when the failure happens it is more often in the firmware rather than any of the mechanical parts.

For some reason we take more care when building mechanical devices, because we can observe and measure the complexities and wear and tear of use.

Software on the other hand, with firmware being a variant of software, can apparently neither be properly observed nor tested.

Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#53

Post by yoodenvranx »

userbinator wrote: post #41
yoodenvranx wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was dreading to buy a printer for a few years but a month ago I finally bought a small Brother HL-1110 laser printer. The instalation on Linix was completely hassle free and it worked perfectly fine. At least until I tried to print a gray-scale picture... For some reason tje printer refuses to print if the image covers more than roughly 50-60% of the page. Instead of giving any error it just blinks a few times and…

It might be out of memory. I'm not sure if that model can be upgraded, but that used to be a pretty common thing to do for HP lasers. There is an interesting discussion on that exact model here: http://superuser.com/questions/758561/when-does-a-laser-prin...

Thanks a lot for that link!

I wish I would have known about these problems before, then I might have bought a printer with more ram.

Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#54

Post by pjc50 »

agumonkey wrote: post #45
pjc50 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, genericity is death for product margins. Profit comes from lockin, like HP's ridiculous cloud ink services. I don't think there's a market for a more open printer, not at the price you'd have to charge for your small production runs.

Understood, maybe it's time for something or someone to put that market at rest so everybody can use their time for better thing, users and companies engineers ?

> put that market at rest

What does that mean?

Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#55

Post by mnw21cam »

userbinator wrote: post #41
yoodenvranx wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was dreading to buy a printer for a few years but a month ago I finally bought a small Brother HL-1110 laser printer. The instalation on Linix was completely hassle free and it worked perfectly fine. At least until I tried to print a gray-scale picture... For some reason tje printer refuses to print if the image covers more than roughly 50-60% of the page. Instead of giving any error it just blinks a few times and…

It might be out of memory. I'm not sure if that model can be upgraded, but that used to be a pretty common thing to do for HP lasers. There is an interesting discussion on that exact model here: http://superuser.com/questions/758561/when-does-a-laser-prin...

It's a common problem for Brother printers. Been there, done that. Annoying.

Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#56

Post by agumonkey »

pjc50 wrote: post #54
agumonkey wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Understood, maybe it's time for something or someone to put that market at rest so everybody can use their time for better thing, users and companies engineers ?

> put that market at rest What does that mean?

Stop presenting it as a tech/muchprofit product, make it like wires. Also kind of Google webm.

ps: also, and it's a bit off topic, slightly; you said non genericity is how they make profit, maybe (just a thought) it's not the only way. People seems frustrated and disenchanted by printers; it's a cool device if you allow user to take control and not obscure everything in the alleged purpose it's to make it easier. Potential new applications, usages; better ergonomics and repairability, longer lasting things, that's something people would pay for. The trend is around cool device + quick renewal but high freqs are harmful IMO companies should invert this business model.

Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#58

Post by Spooky23 »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #17
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We used to have solid and enjoyable printers, around about 1990 was the peak (LaserJet III).

You're saying I should definitely rescue the unused LaserJet III from the dusty corner at the office printer room?

Absolutely.

They are no doubt the best printers in your company's facility. Most printers for enterprises are garbage now without a service contract or managed print deal.

For personal use, the brother laser devices <$100. Are the best bet. Simple, reliable and most of the things that break are either field replaceable or you can ditch the device.

Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#59

Post by Spooky23 »

agumonkey wrote: post #45
pjc50 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, genericity is death for product margins. Profit comes from lockin, like HP's ridiculous cloud ink services. I don't think there's a market for a more open printer, not at the price you'd have to charge for your small production runs.

Understood, maybe it's time for something or someone to put that market at rest so everybody can use their time for better thing, users and companies engineers ?

The market took care of that. It's called Brother!

Re: Epson customers report Google Cloud Print causing printers to power down

#60

Post by Spooky23 »

vbezhenar wrote: post #28
rkangel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People just don't seem to realise that moving parts are hard. Phones are incredibly complex but (mostly) just keep working until you drop them on a hard floor. Cars have lots of moving parts and need maintenance. Screens use complicated technology and (mostly) just keep working. Printers have moving parts and break a lot. Moving parts are inherently unreliable. We've just got really used to the incredible reliability…

My iPhone 4S has 0 moving parts, yet it had failed WiFi after 1 year. My Macbook has 0 moving parts, yet it had failed SSD. My Renault Logan has quite a lot of moving parts, yet I use it for a few years and almost 100 000 kilometers (and that's quite a lot of movement in extremely different weather conditions, from -40 to +40) and I had very minimal maintenance outside of regular oil change. While I generally agree,…

The MTBF is way lower. I've done this analysis for racks of server equipment and client devices. Failure rates are way lower -- low enough at scale to spend extra money on desktop SSD for low end use cases.

That said, environmentals are important. Hot solid state electronics fail.

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