Sad to hear Louis is having family issues
I rarely use a printer now that my kids are in college. When it dies, I had a choice between laser printer, Brother inkjet, or none. “None” is now my first choice
That’s what we did.
For the few pages we need to print, I can use the machine at the library for $0.10/page.
Now i had to put on the in-ears, hook up to phone to… listen to a guy talking. -_-
Short summary: after he got a firmware update, the MFC 3750 of Louis Rossman prints in worse quality with aftermarket ink.
Framework printer.
Make it happen.
Not saying they couldn’t/shouldn’t but printers are a nightmare hellscape and it’s a miracle, mostly of HP’s marketing department, that they’re a household object.
Back before everyone had maps on their phone, printing MapQuest maps was fantastic. This was the early 00’s though and we all had money to burn still.
dude I would pay gold for that
Brother sucks now!?
Truly, this is the canary in the coal mine moment.
It’s just capitalism. Don’t make it more then what it is.
I don’t think I’m making it more than it is. Just can’t believe the God-damned Russians got to Brother, too.
Not sure if I got the update yet, but I’m banning my printer from accessing the internet right now.
I have a Canon color laser printer which works pretty well and doesn’t pull any of this shit. They’re probably the last one standing now.
I used to work for canon as a service tech. They are a wildly scummy company that routinely goes out of their way to fuck over their employees and customers.
This kinda shit makes me glad I don’t own a printer.
That gives a whole new twist to “you’ll own nothing and be happy”
Honestly, more people should probably do that. If you have a low printing volume, you’ll save a lot of money by going to a store to get prints.
Yes, you can argue that you need the convenience of having a printer right there. Just realize you’re spending a lot of extra money for that convenience.
Fucking hell that sums up my life surprisingly well actually.
Welcome to the future
Future for normies: Renting/subscribing for everything
Future for me: Rejecting everything, I will write in cuneiform on clay tablets before I subscribe for a fucking HP printer.
Future for us: service bundling so you need to pay for shit services you don’t need to get the few you do need.
Sounds like another service to reject. Fucking try me, I will cook over a log fire if necessary just out of spite towards their bullshit.
I’ve decided that just going to a copy shop a few times a year is less hassle.
Do we really need to crowd fund a FOSS printer? Really?
You actually can’t sell third-party printers legally, because all printers will include an ink fingerprint which can be traced back to that specific printer. So if someone prints a ransom note or counterfeits cash with it, the FBI will be knocking on their door by the end of the day.
There’s literally a certification process to be allowed to sell printers, and one of the biggest criteria for that certification is agreeing to maintain that fingerprint database. One of the other big criteria is that the printer needs to be able to recognize and refuse to print images of cash, to prevent counterfeiting. If you try to print an image of a dollar bill, the printer’s firmware will refuse to continue the print job. The issue is that this certification process also ensures there’s a de facto near duopoly on printers, which leads to BS like HP making it increasingly difficult to use affordable ink. They can be blatantly anti-consumer, because they’re protected from any competition.
There’s a reason HP hasn’t already been priced out by some cheap Chinese competitor who is able to undercut the competition. And it’s not because of the difficulty in manufacturing or the price of components. It’s because no other companies are allowed to sell printers.
We have great examples of things sold as parts or kits to be assembled
Take handguns as an example. If a murder weapon can be assembled from parts with only the frame 3d printed, and avoid similar laws for traceability, surely a printer is an easier task
You actually can’t sell third-party printers legally, because all printers will include an ink fingerprint which can be traced back to that specific printer.
All color printers.
Inside the US, sure. That just means you don’t get the cool FOSS printer.
You can still build it yourself.
yeah let’s build “ghost printers” wait are we in a cyberpunk dystopia?!
AR15 lower receiver model. You can buy a kit that’s 85% of the way to done and only needs basic tools from there.
You make it sound like a huge conspiracy but there are laws and regulations around everything you try to sell, especially for electronics.
You also have to do EMF radiation testing, ensure that your printer doesn’t produce toxic aerosols or fumes, and probably a bunch of other things to prove that your product is safe. I don’t see why the fingerprinting isn’t just another thing on the list of things you have to do to be in compliance with the rules. If your company is capable of producing something as complex as a printer, encoding the device’ serial number into a bunch of yellow microdots that you add to the printout shouldn’t be an issue.
ensure that your printer doesn’t produce toxic aerosols or fumes
But they do? I literally got sick after i spent a day in a small room with a big office printer. And each printer makes my skin itchy, if printing in close proximity.
