> Open Source: Openprinter will use the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license for all of its files, including electronics and mechanical design files, firmware code, and the bill of materials.
I understand the decision to use the NC-SA variant of the license, but this is not open source then. (Using non-commercial license here is also problematic because, say, repair shops won’t be able to use the schematics to fix the printer for a customer. Of course, this will probably not be an issue in practice, similar to how Apple’s proprietary schematics are being used for third-party board repair without an issue.)
Regardless, this is a really cool project and I’d love to see how it works out!
The same cartridge was reverse-engineered in 2018 by Sprite_tm for a handheld drawing tool[0], and there have been a dozen or so other projects using it since then.
As always, the devil is in the details. Making your own open-source print head just isn't going to happen, so you're forced to adopt an already-existing commercial one - which inherently ties you to that brand and its third-party clones. And while getting some output is not too difficult, getting reliable output is a completely different thing - especially when you add paper handling to it.
The main benefit of an open printer would be that you are (for now) not forced into the increasingly DRMed ecosystem. Just don't expect it to solve all your printer problems.
One interesting thing about printers, for me I really don't need much at all.
Occasionally I need to print things mostly tickets, boarding passes, simple shipping documents or even my own headed paper.
None of these need high quality printing, even the headed paper is not complex.
My sister in law has an art company and she's very happy with her large format commercial inkjet, which seems to work through buckets of inks and use 6 or so inks at once.
Our printers at work churn through huge amounts of printing without issue. I'm sure they are eye wateringly expensive, and maintaince is necessary and included in the ink subscription.
The pain of printing is confined to the day to day home user.
I don't use it much, I don't use much ink, I don't need much.
This would be fine. For a few years I got by just with one of those simple thermal printers that print only vaguely A4 sheets. But of course alcohol hand wash or friction ruin those prints and they fade in short order (weeks).
To amuse myself I bought a modern Epson dot matrix printer with all the convince features like USB and tractor feed. Yes it works no matter what but it’s a good reminder that we do actually care about the quality of print jobs.
I think this is a great idea, but I'm not qualified to comment on how good the design or concept is or anything like that. But a printer not made by the big printer companies where you can buy/refill your own ink, repair it & etc would definitely be a welcome product.
> Open Source: Openprinter will use the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license for all of its files, including electronics and mechanical design files, firmware code, and the bill of materials.
I understand the decision to use the NC-SA variant of the license, but this is not open source then. (Using non-commercial license here is also problematic because, say, repair shops won’t be able to use the schematics to fix the printer for a customer. Of course, this will probably not be an issue in practice, similar to how Apple’s proprietary schematics are being used for third-party board repair without an issue.)
Regardless, this is a really cool project and I’d love to see how it works out!
The same cartridge was reverse-engineered in 2018 by Sprite_tm for a handheld drawing tool[0], and there have been a dozen or so other projects using it since then.
As always, the devil is in the details. Making your own open-source print head just isn't going to happen, so you're forced to adopt an already-existing commercial one - which inherently ties you to that brand and its third-party clones. And while getting some output is not too difficult, getting reliable output is a completely different thing - especially when you add paper handling to it.
The main benefit of an open printer would be that you are (for now) not forced into the increasingly DRMed ecosystem. Just don't expect it to solve all your printer problems.
[0]: https://spritesmods.com/?art=magicbrush
One interesting thing about printers, for me I really don't need much at all.
Occasionally I need to print things mostly tickets, boarding passes, simple shipping documents or even my own headed paper.
None of these need high quality printing, even the headed paper is not complex.
My sister in law has an art company and she's very happy with her large format commercial inkjet, which seems to work through buckets of inks and use 6 or so inks at once.
Our printers at work churn through huge amounts of printing without issue. I'm sure they are eye wateringly expensive, and maintaince is necessary and included in the ink subscription.
The pain of printing is confined to the day to day home user.
I don't use it much, I don't use much ink, I don't need much.
This would be fine. For a few years I got by just with one of those simple thermal printers that print only vaguely A4 sheets. But of course alcohol hand wash or friction ruin those prints and they fade in short order (weeks).
To amuse myself I bought a modern Epson dot matrix printer with all the convince features like USB and tractor feed. Yes it works no matter what but it’s a good reminder that we do actually care about the quality of print jobs.
I think this is a great idea, but I'm not qualified to comment on how good the design or concept is or anything like that. But a printer not made by the big printer companies where you can buy/refill your own ink, repair it & etc would definitely be a welcome product.
Some previous discussions:
3 months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797916
2025 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45423404
i need a kit that makes it black only and has a ink tank and i ll buy 5