Honestly, there's probably a bigger market for a working printer than for their laptops.
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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Holy crap yes! I’ve been asking for an open source printer for years! From what I understand, a significant portion of the challenge is paper routing and alignment. I imagine Framework is one of the few companies out there with the knowledge and willingness to do it.
I want someone to succeed at this endeavor, but what exactly about framework makes them uniquely qualified to tackle the task you highlighted? Do they have other products that accomplish routing and alignment of paper or other materials?
Not specifically, but notice the “and”. A lot of other companies could probably do it, but just don’t really have an incentive to try and compete with the likes of Brother or HP. Framework has been the most effective open-source companies at finding the resources to put together something as complicated as a smartphone.
Most other open-source companies just don’t have that skillset of resource acquisition. And some of the few others that pop in my head are maybe RPi Foundation or Pine64 and similar, but they would likely make a super budget-friendly/education model that wouldn’t be practical for heavy office use.
If anyone can make a real competitor that can handle daily heavy use, I’m struggling to think of someone else. Let me know if there’s an obvious choice, though.
pine64 would make a printer with no fucking software and tell the community to do it
Honestly, I’d take it. Printers are one of those rare consumer tech things where the software is much simpler than the hardware.
I might not be a Kernel dev, but give me a protocol and I'll implement it.
I bought a PineTime specifically because of that
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My Brother printer does not connect to my Linux computer over Ethernet on the same network no matter what I do. I have to physically connect PC to the printer for it to work. It also doesn't wirelessly work with it. I can only wirelessly talk to it through my phone using their app.
I hate printers. The moment someone offers a high quality, non-scummy, easy to use in every basic scenario printer compatible with Linux I will buy it and never stop buying it until something changes in those categories. Laser, inkjet, whatever. My use cases are hex maps and legal documents. If I could get a printer that made TCG quality cards in my house I'd buy that as well for a substantial price but that's because my childhood was saturated with card games and their animated shows. I digress.
Please make a good printer. Brother was supposed to be that but I've not had any success with their stuff for the past 6 or 7 years, even on windows.
After reading down a few comments...
My Brother printer does not connect to ~~my Linux~~ any computers over Ethernet on the same network no matter what I do.
FTFY
I mean... True. But my computer is Linux and my partner's computer is windows (for now 😈).
But like... What matters is the printer doesn't connect and therefore I'm upset. So framework come out with a printer.
Totally, not trying to criticise. I wanted to point it out so it doesn't scare any potential Linux newbies away. It's definitely a printer or network problem.
If you're reading this, Linux is easy. Jump over. It's great.
Really? My Brother MFP works fine on the network, and I'm on Linux. The phone does use the Brother print driver you have to download. But just for general computing use you ought not to be having any trouble with network printing so I'm curious.
Ya, I wish I could tell you what it is. Maybe I'm just not getting it - some simple step or something - or maybe I bought a weird model and it happens to be problematic everytime I've bought one (2 or 3 printers from them now).
I'd love to click print on my PC and hear the machine whirl up in the other room but right now I can only get that to happen if I have it directly connected to my PC.
Honestly sounds more like a network problem
Sure, but how. If the printer is plugged into a switch which my computer is plugged into, both going to the same router, why is there a network problem that could cause this?
all the cables are good? all the network configs are good? firewall maybe? does the switch not support a network feature that is required?
you didn't explicitly say it, so i have to ask: can the same computer running windows print over the network?
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Tried to print to an office printer yesterday for the first time and it worked immediately. Ricoh IM3000C or some mix of those letters.
Spoiler alert: Yes, they do
Seriously. They must be new here.
Took me a few reads to parse what the hell they're saying, but yeah, welcome to the party. HP has been treating their customers with utter contempt for over a decade now.
Oh, you haven't installed the 2GB driver yet.
The last good HP printer was the 4P. Thank god I still have one that works.
Don't threaten me with a good time.
I hope to see this printer in my lifetime.
I doubt they have the money to make a good printer. Might as well just use Brother.
A brother laser printer is the best investment you can make in printers. Shit just works and you don't have to worry about the printer using half the ink to keep the nozzles clear like an ink jet.
Laser printers in general are much better. Hell, my parents have an HP laser printer, and even that works pretty well even after 7 years. (Although it's used maybe 3-4 times a year.)
Also, IIRC there were some concerns with some new policy that Brother introduced. But I couldn't find anything after a quick search, so maybe I'm hallucinating?
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There's been a question mark over Brother recently, with a number of people claiming that after firmware updates, Brother printers no longer play nice with third-party toner cartridges, and Brother refuting the claim.
I don't know where the truth lies, but it's worth looking into before buying a Brother printer or updating the firmware on your existing one.
That entire story is based on one 3 year old unverified Reddit post. I have that printer on the latest firmware and it accepts 3rd party toner just fine.
Sadly they are participating in the genocide of Palestinians so that rules them out for a lot of people (very reasonably)
Link? Tho I could 100% see HP doing so.
Could you imagine.
hot take.
printers are good.
ink jet makes for cheap printers and expensive ink. they are even subsidised so companies profit from ink. but they are shite.
a laser printer starts at 150$ and colour one at twice as much. never had a problem with those and as a bonus they print much much faster and the paper is nice and warm, and toner costs a fraction of the cost per page compared to ink.
honestly, ink jet printers need to die. imagine if we still used floppy disks for some reason and then people complained how unreliable and inconvenient external data storage is while we have external SSDs available but they cost a bit more than floppies but at orders of magnitude more value.
When you want to print photos though you need an inkjet.
For that once in a lifetime opportunity just take it to Staples on a flash drive.
Ordering them online is easier these days.
What device gets used to print your online order?
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