Technology

While I’d personally love to see an open color lazer printer more. (Less wasteful and more rugged)

I use a black-and-white laser printer, but if I were going to use a color laser printer, I'd like to have an open color laser printer simply because I'd like to have a printer that isn't dumping printer tracking dots into each image I print.

Also means that a robust community of people creating businesses to sell variations of the hardware for those who aren’t as maker friendly cannot emerge, correct?

Bc imo that’s what really got early 3d printing off the ground. Like back in 2010 during the reprap days there were all the independent maker storefronts plus a few bigger ones like lulzbot and makerbot (that eventually all got put out of business or bought for toxic modern shit like bambulab because in the modern day under capitalism every single industry has to consolidate until it’s under a few large extremely consumer hostile companies with okay products that just eventually get worse and worse bc there’s no competition or regulation for them but I digress).

Without this industry or a proper open source platform I don’t see how this will succeed

Creative Commons doesn't even seem appropriate for hardware. Like, that's trying to apply copyright law in patent's realm.

Agreed. But a start is a start. More of this please!

the thing is laser printer is costlier upfront, Bulkier, heavier, needs more space and compared to inkjet printer

That's just the tip of the iceberg of printer issues. I'm in networking, don't get me started on networking and security issues involved in printing "solutions"

You can get inkjet printers that don't have restrictions on the ink. They cost more, though.

The reason printer manufacturers are so hell-bent on being a pain in the ass with the ink is because they're using a razor-and-blades model. They're selling you the printer at a lower price than they really should, if their price reflected their costs, with the expectation that they'll make their money back when you buy ink at a higher price than you really should, because people pay more attention to the the initial price of the printer than to the consumable costs.

Same way you can get unlocked cell phones instead of network-locked cell phones with a plan. Gaming PCs instead of consoles. It's not that they're unavailable, but you're gonna have to accept a higher up-front cost, because you're not getting a subsidy from the manufacturer.

Canon sells a line of inkjet printers that just take ink from a bottle. No hassles with restrictions on ink supply there. The ink is cheap, and there are third-party options that are even cheaper readily available...but you're going to pay full price for the printer.

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/printers/megatank-printers

Their lowest-end "MegaTank" printer is $230:

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/megatank-pixma-g3290

A pack of third-party ink refill bottles is $15, and will print (using Canon's metrics), about 7,700 color pages and 9,000 black-and-white pages:

https://www.amazon.com/Refill-Compatible-Bottles-MegaTank-4-Pack/dp/B0DSPSS5W7

Compatible GI-21 Black Ink Bottle Up to 9,000 pages, GI-21 Cyan/Magenta/Yellow Ink Bottles Up to 7,700 pages

On the other hand, Canon's lowest-end "cartridge" printer, where they use the razor-and-blades model, is $55.

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/pixma-ts3720-wireless-home-all-in-one-printer

But you rapidly pay for it with the ink; It looks like they presently sell a set of replacement cartridges for $91. And that set will print a tiny fraction of the number of pages that the above ink bottles will print.

page yield of 400 Black / 400 Color pages per ink cartridge set and cost of $90.99 for a value pack of PG-285(XL) and CL-286(XL) ink cartridges (using Canon Online Store prices as of June 2025).

So if you really do want to do photo prints with an inkjet without dealing with all the DRM-on-ink stuff, you can do it today. But...you're going to pay more for the printer.

All that being said, I do think that lasers are awfully nice in that you don't need to deal with nozzles clogging. You can leave a laser printer for years and it'll just work when you start it up. If you don't need photo output, just less hassle.

Can OSI trademark "open source" and sue companies for not meeting its definition?

Or a Canon if you can't afford a Brother.

Prints even without ink, and the software looks and behaves like it's from 1996 so it's ridiculously simple. It doesn't harass you or fill your PC with bloat—the software just hangs out quietly in the background and only pops up when you need to print to inform you of ink levels—it doesn't bother you with bullshit ever.

The only modern feature it has is network connectivity, which is honestly the only modern feature I need in a printer, so that I can print from my phone without having to boot up my PC first. And that's even simpler than printing from PC because you don't even need a driver. Just hit the Print option in Android and start printing.

For now : https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Brother_printers_causing_issues_with_third_party_inks

I have one also so I'm invested in how this plays out.

Open source is generally about the code, not the hardware, even less manufacturing. OSHW (hence the clarification even though a bit longer) is about the hardware and has specific requirements in order to get the label and ID, e.g https://certification.oshwa.org/de000008.html and process https://certification.oshwa.org/process.html

AFAIK there is no terms that means open source + OSHW but I'd love to learn if there is one and apologize in advance if I missed that.

Anyway as I'm interested in the project, which part is proprietary exactly? In theory as they sell via CrowdSupply https://www.crowdsupply.com/apply it should be both OSHW and open source but I didn't dig.

not open source?

@Wispy2891
This is the main problem. The #OpenPrinter project is cool, but depending on HP cartridges breaks it. Unless the team has a source of 'compatible' cartridges which are not refilled HPs. Then, it depends on the price and quality of those.
@ardi60

Nobody is because its not actually open source

The ink is DRM free, but proprietary paper rolls are available for the low low price of 3x the cost of a normal pack of A4

It's a thing. Print shops use these to print different formats, usually for size > office paper. I checked on DDG and could easily find a supplier in my country for sizes the fit the OpenPrinter. Not sure if the paper roll is cheaper or more convenient, given that you have to order from specialized stores, but certainly it's a great idea.