May I have the legal text, of any country, requiring a certification to sell any printers, or have EURion contellation dection implemented, or legally required to implement tracking dots?
It’s funny how far ahead 3d printers are in terms of consumer experience, everything is open, everything works and the tech is like 300 times more complex.
2D printer companies should be shamed to death.
People that Weasle their way up the corporate ladder have been prefectly groomed to have no shame.
It’s not that hard to convert a cheap 3D printer into a pen plotter is you want to do some 2D printing.
Idk if the tech for 3d printers is really more complex. All of the parts are readily available, basically nothing needs to be specially made except the hot end (one single metal part)
The consumer experience for 2d printers worse IMO but that’s probably because I’m stuck on Windows with its terrible printing system
They’re actually behind. 3D printers are a much newer industry. Most industries start out super open, competitive and collaborative. This speeds up development to consumer-grade products. Eventually one or two companies gain sufficient marketshare to start enforcing anti-consumer shitfuckery. Look at the recent drama with Bambu printers and you’ll find that’s exactly what’s happening. It’s a tale as old as time.
Framework actually trolled us into thinking they were going to release a printer but instead they went into a market segment where everything was already modular, repairable and upgradable and gave us something that was not, at all. But hey, they gotta capitalize on the AI nonsense too, I guess?
Enshitification is the word of this century
Of this species.
The consumer getting a product is just a byproduct of generating profits.
2D printers used to be like this.
They all worked with open, universal drivers, no additional software, and any ink cartridge that fit inside the bay.
But then companies figured out that people will just buy the cheapest printer on offer, regardless of everything else.Over time as 3D printers go from tinkerer’s toy to household staple, I’d expect them to become more locked down and anti-consumer.
Bambu is working on it already — can’t print unless you’re connected to the internet and send your files through their server, can’t connect to the printer with other slicers besides their slicer.
They had to walk that back some; there is now a “developer mode” where old standard functionality is still exposed, but they’re clearly working as hard as they can to turn it shitty.
By my count, it’s been tried twice.
They would have to become sci-fi level capable before they would be considered household staple items.
This is mainly because consumer 3d printer have been developped by 3d printing enthusiast first and not a company, Prusa which was leader for some time used a lot of open sources project to build their printers. As it’s getting mainstream as time goes by more and more companies shows up with closed sources project sadly.
Isn’t prusa now doing anti consumer / closed source stuff?
Aren’t you confusing them with Bambu?
Their slicer is based on Prusa’s exactly because Prusa isn’t doing closed source.
Don’t worry. Companies like Bambu and others are trying to lock down shift their printer business in the style of 2d printer companies. I hope it at least happens very slowly, but the enshittification is happening…
Has anyone figured out how to 3d print a 2d printer yet?
Edit: actually, scratch that entirely. How difficult do you suppose it would be to create an aftermarket non-malicious logic board to drive the hardware in lieu of the malicious OEM board? After all, it’s not the cartridges refusing to print.
There are some projects out there that do the entire frame. Steppers, hotend, and control boards are out of reach. There’s some hypothetical ways you could do it, but it’d be far more expensive than buying off the shelf stuff and probably get worse results. Even the frames tend to take a lot of filament.
It’s more of a nice idea than something practical.
Has anyone figured out how to 3d print a 2d printer yet?
There is a piece of software which will take a word document and convert it into an embossed 3D print file. So you could always just skip the middleman and 3D print yourself a plaque version of your document instead.
Just print it, roll some ink on it and slap a sheet of paper on top. There you go, printing 2.0 or something.
That sounds like a 15th century printing press with extra steps.
Kind of, but with less wood and a lot more micro plastics. That’s how you can tell it’s modern.
I used to have wood a lot more often, before microplastics.
If you start sieving your urine you’ll never have to buy filament ever again. Really it’s a blessing in disguise.
Except those who aren’t.
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Capitalism is the breeding ground of parasitism. The incentive structures needs to change. Good corporate governance and long term sustainability need to trump short term turnover and fiduciary role to always go up. As it exists, corporate incentive structures promote leadership by psychopaths that will go to the utmost consequence to drive the last cent out of their customers. This is especially true in the US, which by virtue of competition, metastasises to the entire western world.
Its been doing that for 50+ years. But just like how capitalism expects growth, the trend is exponential.
enshitification of technological things continues…
“Bröther, please dö nöt becöme anti-cönsümer!”
“I töö yearn för the cöntrölled mönöpöly, thë ensittificätiön, the röt ecönömy!”
