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neidu2 ,

I honestly don't remember my printer brand. And that's a good sign. I bought it years ago, and it now lives under my basement stairs on a static IP via wifi, accepting the on average bimonthly print job that I need from it. Then I walk down, fetch the print, and close the door on it again. I should name it Harry Potter.

db2 ,

Harry Printer

Sphks ,
@Sphks@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Harry Plotter ?

iqwertyasdf ,

You’re a printer Harry.

BarrelAgedBoredom ,

I'm a what???

don ,

Your a wizard harry

bleistift2 ,

I hope it’s at least in standby mode, and not always on.

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

Nah, it's been running since '11 and because of a critical network vulnerability that op never patched, it's been a bitcoin slave since '15. But the paper is always nice and toasty.

PrettyFlyForAFatGuy ,

dude, airgap that shit

ininewcrow ,
@ininewcrow@lemmy.ca avatar

Give a lightning scar across the top

ObviouslyNotBanana ,
@ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

It runs arch btw

anonymouse ,

And Doom

brakebreaker101 , (edited )

You may not remember the brand, but sounds to me like you got yourself a Brother laser printer.

Zink ,

I might not know the brand of my Brother laser printer either, if it weren’t for all the other printers sucking so badly.

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

"Dude, you're getting a Dell Brother!"

AlpacaChariot ,

Harry Plotter

psud ,

My sister in law bought a plotter, I should suggest that name for it

doofer_name ,

I use a canon… so yeah… better get a brother

somenonewho ,

Incredibly I've had two printers I've never really had issues with.

  1. The brother laser my sister uses with Ubuntu without a hitch since forever
  2. The canon inkjet printer/scanner that is wifi connected in my flatshare
SmoothLiquidation ,

I got a Canon MF3010 laser printer a few years back. It is attached to a print server made out of an old Mac laptop I had. It has been great. I can print to it from anything, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and I have had to replace the toner once since I got it.

folkrav ,

CUPS picks up my TR7020 just fine. It’s still an inkjet piece of garbage, but it works fine lol

Blue_Morpho ,

Interestingly a Lemmy user in another thread has a very negative view of Brother because he only uses Brother cutting machines (for craft projects) and it's filled with DRM and HP style lock in.

ichmagrum ,

We need to lobotomize our "smart" devices ...

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

There need to be open source "smart" devices. Like, I've read and edited the source code running on my 3D printer. I was able to do that in my own home because it's got an Arduino Mega for a motherboard.

null ,
@null@slrpnk.net avatar

ESPHome has entered the chat.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

I have a couple ESP32s, and the main thing that concerns me is that they utterly rely on the ESP-IDF toolchain. It runs on Espressif's RTOS basically no matter what. They're capable if weird little microcontrollers but they just slightly sketch me out.

Dudewitbow ,

its why i dont like buying by brand, but rather specific product.

buying by brand gives companies a pass when they push out a shit product.

frezik ,

Their sewing machines are crap, too, from what I've heard. Shouldn't assume their whole product line is worthwhile.

Bishma ,
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

I've used tons of dot matrix, inkjets and lasers since the 80s. I've used them in MSDOS, ProDOS, Linux, BSD, Windows, MacOS, OSX, and BeOS. I don't know how many I've owned or how many different OS versions but I know I've had exactly 1 printer that wasn't constantly a problem and its a Brother laser printer.

partial_accumen ,

Okidata Microline dot matrix printer has entered the chat

SmoothLiquidation ,

Wow, I think I had an Okidata modem at one point. I haven't thought about that in a long time.

Cort ,

They're fine until they get off track with the page perforations. And the ribbons last quite a while, but are technically a security risk

DmMacniel ,

If you are a casual printer user, just use the local print shop. It's cheaper that way.

bleistift2 ,

The last printer I got cost 40€. Print shops charge 10ct per copy. That’s 400 prints just to amortize the cheapest garbage printer you could buy 10 years ago. And the ink doesn’t last 400 prints. Owning a printer just doesn’t make sense.

DoomBot5 ,

Toner in laser printers is powder. Can't dry out what's already dry. If you get a brother laser printer, it will last forever.

cogman ,

Yup. If you are going to own a printer, get a laser black and white printer and keep it forever. Do not get an inkjet printer. And if you need color prints (you don't) you can literally just do those at walgreens, cvs, or a bunch of other stores that will do color prints.

The only time you should get an inkjet printer is if you are a busy photographer selling a bunch of prints and you've hit the point where doing color prints through a store has become too expensive.

frezik ,

And high volume. Believe it or not, inkjets have lower cost per page than lasers. Especially with the newer tank-based printers, but they were already cheaper before those.

The trick is that you have to use up all the ink before it dries. Printing out a few odd documents per year won't do that. That's most people's use case, and lasers are superior for that because toner doesn't dry out.

There are a few odd niches for inkjets, but he sub-$100 printer market should die in a fire. If you can't afford a somewhat more expensive printer, then you're not going to be able to afford the ink.

