Technology

60123 readers

3711 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Printers (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by 3h5Hne7t1K@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Throughout my life i have set up a multitude of different printers. None of them have been a pleasant experience. Why is this, and is there a printer that is actually good?

Order of priorities:

Free/open software and hardware
Available ink/toner and spares
No connectivity "dumb as a rock"

Print quality really doesent matter unless it is really bad. Of course, im willing to make sacrifices on all of these points, but you get the gist.

Any suggestions for models that comes even close to any of these requirements?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] wazoobonkerbrain@lemmy.world 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I note that in the comments you acknowledge that point #1 doesn't exist.

I had a similar set of criteria to you. I settled on the Epson Ecotank. No complaints so far. It has wifi but I never turned that on, I connect it to my (linux) laptop with a USB cable.

Some printers are programmed to stop working after a certain number of prints. I hope this isn't one of them.

[–] new_guy@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

+1 for the Epson Ecotank.

The ink bottles are cheaper than cartridges and it's basically "dumb". There's no DRM that prevents you from squirting any generic type of ink in there.

I did not test it on older hardware but mine is WiFi enabled and it works seamlessly on every device.

It's not a perfect solution but it's a good middle ground for me.

[–] PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm not sure about the make and model, but I've seen at least one person who loved their ink tank printer for exactly a year, then it insisted that he send it off for a $200 service of some ink absorbing part.

[–] th3dogcow@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I have an Epson (not eco tank) and it has this. It is called a maintenance box. But you can get one off Amazon etc for a few dollars and it is easy to replace, just one screw off the front. The display literally shows you how to do it!

I love my Epson. I use generic cartridges and they work fine. When you install a generic cartridge it gives you a warning, and that’s it. I have it on wifi but I have disabled firmware updates in the settings.

[–] new_guy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I bought mine during lockdown and still not encountered this issue but this is good info!