Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Open Source Inkjet Printer!
Whoever or whatever comes up with the first viable project to develop the kit with hardware and software for a reasonable to use open source inkjet printer, guess what? The world will be beating a path to your door! Trust me on this. The build quality of most consumer-grade commercially made printers can now be confirmed to suck ass. If parts break when clearing what should be a simple to remove paper-jam, then something is seriously wrong with the design. Either somebody cheaped out in the materials used, or the design is flawed and has inadequate access provided for clearing the problem. A paper jam should be user servicable. Also there is still a problem with overpriced ink...
Now I can only imagine an open-source printer with plans available. If you've got the machine shop to make it, great. But also there should be various places where you could order the kit. And I wouldn't care if it costs $300 in kit form from a good distributor. If I know what I'm getting is a fully user servicable product (if I put it together, I should darn well know how to take it apart.) that's cheap to run and made of actual sturdy components, that is money well spent. And I'm sure people wouldn't mind another premium of money on top of that for a fully assembled unit. I think if the right team got on it, HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark, etc. would all get off their complacent and semi-negligent collective arses and finally give the people what we've been asking for.
So, is anyone up to task? An open source printer is really needed in a very complacent and user-unfriendly market. I know I want one.
Now I can only imagine an open-source printer with plans available. If you've got the machine shop to make it, great. But also there should be various places where you could order the kit. And I wouldn't care if it costs $300 in kit form from a good distributor. If I know what I'm getting is a fully user servicable product (if I put it together, I should darn well know how to take it apart.) that's cheap to run and made of actual sturdy components, that is money well spent. And I'm sure people wouldn't mind another premium of money on top of that for a fully assembled unit. I think if the right team got on it, HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark, etc. would all get off their complacent and semi-negligent collective arses and finally give the people what we've been asking for.
So, is anyone up to task? An open source printer is really needed in a very complacent and user-unfriendly market. I know I want one.
Labels: inkjet, open source, printer
Damn printer!
After 2 year or so of ok service, my mom complained of a paper jam. She had already opened it in an attempt to clear the jam with no success. So I looke inside and managed to yank what paper I could from the top and from the back panel. Then I figured closing it would allow the feed mechanism to loosen the rest so I could go back in and get it. No dice! It wouldn't close. The alignment of the top was off. Badly. As it turns out, one of the hinges on the top broke. The plastic was too fragile, and my mom must have lifted it too far while expecting better access.
So if you have a Hewlet Packard 3200 All in One series, be forwarned - the lid hinges are fragile! Perhaps way too fragile, especially if an ol' lady break them without really trying.
But I'm kinda disappointed now. Other than the hinge, and a stupid interface that doesn't easily let you select the smaller photo paper (have to use a USB stick workaround), that printer wasn't too terrible. Now that we're back in the market for a new one, it's going to be difficult since I hear most of the quality these days is crap. Too bad there isn't a viable open-source printer just yet (or an all-in-one with scanner for that matter). If there was, I'd buy such a kit over the non-servicable commercial units pronto!
So if you have a Hewlet Packard 3200 All in One series, be forwarned - the lid hinges are fragile! Perhaps way too fragile, especially if an ol' lady break them without really trying.
But I'm kinda disappointed now. Other than the hinge, and a stupid interface that doesn't easily let you select the smaller photo paper (have to use a USB stick workaround), that printer wasn't too terrible. Now that we're back in the market for a new one, it's going to be difficult since I hear most of the quality these days is crap. Too bad there isn't a viable open-source printer just yet (or an all-in-one with scanner for that matter). If there was, I'd buy such a kit over the non-servicable commercial units pronto!
Labels: 3200, all in one, hewlett packard, hp, printer
