cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/47449079
I stumbled across this link in the comment of another post, and thought it was super promising!
Someone mentioned something about in the US, this would be illegal due to DRM laws - not sure about the specifics of this, but regardless an open source printer seems like something we’ve needed for ages, as printers are something that always seem like way more of a headache then they need to be. It seems like such a simple technology that has existed for quite some time, but they are always such a pain to deal with. (Maybe it’s just my bad luck with printers?)
FYI its not actually open source. Its a cool idea but you can’t actually sell it or sell derivatives of it. Even at zero-sum. This hinders any actual forks from being successful, as any intention to sell the product (even without aiming for profits) is forbidden by their license. It just allows for tinkerers as contributors without properly allowing forks. Makes me a bit sad tbh, because its so close to being awesome.
Well that’s disappointing.
Illegal due to US govt wanting discrete traceable patterns printed so they can track money duplication on colour printer or track Ransom letters?
Good thing I live outside of the US then ;)
This looks awesome…hope they make it, I’d buy one if it isn’t toooo expensive.
So what? Thats exactly why I WANT a custom built printer, fucking spying shits.
Where are you seeing that it’s illegal? I own a pen plotter that can print things without tracking dots and that’s not illegal. I don’t see why this would be any different.
It was a question. And wasn’t pen plotters since they can’t reproduce money, and are more rare for consumers
Using the tool for illegal activities is illegal, owning a printer capable of producing fake notes isn’t.
I think the original query was are these illegal to sell in USA due to not having FBI traceability?
I’m saying no. I could find nothing on the books that prohibits specific printer tech or mandates hidden tracing be added for it to be legal.
Ah, cool
Come and Take it
This isn’t new. I remember seeing a promotion for this exact same printer many years ago already. I’d approach it with suspicion.
I’m curious how they source the ink.
I recently watched a video about a 3D printer with color that is effectively obsolete because it used what was once common hp cartridges that hp discontinued.
This is an ink jet printer that uses HP print head / ink cartridges… Fwiw, repairable impact printers have been around longer than computers. Think of old fashioned teleprinters. Noisy, but likely to survive the apocalypse.
Where’re ya gonna get sprocket-feed fanfold paper these days, though, let alone in the apocalypse?
If butcher paper and Scotch tape worked for Kerouac, it can work for us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road#%3A~%3Atext=taped+together
https://www.kerouac.com/shop/books/kerouac-books/on-the-road-the-original-scroll/
He was, like, some kinda crazy person though.
It’s going to break doesn’t matter that it is open source. It’s a printer at heart.
Printers can work. At work we have these big canon plotters for big posters. They are basically super size inkjet printers. They have been printing for years and they never need maintenance.
That’s why they’re hyping the repairability.






