HP rolled out update blocking 3rd party ink cartridges

Re:HP rolled out update blocking 3rd party ink cartridges by kube-system on Tuesday March 07, 2023 @11:02PM (#35065073)

Printers are pretty difficult to manufacture compared to a laptop. They have specialized high precision parts and a lot of mechanical parts that have to work together for a particular design. A laptop can be pretty much made from off the shelf parts aside from the chassis and PCB, which you can easily have made by any number of contractors.

And I’m sure printers are probably a minefield of patents.

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Re:HP rolled out update blocking 3rd party ink cartridges by dv_dt on Wednesday March 08, 2023 @12:34AM (#35065614)

HP LaserJets that were considered tanks were sourced from Canon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_LaserJet

So it makes it not impossible for a new manufacturer to incorporate interface electronics with a core from an experienced manufacturer. The most difficult part might not be the engineering, but getting one of the old line print companies to do business at some reasonable cost with a smaller startup company.

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Re:HP rolled out update blocking 3rd party ink cartridges by kube-system on Wednesday March 08, 2023 @01:13AM (#35065832)

I suspect Canon licensed that technology to HP rather than letting it be used openly. You might be able to do the same but you’ll just be another proprietary printer company.

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Re:HP rolled out update blocking 3rd party ink cartridges by RobotToaster on Wednesday March 08, 2023 @09:49AM (#35069584)

There are dirt cheap printer heads on aliexpress for inkjets, isn't the rest just stepper motors and belts?

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