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@TheGreatLlama Good point. I debated whether or not to include this as an option. There *are* some projects, but unless I was looking in the wrong places, none of them seemed so great. Then again, it's not like we have great open source laptops and phones, either, so idk.

@revoluciana
Yeah, I've seen a couple of projects but nothing I'd call mature. I think with phones and laptops the trouble comes down mostly to form-factor: getting all those components to get along while existing in the compact space consumers demand. But printers seem pretty low tech in the grand scheme of things. We're still essentially squirting ink on a page, and for the most part we're not packing them around. I'd be fine with bulky and ugly if it just did its job consistently without costing me a fortune.

@TheGreatLlama @revoluciana I don't have links or facts to back it up, but I'd guess that it's a patent minefield.

@jandi @revoluciana
Probably true for a commercial entity, but so is 3d printing. It's mostly been gotten around by the community just ignoring the patent trolls. It's pretty hard to defend your bogus patent against competing companies when any number of user developed projects are just building it anyway.

@TheGreatLlama @revoluciana Again, totally not an expert, but 2D printers are quite complex (I'd venture an order of magnitude more small/complex than 3D), most inkjets use MEMS*, and lasers also have quite sophisticated patents & designs. These are not patent trolls, they're established players.

That's what I think at first impression, would love to know more though!

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEMS

@jandi @revoluciana
I'm no expert on the subject, but I can tell you without a doubt that I had a perfectly functional inkjet printer in the 90s. It seems like there should be plenty of technology available that isn't covered by current patents.

@TheGreatLlama @revoluciana You've piqued my curiosity!

I hope to have some time this week and look into it more, if you get some answers or info I'd love it, thanks!

@TheGreatLlama
@revoluciana

Of course, that's for like, printing amazon return lables or whatever.

More politically spicy stuff, well, we (I'm a librarian,) don't give a shit. And generally we hold law enforcement to the letter of the law, (requiring supoenias, etc.) though elsewhere might be more sycophantic.

@Tourma @revoluciana
Yeah. I'm one of those few people who actually has regular need of a printer. Without getting too far into the details, I regularly need to have hard copies of documents to refer to use in the field and update with pencil notes, often without more lead time than the evening before. I'm not working in environments that are conducive to a digital substitute.

At this point I'm using one of those Epson Ecotanks, and I don't hate it so far. Over about two years, I finally used a whole bottle of black ink.

That said, I don't trust it for anything particularly spicy.

@RhinosWorryMe @TheGreatLlama

I love this video of someone using diy coffee ink with rice flour to make a photo print:

https://youtu.be/yGnORmWBWik?si=tnhtJfmwRVG1SpQY