They work better in Linux than Windows, not to mention backwards compatibility.

EDIT: I may be wrong about newest printer models, 2020 and above.

EDIT2: Hardware problems are an entirely different issue.

      • SpikesOtherDog@ani.social
        33·
        10 months ago

        I am wondering why there is no open framework for laser printing.

        There are a few parts that would have to be made out of sheet metal. The sides could be stamped for the same pattern. You then need a back and a cross section. One could theoretically make them from ABS, but ABS gets brittle with heat and the sides will shatter.

        One side of the printer is dedicated to running an ARM SOC. I’m not sure if the Arduino is up to the task, but it will need to control 3 motors, initiate a heating sequence, start a rasterizing laser, interpret a print job, communicate over network and USB, and monitor a bunch of sensors.

        The hardest parts will be obtaining print cartridges, rollers, and fusers. Designing a standard to run off a certain vendor’s hardware will be a pile of issues, and nobody will just start manufacturing hardware for a handful of hobbyist printers.

        Everything else is 3d printing, springs, and screws.

        • GTG3000@programming.dev
          19·
          10 months ago

          Well, cartridges, rollers, and fusers are the important bits that can’t easily be manufactured by hand. And that’s a big part of the price of the printer.

          You can’t really make them cheaper than mass-manufacture, and laser printers are already almost bulletproof from my experience.

        • taladar@sh.itjust.works
          10·
          10 months ago

          I am wondering why there is no open framework for laser printing.

          Besides the reasons already mentioned most people who would be interested in bleeding edge tinkering probably have moved on from paper at this point.

        • frezik@midwest.social
          101·
          10 months ago

          2d printers need to be a lot more precise. 300dpi means each dot is placed with less than a tenth of a mm, and that’s not even particularly impressive for a 2d printer. 3d printers get away with a lot more slop than that.

          That’s only talking about greyscale. Color requires precise alignment of the cartridges for at least 4 base colors (higher end photo printers have even more) , and the mix of those colors must be carefully controlled to get accurate output.

          • SpikesOtherDog@ani.social
            4·
            10 months ago

            Yeah, that is one of the big problems I was considering. Even monochrome at 300 DPI would be a problem. The imaging array and drum would need to be manufactured separately and installed as whole unit.

          • jas0n@lemmy.world
            1·
            10 months ago

            At least it only needs to be precise if the register is adjustable. You would need some tiny stepper motors right? I’m not familiar with how register is adjusted on desktop printers, but I know it can be.

    • adhocfungus@midwest.social
      11·
      10 months ago

      My cheap old 3D printer requires constant fiddling before and after every print, yet still fails probably half the time. I avoid printing things sometimes just because I don’t want to deal with it.

      I would still agree with you 100%. I hate my HP printer so much.

    • UnityDevice@startrek.website
      10·
      10 months ago

      My hp printer has worked perfectly and reliably with CUPS for years now. Just turn it on and print, works every time.
      Open source print drivers, baby! I still hate CUPS though.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      10 months ago

      Seriously, one of the best ways to fix printer issues with windows. Is to buy a cheap raspberry pi zero or similar. And stick it in between as a print server. It solves so many random issues for both bad printer, firmwears and fucky windows behaviors

  • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
    351·
    10 months ago

    CUPS is absolutely amazing compared to windows printer drivers which had whole ass critical CVEs several times already.

    Even Apple uses CUPS

    • aard@kyu.de
      211·
      10 months ago

      CUPS is horrible, and also had its share of critical vulnerabilities. It is just better than the LPD mess we had before.

      It is not a Linux specific thing - it was developed when there still were a lot of UNIX variants around. Apple was a very early contributor, and had quite a bit of influence in making it successful.

    • c10l@lemmy.world
      11·
      10 months ago

      It’s no surprise Apple uses CUPS. They wrote it, after all.

