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?)

  • glitching@lemmy.ml
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    6 hours ago

    there is so. much. shit. already about, we don’t need another one, like this thing and fairphone and framework and whatever. we’re drowning in already produced things, nerfed by their manufacturers into bricks that can and should be repurposed by opensource solutions.

    but that’s not where you can make money, so they’re instead latching onto trends, like “open” and “repairable”, both of which are nothingburgers.

    a infinitely small percentile of users actually need the newest & best, the rest of us are fine with decade+ old hardware that can serve us a decade more.

    • UnfinishedProjects@piefed.zipOP
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      2 hours ago

      I understand why you’re getting downvoted, but at the same time - I completely understand the sentiment. In a perfect world, you’re right, we should be able to reuse what we have and our society is utterly obsessed with consumerism. But being realistic and practical - that’s not going to happen for many reasons, at least not in our lifetime.

      But I think that creating something that will last, is repairable, and open source is a step in the right direction and is better than the current alternatives. I’m not saying we shouldn’t continue to advocate and push for the ideals of what you are saying - but we shouldn’t push away progress in the right direction as we fight for those ideals. It doesn’t have to be “one or the other” it can be a multipronged approach that advocates for the ideal scenario while accepting small incremental progress as well.

      I’m not saying this specific product is or is not the solution (it might be a terrible product or the people behind the product might have terrible intentions, idk. . . But the idea of products build to last, be repairable, and open for improvement, etc etc is a good step forward in my mind. Ehh, my 2 cents.

    • Cease@mander.xyz
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      5 hours ago

      not exactly sure what your point is here? Having an open source repairable printer is great

      • glitching@lemmy.ml
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        5 hours ago

        having ANOTHER printer getting manufactured and sold when all the printers we’re ever gonna need are already produced and out there in the world is a thing that’s sorely not needed.

        • 4shtonButcher@discuss.tchncs.de
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          4 hours ago

          A lot of printers are built to break. Ideally that would be illegal but it isn’t. I haven’t had a printer for years and whenever I look into it I just hate what I can get and continue without one. Having kids I would love to print coloring sheets sometimes so I would love to eventually buy a printer. And then I’d love to use that for decades, so this here does look promising

        • Cease@mander.xyz
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          5 hours ago

          I don’t really think that the world is free from ever needing a new printer, what kind of take is that? This project promises 3d buildable components that run on a pi? Exactly how does that contribute to global e-waste if that’s your point? PLA plastic biodegrades, pis can be re-used for other stuff, and inkjet cartridges can be refilled. What possible issue could you find with a project that’s open to the public and you can construct yourself??

          • glitching@lemmy.ml
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            5 hours ago

            I really don’t know how to make this simple concept any clearer - there is NO need to make ANY more printers, of ANY kind, be they bio-compostable or not, running on angel tears and rainbows or whatever.

            I dumpster dive and over the past six months I got five ancient printers (10-20 year old) that got thrown out, laser, inkjet and multifunction ones. all of them perfectly usable, work fine, easily serviceable (never done that prior to getting them), refillable with the cheapest options available. I struggle to see any application for which those things aren’t good for.

            • Cease@mander.xyz
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              4 hours ago

              Oh ok, because in the country + area that YOU live in there’s a wealth of printers you can apparently find in dumpsters, and because YOU have both the physical ability and time avaliable to go diving in dumpsters, THE ENTIRE WORLD does not need a new printer??

              I need some of whatever you are smoking

    • onoira [they/them]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 hours ago

      … actually one does need later hardware for a phone that will work on 5G networks.

      if i’m understanding you right, you’re saying we should be reusing old, functional hardware instead of producing brand-new shit (which just turns old stuff into ewaste). i agree. if countries repealed anticircumvention, i imagine there would be an industry for upcycling electronics.