We all are pretty annoyed at how the printer industry is screwing customers over. There are a few printers that are really good but most of them suck and try to suck out your money by demanding ink when none is needed.

And i also know that it’s nearly impossible to create an open-source printer that can be build by smaller businesses like the 3D printing space can do.

But are there any projects underway to reverse-engineer printer firmware and make it possible to flash the custom ROM onto a printer? No specific manufacturer in mind right now, but wouldn’t that make things better? Simply disable all the stupid checks that claim that you NEED ink to scan or that you NEED yellow to print a black text?

  • OCT0PUSCRIME@lemmy.moorenet.casaEnglish
    56·
    1 year ago

    You aren’t the only annoyed one!

    In 1980, Stallman and some other hackers at the AI Lab were refused access to the source code for the software of a newly installed laser printer, the Xerox 9700. Stallman had modified the software for the Lab’s previous laser printer (the XGP, Xerographic Printer), so it electronically messaged a user when the person’s job was printed, and would message all logged-in users waiting for print jobs if the printer was jammed. Not being able to add these features to the new printer was a major inconvenience, as the printer was on a different floor from most of the users. This experience convinced Stallman of people’s need to be able to freely modify the software they use.

    Richard Stallman Wiki

    • Bipta@kbin.social
      23·
      1 year ago

      Now software runs our lives, spies on us, navigates for us and nobody cares. Wild.

      • Luke_Fartnocker@lemm.ee
        8·
        1 year ago

        That’s like saying “the government takes our money, wates it, spies on us, and abuses us, and nobody cares”. We all care, but what are you going to do about it?

      • Lemongrab@lemmy.one
        8·
        1 year ago

        Nobody has the time or expertise to care. Its not their fault. The corporations are still the ones to blame.

        • debanqued@beehaw.org
          1·
          1 year ago

          Bipta had it right. The people are to blame not the corps. The corps are doing their job. Any corp that does not do everything possible to generate profit for shareholders is failing to do its job. It’s our job as consumers to reject junk products. To boycott the worst (#HP). The consumers have failed to do their job.

          Voters have also failed. We’ve failed to elect lawmakers who respect a #rightToRepair, to ban the practice of dropping support for hardware that has no #freesoftware.

          • Lemongrab@lemmy.one
            1·
            1 year ago

            People who are manipulated aren’t at fault, the manipulators are doing their job and are to blame. Also what does boycotting matter when the government will bail out a company that is failing. Our money isn’t a vote in some “free market”, and even if we assume it is, our vote is worth 100s of millions less then the shitheads who got use into this problem. Also, not everyone can be an expert in every area, politicians should be delegating decision making of these things to comitees of experts (more). The governments job is to act as representitives of the people, they arent doing their job. And the corps can go fuck off to venus and enjoy that climate disaster life that they are trying (intentional or not) to creating on earth.

            • debanqued@beehaw.org
              1·
              1 year ago

              People who are manipulated aren’t at fault

              That’s debatable.

              the manipulators are doing their job and are to blame

              Yes, I agree. But our blame on them doesn’t matter if we aren’t going to make the blame accountable by boycotting. Shareholders are happy to pat them on the back when the manipulation succeeds & brings profits.

              Also what does boycotting matter when the government will bail out a company that is failing.

              I do not believe that if HP were to fall due to a boycott that the gov would bail them out. Such a bailout would be extremely unpopular among the public (who opted to boycott HP).

              Boycotting is the only tool in our toolbox. I would love to have a different toolbox.

              • Lemongrab@lemmy.one
                1·
                1 year ago

                Does HP even make the majority of the sales to individuals, or enterprise office spaces. Also, the public doesn’t know about whllen the government bails out a corp (eg. Boeing https://www.newsweek.com/boeing-airlines-under-fire-90-billion-share-buybacks-stoke-controversy-bailout-pleas-least-1493934). There are companies that can’t fail and large scale boycotts don’t take much out of the their profit as they steal from the people and leech off government funding.

                • debanqued@beehaw.org
                  2·
                  1 year ago

                  HP has their hands in a lot of places. They even work as contractors for the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). They offer services to govs who instead of buying HP computers they hire HP to deliver PCs that HP maintains. If private individuals would boycott HP extensively it would not sink HP but it would force HP to shrink by killing off their most shitty flimsy consumer products. A corp cannot justify to its shareholders an unsustainable money losing endeavor. HP would be forced to just focus on their industrial products.

                  The problem with the Boeing comparison is Boeing does not need a bailout due to a boycott. The pandemic is one of the cited factors for Boeing’s failure (accurate or not; optics matter. It’s a shame they had that excuse). So Congress believes a bailout is not wasted money. If Boeing were boycotted into need for bailout, it would not be feasible for Congress to save them. Boeing also has its hands in aerospace and defense to a much greater extent than just 7(X)7s, but those segments of the business could always be sold off to Lockheed Martin.

                  BTW, I boycott #Boeing myself. Boeing is an #ALEC member among other wrongdoing particularly in how their greed caused the aircraft crashes, death, and coverups. Ethical consumers have no choice but to boycott Boeing.

    • debanqued@beehaw.org
      3·
      1 year ago

      I’m so grateful that the Xerox 9700 pissed off RMS. Otherwise we might not have had a FOSS movement.

      At the same time, bizarre that printers have still not been liberated by now.