this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
116 points (96.8% liked)
Open Source
30398 readers
557 users here now
All about open source! Feel free to ask questions, and share news, and interesting stuff!
Useful Links
- Open Source Initiative
- Free Software Foundation
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Software Freedom Conservancy
- It's FOSS
- Android FOSS Apps Megathread
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to the open source ideology
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon from opensource.org, but we are not affiliated with them.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Both of my Brother laser printers are over 10 years old now and they have been working great. My mono laser printer has an open source driver. Unfortunately, there is no open source driver for my color laser printer, but there is no DRM either. The toner cartridges have a mechanical toner level reset if you want to refill them.
The newer Brother laser printers support driverless printing, so you don't have to worry about closed source drivers.
You are going to be stuck with closed source firmware unless you connect a teletype to your computer though.
Thanks for the info
Driverless printing? How does that work? Specially, how does your computer communicate with the printer?
Driverless printing uses IPP Everywhere or AirPrint. As long as the printer supports one of those protocols, the computer can use it without needing a driver for the printer.
Even teletypes have firmware.
The older teletypes are all electromechanical. There is no firmware, just lots of gears and cams.
Gears and cams, the firmest of ware.