CaptDust , (edited )

Believe it or not, inkjets have lower cost per page than lasers. Especially with the newer tank-based printers, but they were already cheaper before those.

I'm struggling with this, what inkjet can I run cheaper than a laser? My real world example, we switched from HP 62xl (480 pages @ $50) to Brother TN660 (2600 pages @ $60) which seemed impossible to beat. We only do black and white, and can burn through a TN660 in a month. Please teach me the ways

frezik ,

Usually have to go up higher in the market, but take a look at any review site that focuses on printers. Different sites will have slightly different methods, so you can't compare across different sites. That said, if you check between lasers and the better inkjets on the same site, the inkjets tend up being cheaper per page.

But again, you have to run through the entire ink before it dries. If you don't do that, then get a laser.

kbotc ,

Ink also runs when wet, so caveat emptor if you plan on your paper existing anywhere with water.

taladar ,

It is hard to clean all the dust off your printer for the once every 3 years you might need it though without also blowing the toner everywhere.

noobnarski ,

Thats why I just leave the dust on top lol.

humorlessrepost ,

Can’t dry out what’s already dry.

And with strange eons even a Brother printer may die.

KISSmyOS ,

You pay for the convenience.
I don't often need to print something, but when I do, it's usually outside of the opening hours of a print shop and I'm in a hurry.
(95% of my printing are fantasy RPG floor plans that I've downloaded literally 5 minutes before the players show up.)

noobnarski ,

Paid 55€ for my old used laser printer a few years ago and some toner for 20€, both will last me well over 700 pages, not to mention the time saved by not having to go to a print shop and I can print whenever I want, even on sunday (Germans know what I mean).

If I need to print something in color I could do it at work or at my fathers place, but that didnt even happen yet.

CubitOom ,

Or a library

neidu2 ,

I did that for years until I found myself in a job that frequently involves signing and scanning purchase orders. As I've spent six figures of company money on network hardware and other tech stuff over the past year you'd think we'd have an electronic solution for this and while most of it is done via SAP, our suppliers still often need an actual signature.

RegalPotoo ,
@RegalPotoo@lemmy.world avatar

This is the way. I have a Brother B&W laser printer/scanner combo because I fairly regularly need to print/sign/scan/email forms for various things, but if I need something colour or really.good quality the local print shop is the way to go

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

But then you have to go outside and shudders interact with people. Hard pass.

whotookkarl ,
@whotookkarl@lemmy.world avatar

Went to the FedEx print shop a few months back. They directed me to a self help that wanted me to overpay or it wouldn't print anything (blocks of payments, like 5/10/15 but the thing I wanted was like 7.89). I asked if they could do it for me instead so I could just pay for the thing I want and they said yes but would charge I think it was 2 bucks for assistance, still cheaper than the other overcharge but wtf. Just going to a locally owned place from now on after that ridiculousness.

Magister ,
@Magister@lemmy.world avatar

lol so true, however I have had a Samsung color laser wifi printer for 10+ years, worked flawlessly in linux. It was years before they got bought by HP

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

"oh, I might look into those"

finishes reading your comment

"fuck you for playing with my heart like that, I've been hurt before"

kbal ,
@kbal@fedia.io avatar

A "printer"? Oh right, those things we used to spray ink on dead trees back in the 20th century.

ptz OP ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

You'd think, lol. I still find myself randomly needing to print randomly (and more often than I'd like).

cm0002 ,

I'm with you, but unfortunately our world is still filled with old fucks who still see paper (and by extension, wet signatures) as some sort of ultimate authoritative source

Source: I've worked in the financial industry before (and never again)

pimeys ,
@pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io avatar

Come to Germany, the only country in the EU where paper usage is still going UP.

dojan ,
@dojan@lemmy.world avatar

My (German) roomie's father called us a while back to excitedly tell us that his doctor has digitalised. By digitalised he meant that the doctor will fax any prescription he issues to whatever chemist the patient requests.

Here in Sweden, I log on to 1177.se to refill my prescription, usually a nurse will call me with some general questions, then I can log on to any chemist's website (both systems are tied to your national identity), and have the prescription delivered to my door the next day. I live in a small town of like 20k inhabitants too, so it's not like it's a big city only type thing.

We clearly have very perspectives on the term "digitalisation."

NaibofTabr ,

the doctor will fax any prescription

https://i.imgflip.com/2xosle.jpg

dojan ,
@dojan@lemmy.world avatar

It's always the late 1900s in Germany!

GregorGizeh ,

This hits too close to home… I feel lucky my doctor accepts prescription requests per email.

pimeys ,
@pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io avatar

Nowadays you can get your prescription into your insurance card... Finally. You still need to walk to the doctor's office though. But it is digital.

PrettyFlyForAFatGuy ,

Insurance card?

