I must buy a printer soon. Thank you for reminding me to avoid HP products.
HP Inc settles printer toner lockout lawsuit with a promise to make firmware updates optional
Submitted 3 months ago by cm0002@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/hp_printer_lawsuit_settled/
Comments
original_reader@lemm.ee 3 months ago
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 3 months ago
brother laser printer
Bluefruit@lemmy.world 3 months ago
This is the way. My brother printer is a hl2040, came out sometime in the early 2000s. It still prints. I’ve replaced the toner cartridge once since my Dad gave it to me back in 2016.
The other day I needed to print something out and this was after I had reinstalled linux.
Just fired right up, instantly recognized. Its one of the best pieces of hardware I own.
original_reader@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Are “brother” the nice guys at the moment?
cm0002@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Laser printer and probably brother, it’s worth the extra up front cost 10 fold
For an old color Dell Laser printer I got from a thrift store years ago I can find 4 color sets of toner for it for $40-60
Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 months ago
brother is currently enshittifying right now.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
Brother. The end.
Coreidan@lemmy.world 3 months ago
My current bother printer is a pile of shit.
mp3@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
Or they could, just not be dicks and supply firmware updates without the lock-in, instead of having to trade off security.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
Oh BROTHER, not this again.
On a more serious note, I’ve been all about brother printers for a few years now and couldn’t be happier.
2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 3 months ago
[deleted]WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
meantime turns out was misunderstanding/bullshit. maybe reroute your rage energies elsewhere
manualoverride@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Called brother about this and talked through the issues raised by Rossmann, they convinced me enough to buy 3 printers from them this month.
Coreidan@lemmy.world 3 months ago
My current brother printer is a pile of shit.
Billythegoat@lemmy.world 2 months ago
They apparently restricted 3rd party ink now too.
Kbobabob@lemmy.world 2 months ago
You got a source? Everyone else says it was debunked.
HiTekRedNek@lemm.ee 3 months ago
I’ve been rockin my HL3170CDW for many years now. I have absolutely no issues with this printer, and I’ll buy nothing else.
SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
“Settles” lol the lawyers got their payout
JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 months ago
I’ve never interpreted settling to imply lawyers don’t get paid.
SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Lawyera get paid either way, but that’s about the most that comes of it. Setting means no legal precedent has been set, so businesses can pull this bullshit again in the future
pinheadednightmare@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Simple fix here, stop buying the companies that do this. I bought a brother printer and I won’t go back.
Allero@lemmy.today 2 months ago
Oh well, Brother’s now in this too:
claymore@pawb.social 2 months ago
This was in the related articles: tomshardware.com/…/brother-denies-firmware-blocks…
And I believe them. The reddit post in Rossman’s video was 3 years old. I have personally installed and updated 5 Brother printers in the last year and they all still run on 3rd-party toner.
pinheadednightmare@lemm.ee 2 months ago
That sucks, I bought mine a few years ago and haven’t had any issues yet. 🤞
ploot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 months ago
Even better, the whole HP printer is optional.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 3 months ago
Well, here’s the story: The old HP MuFu finally caved in, so dad was going to the local multimedia retailer. I told him to get a Brother Ecotank, since i have to support it. But the store only had HP MuFu, so he got a HP MuFu that is even worse than the old one, despite being a laser printer instead of an inkjet. And the f*cking toner cost a whole 140€.
JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Bullshittery aside, “HP Inc.” Instead of just “HP” Is on the nose and has to be deliberate on the journalists behalf
brandon@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
The actual reason is because in 2015 “Hewlett Packard” split into two companies, one called HP, Inc, and one called HP Enterprise. The print and consumer PC business went to HPI, while the server and network hardware went to HPE.
devilish666@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Sometimes I wonder why there’s no DIY Paper printer after seeing so…much shit in Printer Company ?
We had advance DIY 3D Printer that can made various objects with various size and materials and yet there’s no DIY Paper printer until nowdruidjaidan@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It’s not really surprising. The demand for printers has fallen off a cliff due to wide acceptance of digital alternatives. People barely need printers now and as such aren’t willing to pay much for them.
This is further exacerbated by the reality that a printer is actually a fairly high precision device and expensive to manufacture.
So you have an expensive to manufacture device that consumers aren’t willing to pay much for. So what happens? They adopt a consumable based business with the printers being locked down to force you to buy their overpriced, high margin consumables that have a low absolute price so consumers don’t think about it much.
Let’s say that we regulate away this lock in. What will happen? Well the price of printers would have to climb to match their actual cost to manufacture. That price would likely turn off consumers from buying them at all. The end result would be the end of the printer business altogether. Maybe not a bad thing as not printing at all is likely a better ecological outcome.
FinnFooted@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I have an epson eco tank. No more ink cartridges.
Coreidan@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Ink jets are trash tho
Laser jet or nothing.
FinnFooted@lemmy.world 2 months ago
You’re probably right, but I’m just printing random documents on occasion.
qyron@sopuli.xyz 3 months ago
What about printing head replacement?
alphabethunter@lemmy.world 3 months ago
From my experience, those last years. But they are indeed a bit expensive… I have had my eco tank for the last 5 years, only had to replace the b/w printer head after around 4 thousand prints, and I’m almost sure it was my own fault for using expired low-quality ink that I had bought in bulk for super cheap.
Daedskin@lemm.ee 2 months ago
As someone who’s worked on printer firmware before, it makes me really sad that a company can get away with making a consumer decide between getting access to any of the actually useful changes that engineers — who have no say over ink cartridge policy — put effort towards making the best product they could, or not having said ink cartridge policies forced on them.
BigTrout75@lemmy.world 3 months ago
HP is like, “enjoy the security vulnerabilities”
lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
laughs in CUPS server
Grass@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
did the cups vulnerability get fixed?
singletona@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Still not interested in a fucking printer.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Anytime a company reduces the functionality of a device through software or firmware they should have to offer to buy back the hardware. The depreciation rate should be set at time of purchase so you know how much you get if they neuter it a year from now.
notabot@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Why allow depreciation? You wouldn’t have bought it with the reduced functionality, and it’s going to cost you time and effort to remove it and replace it with something else. Inflation will reduce the value more than enough.
cm0002@lemmy.world 3 months ago
@roofuskit@lemmy.world 2028!
lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
Yeah, but that means they don’t get your money anymore! Think of the
profitsshareholderschildren!