“Brother…”
“I’m leäving töö müch möney on thë täblë! We also hävë öür men Ëlön Müsk as thë shädöw prësidënt, Trümp ïs jüst hïs, ör räthër - öür püppët. Hë wïll dïsmänlë äll cönsümër prötëctïons, as thëy’re in thë wäy öf öür pröfits.”
“Bröthër… Plëäsë rëcönsïdër!”
“Änd whät ärë yöü gönnä dö if not? Go tö thë cönsümer prötection agencies Ëlön Müsk’s DÖGË jüst dïsmäntlëd? Üse an öld HP LaserJet until yöü cän get repläcemënt rollers för it? You know öther parts öf it cän brëäk töö.”
“Bröther… You became… ËVÏL! You betrayed EVERYTHING you previously stood for!”
“And Ï wïll dö it as mäny tïmes as nëëded. Ëvil? It’s jüst büsïnëss. Mäybë yöü shöüld hävë rëcönsïdërëd yöür vötë för Trümp.”
“Bröther… Büt thë tränsës hävë cäncëlled Pikamëë för thë wïzärd gämë! The wökenëss häve been deströying the gäme ïndüstry! I nëëded tö vötë för Dönäld Trümp! Why isn’t it wörkïng äs ït wäs süppösëd tö!”
“Yöü vötëd ägäïnst yöür cläss interest öut öf püre hatred. I like ït vërÿ müch! Yöü knöw önë rëäsön she wäs älsö cäncelled wäs düë tö lölï? Ï dön’t think Pröjëct 2025 wïll ällöw it för sö löng düë tö tötäl pörn ban!”
“PLEÄSE BRÖTHËR, NÖT THE LÖLÏ! PLEÄSE LET ME KEEP THË CÜTË ÄND FÜNNŸ!”
“Yöü vöted against yöür class interest, yöür personal interest… hahahahahaHAAHAHAHAHAAAA! Yöür sö fünny! Ÿöü’rë thë përfëct vötër för më! Ÿöü’rë thë përfëct cönsümër ëvën! Töö dümb tö rëälïzë äll thë pöliticäl wörkings aröünd yöürself. Änd when anything göes wröng, yöü bläme the minörities öf this söciety. Nöw get exited för Bröther AI, a sübscriptiön service which is essentiäl för öperating the printer! Get ready för price hikes! Get ready för shörter lasting printers!”
“You’re truly despicable bröther!”
You are crazy, but good crazy.
Wake up babe, new copy pasta just dropped.
I no longer have any corporate relationships that aren’t either apprehensive, strained, or downright antagonistic.
It’s us versus them now and they’ve give their last shits. It’s feeling like every company is a cable company now.
I have VERY few and I cherish them.
Fairphone feels great to me. I think My coffee stuff is the same (Profitec, Eureka Mignon); no app or wifi or anything, fairly available spare parts.
Didn’t fairphone start selling Bluetooth headphones after getting rid of the headphone jack
Sure did. Repairable ones. I strongly prefer wired headphones and will keep using them as I can, and I ain’t buying earbuds.
But I’d rather not let perfect be the enemy of good. I am not giving up a cellphone, so I’d rather have Fairphone trying (ans sometimes fucking it up) than give my money to anyone else in the market.
Them not being perfect in my eyes doesn’t qualify as a hostile relationship between their corporation and me.
Always has been like that.
Not one single corporation is your friend or wants to be. All they want is your money. No exceptions.
Companies were never our friends, but it used to be the case that companies sold products. They sold a product and you got to use it and that was the end of it.
Now instead, thanks largely to the Internet, companies barely care about ‘product’ at all and instead are all trying to get in on that gravy train of monetised data slurping, subscription models, DRM on every consumable, firmware updates that change the terms on you after the fact, and so on. Every electronic thing in your home is now super hostile to you.
TVs, printers, fridges. These products used to be just products, but now they are trojan horses.
This shift in business model also means a drop in customer service. They used to sell you a product and stand behind it because eventually they wanted you to choose them when you needed a new or different product. Now that they have you roped in via a sort of forced dependency, they don’t have to pretend to be nice to you even.
The last step is to put us all in prison and mandate we purchase their product (produced in the prison) from them while earning 69 cents an hour.
Exactly. The way to make money pre-Internet was “generate repeat business” and the way to do that was to create a product and service the customer was happy with.
The way to make money now is to get the customer trapped, then pump them as hard as possible.