Is this some american joke i'm too european to understand?

pimeys , (edited )
@pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io avatar

In Germany, we have a health insurance card. Let's say your insurer is Techniker Krankenkasse. They provide you a card with your photo and an NFC chip. You show this card in any doctor/hospital you visit, and your expenses are all paid. Today, as a new feature, your prescriptions are also stored to this card. You show the card in the pharmacy, get your medicine and the costs are all paid by the insurance company (minus the co-pay, 10 euros, which you pay by yourself).

Edit: To be clear, we don't have public hospitals or doctors. They're all private. But the insurance can be public, and the doctors and hospitals accept your public insurance and you don't need to pay for them.

0xD ,

https://www.thelocal.at/20210201/what-is-austrias-e-card-everything-you-need-to-know

fine_sandy_bottom ,

ooh ooh here in Australia we have "e-scripts".

it's just a UID. Any doctor or pharmacy or whatever can just look it up on the central database and dispense whether it's been used and how many times et cetera.

Doctors love to print these as a QR-Code. I think there's probably some therapeautic benefit to leaving your Drs office with a warm piece of paper entitling the bearer to some kind of magic beans.

dojan ,
@dojan@lemmy.world avatar

I don't think I've ever gotten a physical prescription in real, ever. I'm 30 years old. It's been digital as long as I can remember.

In Sweden we have public social security numbers, they are comprised of your birthdate and 4 unique numbers, so for example 19950927-2466. So in the past, before smart phones, you'd just give the social security number (or just an identifying document) to the chemist, and they'd give you your prescription. Now we can identify via BankID (which has been around since the early 2000s) so in many cases we don't even need any ID documents.

BankID is essentially a certificate installed on your phone/computer that's been issued by your bank, hence your bank is saying "yes this person is who they claim they are." BankID is used for everything too. When I log on to my grocery store's website, I use BankID, then I need to use BankID to verify whenever I want to use a debit/credit card to purchase anything.

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

Won't somebody please think of the poor dying deforestation companies?!?

XTL ,

Ours have plenty of politicians thinking about them. Don't yours?

metaStatic ,

The home of Kafka still pumping out the paperwork I see.

smeg ,

The home of Kafka being Prague in Czechia?

noobnarski ,

99% of the usage my printer sees is German government bureaucracy, the rest is some other bureaucracy.

At least they dont need color.

hperrin ,

When I read a very long RFC, I’d rather read it as an ink sprayed dead tree than a PDF.

0xD ,

Have you thought about e-ink readers? There are ones you can write/draw with, and since I got mine I completely skip paper!

hperrin ,

I keep a lot of binders of them for reference. I just prefer having it in a binder with all my notes and bookmarks in it. But yeah, eink is so much more comfortable to read than an LCD.

yamapikariya ,
@yamapikariya@lemmyfi.com avatar

https://lemmyfi.com/pictrs/image/25dd1363-1454-4a5d-a3af-4b6f23732c40.gif

markstos ,

Yep, I like to eco-tank feature…. And the drivers work.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

I have an Epson inkjet that I'm not going to throw away yet. It's 6 years old though, not sure if they still make it.

ptz OP ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

My gripe with inkjets, expensive / DRM'd cartridges aside, is the ink just dries up or gets used in maintenance cycles whether you print or not.

Or is yours one of the tank models? I think those are less inefficient in that regard, right?

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Mine is a cartridge model, an XP-830 "Small-in-One" that gets used...maybe once a year. As I said I'm not throwing it away yet. Further info: I bought a tablet computer specifically so that I wouldn't have to print out my drawings for use in the wood shop, because I want to stop printing things entirely.

metaStatic ,

Ah, the star trek method

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Something I always enjoy during the TOS era movies is when they pull out actual paper. Like during Wrath of Kahn IIRC they pull out a physical paper book that has Reliant's SSH codes to disable the shields. Another happens during Undiscovered Country when they need to actually speak Klingon, they get out a bunch of paper books. The Federation has a printing office.

dojan ,
@dojan@lemmy.world avatar

As far as I know, the tank models are just as bad. They need to flush the system, which they do onto a sponge which when saturated means the printer is broken.

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

HP: furiously taking notes

anyhow2503 ,

Brother gets recommended a lot by virtue of being the least shitty option in the hellish wasteland of consumer/office printers. They aren't perfect, but Brother printers have been the only option in the entire office to reliably print from a Linux computer over the network. Honestly, any day I don't have to interact with a printer is a good day.

9point6 ,

Weirdly I think I have one of the last half-decent HP all-in-one printers from about a decade and a half ago

It takes third party ink and still more or less works as it did when I got it.

I'll probably get a brother the day it finally dies though

hperrin ,

I use an Epson EcoTank, and I love it. I can print photos (and have).

Semi-Hemi-Demigod ,
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

That's not entirely true. I've been a Mac user since 1989 and I also recommend Brother laser printers

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Also true for windows!

Brother printers are just that good.

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