      Edit: TIL Apple didn’t write CUPS themselves but they bought the company that did it pretty early in the game. Here’s a LWN article from the time, exposing some of the worries that came with the news of the acquisition: https://lwn.net/Articles/242020/

  • puchaczyk@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    22·
    10 months ago

    With cups it’s pretty much painless on linux form me, though some distros have a very restrictive firewall configuration out of the box, so you have to whitelist it before using. Not too complicated, but can be very frustrating for new users who never touched a firewall before.

    • 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      31·
      10 months ago

      ufw ring a bell 😒… yeah, being uncomplicated doesn’t mean it’s not working.

  • Galds@lemmy.world
    20·
    10 months ago

    My printer used to integrate perfectly with windows 11. I was using some Ancient driver I found on some internet archive. windows updater found a new drive, now it’s a mess of different UIs to print or scan shit

    • 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      14·
      10 months ago

      There is a way to disable driver updates via Windows update.

      Do a rollback on the driver, should bring back the old driver.

  • gmtom@lemmy.world
    233·
    10 months ago

    A Linux meme that’s somewhat critical of Linux?

    I wonder what the comments will be like…

  • Jvrava9@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    214·
    10 months ago

    Brother printer initialised in a couple of clicks in Arch, took 10 minutes to do it in Windows.

  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
    13·
    10 months ago

    Printers are pretty plug’n’play these days, at least until something technical goes wrong. Getting exactly what you want on paper can be pretty tough, though. I wrote an entire printing stack from scratch for an embedded system, but that was for a very specific set of models from a single manufacturer. It actually worked every time, especially when there were errors and warnings, but it took actual effort.

    • dnick@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      10 months ago

      Brother printers were the last straw in throwing away they last inkjet I ever hope to own.

      Want to scan something into your computer, you say? Sorry, can’t do that because you’re low on magenta!

      No idea if their laser printers try the same crap, because I avoided that brand when it came to picking one out, but holy crap what an off-putting experience.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
    121·
    10 months ago

    I would only think them to work better on Linux because the software you’re using isn’t made by the printer company. Their software sucks. The hardware sucks, too. They’re made to be shit because a perfect printer isn’t profitable.

    • monsieur_jean@kbin.social
      161·
      10 months ago

      Since I’ve moved in South East Asia, I have discovered that:

      • Almost every single printer that exists has a conversion kit available on Taobao to use big ink bottles
      • There’s not a single firmware that hasn’t been hacked, nor a single part that hasn’t been cloned
      • Therefore, most printer manufacturers have a specific line of durable products that allows the use of third party ink because if they don’t, other people will bank of their product maintenance and they won’t sell much.

      The only reason we in developped country get scammed like we are, is because of IP laws and governments that allow manufacturers to abuse them with no consequences at the expense of the customers (and the planet).

      • mr_right@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        2·
        10 months ago

        conversion kit available

        I would like to hear more about those conversion kits and what are they reused for.

        • monsieur_jean@kbin.social
          1·
          10 months ago

          Look up your printer model number on Alibaba. Or better yet, on Taobao (but if you don’t speak Chinese it’s a bit complicated). Your options depending on the printer you have are going to be :

          • Print heads conversion kits (a replacement of the complete print heads module with tubes feed from ink bottles attached outside your printer)
          • Refillable ink cartridges
          • Counterfeited Compatible ink cartridges that cost a fraction of the official ones while having 10 times more ink in them.

          Now depending on where you live and the local laws it may or may not be legal to import those. In the country I live in there is no law against it. In most South East Asia the law doesn’t care about that and if it does, law enforcement doesn’t. :)

  • variants@possumpat.ioEnglish
    111·
    10 months ago

    My printer has to go through like 5 power cycles for it to even detect its ink cartridges. I guess thats what i get for taking the ewaste printer from the office

    • sebinspace@lemmy.world
      6·
      10 months ago

      Atleast it was free? I did the same thing, took office salvage. I’ll be replacing it soon with a laser printer.

      • lseif@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        10 months ago

        a free printer is always awesome, but youll mostly spend money on ink anyway

        • dnick@sh.itjust.works
          4·
          10 months ago

          A free printer might be awesome if it’s laser…a free ink jet printer is like saying you got stabbed ‘for free’. I mean, yeah, it was free.